Death and the Afterlife

What insights can we gain from the rituals, actions and interactions around death and the afterlife? This edited collection offers a multidisciplinary perspective of how individuals and collectives “do” death and interact with the dead.

Through case studies of Singaporean Chinese religion communities, the authors bring a myriad of knowledge and experience from eight different but interconnected disciplines to examine, map, document and theorise the practices of death and the afterlife. Heritage here is not just a point of nostalgia or historical snapshot, but becomes a significant resource for the shaping of and grappling with diasporic and contemporary Singaporean Chinese identities. This edited collection moves beyond “Western” sites of knowledge by offering a series of multidisciplinary perspectives on death practices, drawn from research with individuals, groups and organisations that identify themselves as Singaporean Chinese, and the spaces and places often related to as ‘Chinese Singapore’.

This collection will appeal to a wide and diverse audience of scholars, students and practitioners. In particular, key target audiences would include, but are not limited to those interested in Asia, particularly Chinese studies and Chinese migrant/diasporic communities, and scholars in Sociology, History, Anthropology and Social/Cultural Geography.