Additional Module: Death and Revitalising Rituals

Ascona, June 12./13. 2009

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Angela Hobart and Dr. Pedram Khosronejad,
Centro Incontri Umani, Ascona

One of the core predicaments of human beings is death and the moral uncertainties associated with the event. Death releases extremely complex and contradictory emotions – intense pain, grief, fear or anger. Although the immediacy of death tends to be eliminated in contemporary western societies by technology, death and life imagery throughout the world highlight the need for connections beyond the earthly existence of a person, integrity and movement that is often articulated through commemorative or revitalising rituals and ceremonies.

The module focuses on rites of passage that relate to changes in the human life cycle. Special attention is given to death and mourning rituals, perhaps more aptly described as regenerating rituals, as they repair broken links, alleviate distress, and enhance consciousness so that the well-being and continuity of the family and community are reaffirmed. It is not surprising that social and psychic fragmentation and chaos may occur if the requisite rituals cannot be carried out. This is poignantly illustrated after genocide and war or in individual stories recounted by asylum seekers or refugees.

It will become evident in examining the ritual process that notions of personhood and identity, religious imaginings and beliefs in resurrection or spiritual life
after death vary considerably across cultures. In the west, the idea prevails that death is irreversible and finite as attested by standard psychodynamic schools
of thought. This does not apply to many other societies where we may find processional or cyclical notions of death. These different perspectives have a bearing on the rituals carried out, as manifested in temporal structure adopted, actors involved and forms of narrative and lament.

Rituals are performances that embrace participants and beholders, and are dynamically embedded in the socio-political order and heath care system. Eminent scholars, such as Durkheim or Mircea Eliade, emphasized the representative and explorative power of rituals that uphold the values, norms and ideals of society, contributing thereby to social cohesion. Yet this is a static approach. Rituals of death, mourning and affliction often impart spiritual and aesthetic intensity to the event celebrated and have great transformative potential. Attitudes, memories and moods may be shifted during the performative dynamic, allowing participants to recreate their existential life-worlds. Meaning is here emergent.

Malinowski’s words come to mind in exploring rituals of passage, especially those associated with death and affliction when the deepest values of a society come to the fore and healing forces are taped that revitalise individual and collective consciousness: “tolerance and generosity” are necessary to empathize with and grasp the point of view of the other.