User:Meryt/death culture

From here to eternity

The book ‘from here to eternity’ was written by Caitlin Doughty and published in 2017. In the introduction of the book Caitlin has a conversation with a man from Belize, Luciano, who said that he and his friends talk about death all the time. They ask each other about what they want when they die. This made her realise that in her (American) culture, people are often squeamish about death and do not discuss it.

The book is about the corporatisation and commercialisation of death traditions. In the chapters she writes about the rituals concerning death that are (possibly) different from our own rituals. With this perspective she hopes the raise more awareness and to let you create your own opinions about death traditions. She also wants to show that there’s no one size fits all when it comes to how we handle death.

This book intrigued me because death is something that, like most people, scares me. I wanted to know more about why we have our traditions and what other traditions are. After reading the other perspectives I realised there are many cultures that do not fear death as much as I do. She wrote ‘’the ritual involves pulling someone I loved, and thus my grief, out into the light of day.’’ (236), which I found a very comforting conclusion. On the other hand, many of the traditions she discussed are not available or legal in my country (also not in all states) which makes this possibility again more distant.

Caitlin wrote ‘’Trust me, I didn’t drag myself around the world without some serious help.’’ (237), following all the people who helped her create a factually accurate story with proper research behind it. More importantly, she went to the countries herself and asked the locals directly about their traditions and how they feel towards them. Ethically I find it important that the stories come directly from the source to avoid assumptions about cultures we are not familiar with.

In the epilogue Caitlin states ‘’With my secular bias, … This judgement was wrong.’’ (232), admitting that she looks at this subject through her own lens but also showing that she has adjusted her predictions after collecting more experience and information.

My critique on this book is mainly based on Caitlin wanting to break the norm, by critiquing the current death traditions in American culture. Saying current rituals create shame and don’t leave space for mourning. By this she brushes over the people who do want a ‘regular’ funeral and who feel satisfied with their way of handling grief. Speaking of death avoidance as a cultural failing in which she proclaims that current culture does not leave space for proper mourning. If our current form of grieving is not working then why has it not changed in the past century? And how did death get commercialised? These are the questions I was left with after reading and which I would like to learn more about.

References Doughty, Caitlin. From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death. Norton & Company, 2017.