Arnold van Gennep describes funerals as the moment of apparent separation between the living and the dead. He states that in that moment the deceased embarks on a journey to the other world (the world of the dead) and the entrance to it comprises a series of ceremonies which are known as the rites of passage of separation from the living. These ceremonies vary from culture to culture and are performed to accompany the dead into the other world. However, deaths such as premature death, killed (by human or animal), drowning, suicide, death while away from home (homeless dead) etc., are not given the same kind of treatment, hence, they “remain evil spirits.”
Vincent Brown takes a different approach on the matter. Brown (2003) explored the macabre social and political aspects of slavery, or the simultaneity of death and power in colonial Jamaica which had very high mortality rate among both enslaved Africans and Europeans. Brown explores a broad range of themes, including burial rites, inheritance, missionary activity, slave resistance, the antislavery movement in England and concludes that “death in Jamaica destroyed individuals, while generating a society.” (47).
Brown shows how masters and slaves in colonial Jamaica shared a binding fate which was death and how there was no power gap in death. Brown describes how the dead were manipulated for the purpose of shaping actions and events as masters tortured slaves convicted of various crimes and disfigured their bodies in an effort to frighten and control the rest of the slave population. Convicted rebels and slaves who committed suicide, for example, had their heads cut off then placed in prominent locations to serve as warnings to others and they were denied a proper burial. Accordi...
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...e came from the Jewish tradition that honored prophets and holy people with shrines. In order to be canonized (the process of becoming a saint) it is required that there are two verifiable postmortem ‘miracles’. Certain Saints, at the time of their death or many years later after they were exhumed, were found to be incorruptible. That is to say, their bodies did not decompose. What does this mean for the Catholic Church? According to the Catholic faith, such incorruptibility is a miracle.
A person who dies and proves incorruptible can thus qualify as a saint. The allowance of this kind of reference and treatment of the body is a kind way to offer Catholics reassurance from the spiritual to the physical plane. Because of the longstanding tradition, the saints are still honored and prayed to and have become the symbol of the relationship of the living with the dead.
The origin tale of the African American population in the American soil reveals a narrative of a diasporic faction that endeavored brutal sufferings to attain fundamental human rights. Captured and forcefully transported in unbearable conditions over the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, a staggering number of Africans were destined to barbaric slavery as a result of the increasing demand of labor in Brazil and the Caribbean. African slaves endured abominable conditions, merged various cultures to construct a blended society that pillared them through the physical and psychological hardships, and hungered for their freedom and recognition.
1.In 1831, James Henry Hammond inherited through marriage Silver Bluff Plantation, on the shores of South Carolina. He was a Lawyer, Teacher and a Newspaper editor. He undertook the running of his plantation and soon realized it was not an easy job to overcome the dominance of the complexity of social system that existed. He struggled to control and manage it for the next thirty years. He called a “a system of roguery. “Hammond astutely recognized that black life on his plantation was structured and organized as a “system “, the very existence of which seemed necessarily a challenge to his absolute control and therefore, as he perceived it a kind of “roguery.” Because Hammond’s mastery over his bondsmen depended upon his success at undermining slave society and culture, he established a carefully designed plan of physical
The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.
In Racial Formation, the two authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant develop the foundations for understanding the implications of race. Both authors delve into how the construction of racial relations has permeated into society, been contested, and changed over time. Omi and Winant attempt to display the oppressive actions in social structures, as well as the ideas and meanings that form their theory of race and racism. These theories are demonstrated in the brutal reality of Douglass’ life as a slave in My Bondage and My Freedom. Douglass recounts his efforts to educate himself, and ultimately, his resolve to escape to freedom. Society views race as a function of biology rather than a socially constructed method to differentiate human beings.
Although the word “Saint” is used in reference to one Roman Catholic person who is in his/her mortal life had such exemplar life of holiness then the Church proclaims that she/he is officially declared as a Saint. The official declaration is called “Canonization” and it’s a long process that may take not just years but centuries to make it official. For example, San Juan Diego, his canonization process took more than 450 years because the Church were on the contrary to many anti-Catholics of prejudices and the beliefs were extremely cautious. The Church does not declare that someone is a saint until proven that the person was delivered to the Will of God in their life that the person is willing to become one harmony of the love and Grace of God for the people.
The escaped slaves who lived in this swamp, and those like it, are more well known as “maroons”. The 20-acre island that these maroons inhabited followed traditional rules of an African Village. This meant that the community had prominent chiefs and followed africanized religious practices (Grant, 2016). Much, if not all, of the labor was communal. Charlie, a previous inhabitant
Slavery has always been viewed as one of the most scandalous times in American history. It appears that the entire institution of slavery has been capsulized as white masters torturing defenseless African Americans. However, not every slave has encountered this experience. In this essay I will present the life of two former slaves Harriet Smith and Mr. George Johnson and how similar as well as different their experiences were based on interviews conducted with each of them. The negative aspects of slave life were undeniably heinous and for that reason especially, it is also important to also reveal the lives of slaves whom were treated with dignity and respect.
Deaths were a form of social event, when families and loved ones would gather around the bed of the dying, offering emotional support and comfort. Myth, religion, and tradition would combine to give the event deeper meaning and ease the transition for all involved. The one who was dying was confident in knowing what lay behind the veil of death, thanks to religious faith or tradition. His or her community held fast to the sense of community, drawing strength from social ties and beliefs. (“Taboos and Social Stigma - Rituals, Body, Life, History, Time, Person, Human, Traditional Views of Death Give Way to New Perceptions" 1)
The majority of the nearly 500,000 slaves on the island, at the end of the eighteenth century endured some of the worst slave conditions in the Caribbean. These people were seen as disposable economic inputs in a colony driven by greed. Thus, they receive...
...t the physical well –being of slaves. If they die, new ones are simply brought in to replace them. The final condition is that of a lack of cohesion among the white ruling class due to a lack of white female presence. The female (and thus family) situation had no opportunity to establish itself because of the lack of white women in Jamaica. This led to an increased ambivalence on the part of most of the white population towards itself.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
Slavery was an atrocity born from the depth of the darkest part of Human soul. In the video “Egalite for All” we witnessed the emergence of the Haitian revolution, gigantic and massive protest against slavery. Nevertheless, this protest was created by colonizers because they were selling African men, women and children’s for their own benefits. They...
While reviewing "The Funeral" the first thing that became apparent was the title. A funeral is ceremony held in connection with the burial of a dead person. So already just by looking at the title we become aware that we are dealing with a dead body. Death, in some cultures, is the separation of the body from the soul. The soul continues to live and may even find shelter in another body.
It is now 51 years since Jamaica gave birth to its independence, however it is like a baby whose umbilical cord was never severed after birth. The baby grows up, undeveloped with limited mobility, still attached to its mother by an extended umbilical cord. This attachment restricts the baby’s movement while giving an uncaring mother a great degree of control; she can impose her will, put unfair demands on the child, withhold food, and take from the child if the child does not conform to her wishes. This metaphor is a depiction of neocolonial control over the island.
Only after one more miracle will the pope canonize the saint (this includes martyrs as well). The title of saint tells us that the person lived a holy life, is in heaven, and is to be honored by the universal Church. Canonization does not "make" a person a saint; it recognizes what God has already done.