The social agency of dead bodies

Abstract

This article promotes Alfred Gell's theory of agency (1998) as an important framework that can be used to inform research in the field of Death Studies. Gell argues that agency can be abducted from objects via relationships between four 'terms' (indexes, artists, recipients and prototypes) and that these relationships can take multiple forms depending on which of the terms is positioned as 'agent' and which is positioned as 'patient'. These relationships can be further understood in light of Gell's concept of intentional psychology, as will be discussed below. In order to explicate the value of Gell's theoretical model, I will employ it in an analysis of ethnographic fieldwork data, collected in a funeral home in the United States and a funeral directors' in England, that examine viewing practices of the recently dead between the moments of death and of final disposal. In so doing, I will argue that Gell's theoretical model provides a valuable framework for understanding the relationship between the living and the dead, particularly when it is mediated by the visible dead body.

Returning from the dead: Contested continuities in Tibetan Buddhism

“…Although much recent scholarship has explored how 'continuing bonds' between the bereaved and the deceased endure beyond the life-cycle, this work usually draws on western assumptions about the life course ending in an irreversible physical death. Although the concept of agency is increasingly ascribed to dead bodies (Hallam & Hockey, 2001;Harper, 2010;Krmpotich et al, 2010), it often continues to be applied in the social sciences in such a way that 'limits itself to the acts and the effects of human beings who are narrowly defined in empirical terms as "living"' (Hallam et al, 1999, p. 162). In pointing to a rich tradition of the animated dead, this paper challenges the takenfor-granted notion that when it comes to the end of life biology transcends cultural context, and in so doing encourages further investigations into the vitality of the corpse.…”

The Bioarchaeology of Postmortem Agency: Integrating Archaeological Theory with Human Skeletal Remains

“…Here, a distinction is made between actors who can act on their own versus objects or actors who only serve to extend the agency of other actors. Recently, dead bodies have been theorized through the lens of this second model of agency (Harper 2010). Tung's article, influenced by this work, provides an example of the application of this model in a bioarchaeological context.…”

The lives of corpses: Narratives of the image in American memorial photography

“…For instance, the ritual emphasises connection among members from different spheres of the deceased's life that commingle to 'catch up' or relate stories of their interaction with the deceased. These activities are survivor-oriented and the more material aspects of death, such as the actual interment or cremation of the corpse, are not usually witnessed by the individuals attending the funeral (Harper, 2010b). The event is one affirming the social identity of the living and not the material entity the deceased transforms into after the moment of medical death, which would have to take into account elements such as natural decomposition rate, the radical alteration of the cadaver during this process and the components that aid decay (post-mortem vitality), and the actual space the corpse occupies within the larger ecosystem shared by other living organisms, both human and non-human.…”