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DEATH ‘ON THE MOVE’: FUNERALS, ENTREPRENEURS AND THE RURAL–URBAN NEXUS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2011

Rebekah Lee
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Abstract

This article primarily concerns the intersection of the changing management of death with the problems and possibilities presented by the growing mobility of the African, and specifically Xhosa-speaking, population in South Africa from the latter half of the twentieth century to the present day. I am interested in how shifts in the practices and beliefs around death are mediated by individuals, households and businesses who have an historical affinity towards movement, particularly across what has been called the ‘rural–urban nexus’. In what ways has this more mobile orientation influenced the perception of rites and responsibilities surrounding death? And how have more mobile ‘ways of dying’ in turn created new subjectivities and new ways in which to imagine relations between the living and the dead? I argue that African funeral directors based in Cape Town and the rural areas of the Eastern Cape – a steadily more numerous and prominent group of entrepreneurs – are well-placed to shape these processes, through their role as cultural mediators and technological innovators, and their particular emphasis on maintaining a flow of bodies (both dead and alive) between rural and urban areas. I focus on two aspects of contemporary South African funerals – embalming and exhumations – that are suggestive of how the migration dynamic, and the continuing demands from mobile mourners for innovations via the funeral industry, have encouraged new perceptions of and relations to the dead body.

Résumé

Cet article traite principalement de l'intersection de la gestion changeante de la mort avec les problèmes et les possibilités que présente la mobilité croissante de la population africaine de langue xhosa en Afrique du Sud de la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle à nos jours. Il s'intéresse à la manière dont les changements de pratiques et de croyances autour de la mort se produisent à la faveur des individus, des ménages et des entreprises qui ont une affinité historique avec la mobilité, notamment dans ce que l'on appelle le « lien rural-urbain ». En quoi cette orientation plus mobile a-t-elle influencé les rites et responsabilités subjectifs qui entourent la mort? Et comment des « manières de mourir » plus mobiles ont à leur tour créé de nouvelles subjectivités et de nouvelles manières d'imaginer les relations entre les vivants et les morts? L'article soutient que les entrepreneurs de pompes funèbres africains installés à Cape Town et dans les régions rurales de l'Eastern Cape (un groupe d'entrepreneurs qui gagne constamment en nombre et en importance) sont bien placés pour façonner ces processus, à travers leur rôle de médiateurs culturels et d'innovateurs technologiques, et leur attachement particulier à préserver le flux de corps (morts et vivants) entre zones rurales et urbaines. Il examine en particulier l'embaumement et l'exhumation, deux aspects des funérailles contemporaines sud-africaines révélateurs de la manière dont la dynamique migratoire, ainsi que la constante demande d'innovation dont fait l'objet l'industrie funéraire de la part des parents du défunt, ont favorisé de nouvelles perceptions de la dépouille mortelle et de nouvelles relations à son égard.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 226 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2011

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