The Vital Dead: Making Meaning, Identity, and Community Through Cemeteries

by Alison Bell

What can a cemetery tell us about the social and cultural dynamics of a place and time? Anthropologist Alison Bell suggests that cemeteries participate in the grassroots cultural work of crafting social connections, even as they test the transcendental durability of the deceased person and provide a measure of a culture's values. In The Vital Dead, Bell applies this framework to the communities of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and the cemeteries...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1621906965
• ISBN13: 9781621906964
• Release Date: January 2023
• Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.3" x 10.3"