Chinese American Death Rituals
Respecting the Ancestors
Sue Fawn Chung editor Priscilla Wegars editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:AltaMira Press
Published:8th Sep '05
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Death is a topic that has fascinated people for centuries. In the English-speaking world, eulogies in poetic form could be traced back to the 1640s, but gained prominence with the "graveyard school" of poets in the eighteenth century often stressing the finality of death. Chinese American Death Rituals examines Chinese American funerary rituals and cemeteries from the late nineteenth century until the present in order to understand the importance of Chinese funerary rites and their transformation through time. The authors in this volume discuss the meaning of funerary rituals and their normative dimension and the social practices that have been influenced by tradition. Shaped by individual beliefs, customs, religion, and environment, Chinese Americans have resolved the tensions between assimilation into the mainstream culture and their strong Chinese heritage in a variety of ways. This volume expertly describes and analyzes Chinese American cultural retention and transformation in rituals after death.
In this book, eleven historians and anthropologists combine to give the broadest and most nuanced coverage to date of Chinese American death rituals. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *
This volume contains a number of invaluable reports of archaeological findings on Chinese death-ritual practices in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. It looks at the migration history of the overseas Chinese from a special angle, and sheds new light on our understanding of the living culture—through studying the dead—of the early Chinese sojourners in the West. * Journal Of Chinese Overseas *
Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors is a valuable addition to the increasingly important subject of death ways. This highly readable work should be of tremendous interest to archeologists, ethnographers, folklorists, landscape historians, cultural geographers, and architectural historians. -- Jeffrey L. Durbin * The Journal Of Heritage Stewardship *
A brand-new look at [Chinese American] history. At times it sneaks up on the reader and positively enthralls. * The Asian Reporter *
ISBN: 9780759107342
Dimensions: 228mm x 152mm x 19mm
Weight: 499g
368 pages