Flyer Workshop: Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Death Rituals: Materializing the Absent (16-17.09.2021, Bern, Switzerland) (original) (raw)

Death can be understood as a socially transformative process which is to be regulated by funerary practices. The material results of these intentional and structured actions – often conceptualized as rituals – are, among others, burial sites, graves and their contents. In this context, objects are often used to support the transfor- mational processes. Material culture can therefore be understood as a form of communication. Its functions and meanings are not static but depend on the context and can form a complex relationship with ideologies and actions. Human remains, too, are a part of this material culture, as they can be used as objects within burial practices and become means of expression. Archaeologically, only the materialization of burial rituals can be recorded by analyzing human remains and other objects found in the context of burials. The corresponding functions and meanings must then be interpreted using historical, ethnological, and sociological analogies. From a religious studies perspective it is possible to perceive how the bodily remains of a deceased person can become the focus not only of veneration or remembrance, but also of self- focused religious development. These studies, however, due to their abundance of options, often neglect the material culture, which is the main focus of archaeological research. An interdisciplinary dialogue between archaeological sciences and religious studies will therefore open opportunities for both sides to learn from each other and come to new perspectives. The aim of this workshop is to look at the significance of objects as they are created in the interaction of human beings and materials. In order to understand the functions and meanings of burial practices and burial sites, objects should be approximated to the physical as well as the social context they are part of. Social sciences and the humanities can witness historical and contemporary burial rites with additional tools, such as narratives and ethnological participation.