Dealing with Death: A Search for Cross-Cultural and Time-Transcending Similarities

by Oliver Nahm

Overview

Any sentence that begins 'All societies have' is either baseless or banal. Oliver Nahm sets out to disprove this statement, made by the renowned anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Analyzing the beliefs, myths, and legends of different religious groups surrounding death and dying, author Nahm shows that behind the façade of diversity there lie the same needs which are in turn met by similar solutions. With an interdisciplinary approach, Nahm uncovers important commonalities between diverse societies and demonstrates that such findings are neither baseless nor banal. Dissertation. (Series: Studies in interdisciplinary Thanatology / Studien zur interdisziplinaeren Thanatologie, Vol. 14) [Subject: Cultural Studies, Sociology, Death Studies, Religious Studies]

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783643909336
Publisher:	Lit Verlag
Publication date:	10/01/2017
Series:	Studies in interdisciplinary Thanatology / Studien zur interdisziplinaeren Thanatologie , #14
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Oliver Nahm was born 1984 in Bonn, Germany. After completing his Magister degree in history, he started to work on this doctoral thesis in the area of cultural studies.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Remarks 1

1 Introduction 3

1.1 Goals 3

1.2 What is death? 5

1.3 Research Context 10

1.3.1 The Academic Anthropological Study of Death 11

1.3.2 Cross-Cultural Comparisons 15

1.3.3 Cultural Relativism vs. Universalism 17

1.3.4 Why this thesis hasn't been written before and a defense of Universalism 21

2 Methodology 24

2.1 Forging the Toolset 24

2.1.1 Chart of the Possible Solutions for the Problems brought on by Death 32

2.2 Structure 38

2.3 Frame and Sources 41

3 The Necessary Reactions Towards Death 44

3.1 The Problems caused by Human Mortality 44

3.1.1 Introduction 44

3.1.2 Death, as a Mysterious and Unnatural Phenomenon 45

3.1.3 The Fear of Dying 48

3.1.4 The Loss of Life 52

3.1.5 The Fear of being Dead 55

3.1.6 The Death of Others 57

3.2 Explaining Death 62

3.2.1 Introduction 62

3.2.2 Judeo-Christian Beliefs 64

3.2.3 Additional Examples from around the World 68

3.2.4 Discussion 85

3.3 Defeating Death 91

3.3.1 Introduction 91

3.3.2 Judeo-Christian Beliefs 94

3.3.3 Additional Examples from around the World 108

3.3.4 Discussion 139

4 The Good and the Bad Death 158

4.1 Introduction 158

4.2 Life-Potential 159

5 The Utilization of Death 163

6 Conclusions 168

7 Appendix 176

7.1 Beliefs of the Author 176

7.2 Thoughts on the current Situation in Germany 178

8 Binliography 181

9 List of Figures 199