Necromobilities: The Multi-sited Geographies of Death and Disposal in a Mobile World

Lakhbir K. Jassal

Mobilities, 2015, vol. 10, issue 3, 486-509

Abstract: No longer just bodies at rest, the dead are increasingly on the move. Noting that much of the literature on mobility is focused on the living, this paper considers what the mobilities of the corpse, the dead body and more specifically bodily remains add to our understanding of subjects and objects (living or dead) on the move. In this paper, I argue that mobility is a spatial tactic for negotiating dominant British necroregimes and attaining a culturally appropriate funeral and body/remain 'disposal'. The article begins by exploring the transfer of the state's responsibilities to the Death Care Industry. I then look at the agency of the governed (non-Abrahamic Indian and Chinese minorities), through a montage of experiences, to show that while mobility is a strategy to challenge the contours of state 'necropower', a circuit of guilt and culture of corruption exists and has real effects. The paper seeks to understand the sociocultural changes enacted by the state and in conjunction with the Death Care Industry that have major implications for the transportation of dead bodies and remains in an increasingly mobile world.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2014.912049

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