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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Between Death and Funeral: Mortuaries and the Exploitation of Liminality in Kwahu, Ghana
Author:Geest, Sjaak van der
Year:2006
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:76
Issue:4
Pages:485-501
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:funerals
Akan
hospitals
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External links:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027295
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_the_journal_of_the_international_african_institute/v076/76.4geest.pdf
Abstract:This essay describes how mortuaries changed the Akan funeral culture of Ghana and how that converged with the interests of relatives and hospital managers. Such a development would not have been possible, however, without the money provided by well-to-do relatives staying abroad. Mortuaries enable relatives to stretch the liminal period between death and funeral as long as they want to while they prepare everything for a grand funeral. For hospitals, this new fashion means an attractive extra source of income, as the mortuary is more lucrative than its medical services. The author's observations derive from anthropological fieldwork carried out in Kwahu, Ghana, since 1969. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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