Negotiating Life: rituals of death

24 maart 2006

In his dissertation 'Negotiating Life', WOTRO-sponsored researcher Erik de Maaker shows that people's participation in rituals of death is of structural importance to the Indian Garo society. His dissertation analyzes the funerals of the Garo, a matrilineal hill society of the Indian State of Meghalaya.

Garo funerals serve to dispose of the corpse, and to guide the soul of the deceased to the afterworld. The rituals allow for the reorganization of social relationships at the Garo. Mortuary rituals are instrumental in the transformation of the dead of living persons as well as of anonymous ancestors. Particularly in the latter sense, the dead are a source of authority and prestige and play an important role in structuring social relationships among people.

'Negotiating Life' argues that Garo mortuary rituals derive much of their significance from the transfer of gifts between representatives of the deceased and the people who attend a mortuary ritual. The kind of gifts that are being offered during rituals depend on the relationship that people have with the deceased. The acceptance and rejection of gifts is decided in processes of negotiation. Consequently, gift exchange plays an important role in defining and (re)constructing social relationships.

In his study Erik de Maaker made extensive use of the video camera as a research tool. Throughout twenty one months of fieldwork the author made video registrations of a number of mortuary rituals. He analyzed these video recordings with the help of the people participating in the funerals.