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Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed
Contributions by Allan Amanik, Kelly B. Arehart, Sue Fawn Chung, Kami Fletcher, Rosina Hassoun, James S. Pula, Jeffrey E. Smith, and Martina Will de Chaparro
Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed explores the tendency among most Americans to separate their dead along communal lines rooted in race, faith, ethnicity, or social standing and asks what a deeper exploration of that phenomenon can tell us about American history more broadly.
Comparative in scope, and regionally diverse, chapters look to immigrants, communities of color, the colonized, the enslaved, rich and poor, and religious minorities as they buried kith and kin in locales spanning the Northeast to the Spanish American Southwest. Whether African Americans, Muslim or Christian Arabs, Indians, mestizos, Chinese, Jews, Poles, Catholics, Protestants, or various whites of European descent, one thing that united these Americans was a drive to keep their dead apart. At times, they did so for internal preference. At others, it was a function of external prejudice.
Invisible and institutional borders built around and into ethnic cemeteries also tell a powerful story of the ways in which Americans have negotiated race, culture, class, national origin, and religious difference in the United States during its formative centuries.
Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed explores the tendency among most Americans to separate their dead along communal lines rooted in race, faith, ethnicity, or social standing and asks what a deeper exploration of that phenomenon can tell us about American history more broadly.
Comparative in scope, and regionally diverse, chapters look to immigrants, communities of color, the colonized, the enslaved, rich and poor, and religious minorities as they buried kith and kin in locales spanning the Northeast to the Spanish American Southwest. Whether African Americans, Muslim or Christian Arabs, Indians, mestizos, Chinese, Jews, Poles, Catholics, Protestants, or various whites of European descent, one thing that united these Americans was a drive to keep their dead apart. At times, they did so for internal preference. At others, it was a function of external prejudice.
Invisible and institutional borders built around and into ethnic cemeteries also tell a powerful story of the ways in which Americans have negotiated race, culture, class, national origin, and religious difference in the United States during its formative centuries.
298 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2020
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May 18, 2021Covers a wide range of topics under the broad umbrella of ethnic cemeteries. Definitely moments of interest and information to be found. Unfortunately, I struggled with the dry, scholarly tone (all chapters were originally papers presented at an academic conference), ultimately having to skim several chapters and pretty much skip one. If you're really into cemeteries and burial practices and don't care how engagingly (or not) the information is presented, give this one a try.
September 20, 2025
It’s fascinating how America has so many gravesites dedicated to particular ethnic and religious groups.
The standout moment for me from this book was the chart for Arab American immigration waves. It was fantastic. I could have gone through a book solely dedicated to that.
The standout moment for me from this book was the chart for Arab American immigration waves. It was fantastic. I could have gone through a book solely dedicated to that.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews