Ritualism in transition. A study on the preferences of corporeal destiny

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present a few of the results from my Ph.D. research. This is a comparative analysis on ritual preferences regarding own death expressed by middle-aged people (cohort of 1957 and 1972) and people in the fourth age (cohort of 1917 and 1932). The data is collected from biographical interviews conducted in 2009 and 2012 in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results show a transformation in funerary practices and customs in the urban context in the last years. The analysis indicates that for middle-aged people there is a preeminence for cremation which defines the dematerialization of death. Both the rejection to cemeteries and funeral ceremonies reflecta changing ritualism. Appreciation of cemeteries and burials, however, characterizesthe cohort of the fourth age and constructsa different relation between the alive and the dead.