Content area
Full text
Contemporary Funeral Rituals of Sa'dan Toraja: From Aluk Todolo to "New" Religions . By Michaela Budiman . Prague : Karolinum Press , 2013. 170 pp. ISBN: 9788024622286 (paper).
Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia and China . Edited by Paul Williams and Patrice Ladwig . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2014. 312 pp. ISBN: 9781107667877 (paper).
Book Reviews--Southeast Asia
Funerals are a rich topic of research that appeals to scholars working across many disciplines. In Southeast Asia and China, funerals carry great weight and importance, resulting in elaborate multi-day ceremonies and the enacting of rituals by family members many days, weeks, and/or years following a relative's death. The time, energy, wealth, and attention given to ensuring the success of a funeral ritual is integral to understanding a region's culture and religion and the changes that have transpired over time. The inarguable role that death plays as a part of life has led to a wealth of studies examining the various ways that individuals and cultures across Asia cope with loss and transition. These two recent publications continue in that tradition, and while the books have many differences, both formal and informal, they are important contributions to the rich conversation around Southeast Asian funerary rituals. These books demonstrate possible approaches for understanding the relevance of funerals and their continued importance for dealing with loss and change. Together, they cover a wide range of practices and beliefs that help foster an understanding of the nuances of funeral traditions and a larger context for death and spirits in Southeast Asia and China.
Both of these books present funeral traditions as dynamic rituals that adapt to cultural change for relevancy and survival. Influences that include religious conversion, colonialism, modernity, and migration away from villages to urban centers have all affected change in the treatment of the dead and the continuation (or lack thereof) of local themes in ensuring care for deceased family members. The two books offer both a larger cultural context and more individualized understandings of funeral ritual and purpose. They also demonstrate that death might at first appear to be a rite of passage falling squarely in the realm of a religious domain, but in fact bears strong connections to political, agricultural, and economic elements of...