Long Live the Dead!: Changing Funeral Celebrations in Asante, Ghana

by Marleen de Witte

One could expect traditional rituals, centered around the extended family and belief about death and ancestorship, to limit the importance of modern funerals in Asante, Ghana. However, the opposite scenario is taking place. In Asante, technological innovations like mortuaries, mass media, and electronic apparatus have given the funeral new dimensions. This illustrated book describes how the Asante shape and give meaning to burying its dead through creative interaction. The large amount of time, effort, and money that people spend on funerals not only reflect transformations in society, they also offer the Asante people opportunities to work out changing social patterns, differences between cities and villages, lifestyles and cultural preferences. Marleen de Witte is an anthropologist currently working at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research at the University of Amsterdam.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

A study of modern funeral celebrations in the Akan areas of Ghana. Works on the assumption that the excessively lavish celebrations serve as sites for negotiating an individual's, family's or clan's social status. Relationships amongst the living are solidified or contested over the occasion of death. Much of the evidence is anecdotal and the data is almost entirely qualatative. The author's explorations into the symbolic use of language are particularly enlightening.