Ultimate Ambiguities: Investigating Death and Liminality

Description

Periods of transition are often symbolically associated with death, making the latter the paradigm of liminality. Yet, many volumes on death in the social sciences and humanities do not specifically address liminality. This book investigates these “ultimate ambiguities,” assuming they can pose a threat to social relationships because of the disintegrating forces of death, but they are also crucial periods of creativity, change, and emergent aspects of social and religious life. Contributors explore death and liminality from an interdisciplinary perspective and present a global range of historical and contemporary case studies outlining emotional, cognitive, artistic, social, and political implications. Title Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Part I. Rituals The Ambiguity of Mortal Remains Shape of Mourning among the Sora Liminal Bodies, Liminal Food Liminality of "Living Martyrdom" Part II. Concepts Disappearance and Liminality Three Dimensions of Liminality Death, Ritual, and Effervescence Part III. Imageries Hungry Ghost or Divine Soul? Between Death and Judgment Body and Soul in Archaic Greece Death, Memory, and Liminality Index