The Political Lives of Dead Bodies

by Katherine Verdery

Since 1989, scores of bodies across Eastern Europe have been exhumed and brought to rest in new gravesites. Katherine Verdery investigates why certain corpses―the bodies of revolutionary leaders, heroes, artists, and other luminaries, as well as more humble folk―have taken on a political life in the turbulent times following the end of Communist Party rule, and what roles they play in revising the past and reorienting the present. Enlivening and invigorating the dialogue on postsocialist politics, this imaginative study helps us understand the dynamic and deeply symbolic nature of politics―and how it can breathe new life into old bones.

Genres: Anthropology, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Academic, Cultural, Death

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Katherine Verdery is Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Since 1973 she has conducted field research in Romania, initially emphasizing the political economy of social inequality, ethnic relations, and nationalism. With the changes of 1989, her work shifted to problems of the transformation of socialist systems, specifically changing property relations in agriculture. From 1993 to 2000 she did fieldwork on this theme in a Transylvanian community; the resulting book, The Vanishing Hectare: Property and Value in Postsocialist Transylvania, was published by Cornell University Press (2003). She then completed a large collaborative project with Gail Kligman (UCLA) and a number of Romanian scholars on the opposite process, the formation of collective and state farms in Romania during the 1950s. The resulting book, Peasants under Siege: The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture, 1949-1962, was published by Princeton University Press (2011).

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I picked up in grad school, but it didn’t wind up getting assigned (I think it was an “alternate” for something else I did read), so I’m just getting to it now. It’s a fascinating look at Eastern Europe after communism, through the lens of the various movements of bones and monuments to the dead in the first decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some exiled “heroes” were brought home, while others, no longer as popular, were removed from places of prominence. Verdery considers what these perambulations of skeletons “means,” from an anthropological perspective. She finds in it an argument for the “re-enchantment” of politics (contra Weber) and something of a reawakening of traditional spiritual and tribal values. Moreover, she does this with a light, at times humorous, and highly non-judgmental tone. She does not look down on the peoples of Eastern Europe as primitive, but looks to them to help understand what is (was) going on in her world. Originally presented as a series of lectures, the content of the book is short and digestible, with a good deal of depth added in the extensive footnotes for those who want it.

From a current perspective, it’s important to remember that this book came out twenty years ago, and that conditions in the countries she discusses have changed considerably since that time. This still makes it useful from a historical perspective, of course, and an informed political scientist may see here a good deal of insight into what was coming with the rise of Putin and the various nationalisms and populisms of the region. Her “case studies” have a tendency to be springboards for much wider consideration, so a student interested in (for example) the history and outcome of the reburial of Bishop Micu might have to look elsewhere for greater detail. The footnotes at least chart a way to do so, and the book remains a very interesting read.

[Jennifer J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ol' Post-Soviet grave-digging fun.
Surprisingly, this study tends to focus on the satellite Soviet states, like Hungary and Romania, which, IMHO, just makes Katherine Verdery that much awesomer. I never knew there was so much history behind the corpses of Peto"fi, Barto'k, Nagy Imre and everyone else with an intersection named after them in Budapest.

[Ionut Iamandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

O sinteză pe această temă, a resorturilor de semnificație înmagazinate în statui care îi stârnește pe oameni, este făcută în cartea sa, Viața politică a trupurilor moarte, de către cercetătoarea americană Katherine Verdery. Ea lărgește însă abordarea și se ocupă și de felul în care oamenii investesc cel puțin la fel de multă simbolistică și în rămășițele pământești ale unor personalități mai mult sau mai puțin controversate. Pentru că și osemintele, ca și statuile, îi bântuie, îi deranjează, îi mobilizează sau îi irită pe oameni. Investigația autoarei se limitează la spațiul „postsocialist”, de unde și subtitlul cărții: Reînhumări și schimbări postsocialiste. Suficient însă pentru a cuprinde și spațiul românesc, pe care Katherine Verdery nu îl vizează de altfel pentru prima oară.

Textul complet al cronicii cu titlul „Cât de subțire este linia care separă bronzul de oase” poate fi citit în revista Pallas Athena: https://pallasathena.ro/cat-de-subtir...

[Emily C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humans are so weird!!! I liked this book for many reasons. It touches on many themes - religion, death, property, communism and more. What drew me in for the first half were the parallels to film techniques (i.e., the idea of fragmenting the body) and feminist theory on bodies. I also loved that this book uses case studies from countries that are less studied - Romania and post-Yugoslav countries. Particularly enjoyed this line about rewriting history: “Who is to blame for what happened, and how should they be punished?”

For those interested in reading, a fair warning that this book has a lot of jargon and it will take longer to read one page than it would maybe 3 of an acotar style book let’s say. It is not for people who are not interested in learning about theory. For those who are not, Wikipedia is a great resource.

Overall, really enjoyed.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verdery tracks the political significance of reburials in post socialist Romania and former Yugoslavia. These reburials may be of famous or anonymous figures, long dead or recently dead, but the relocating of their corpses has played a role in the movement of rebuilding national identities, rewriting histories, reorienting time, and reinforcing national stories of suffering and justice.

I picked this book up partly because I was fascinated by the idea that some Eastern European cultures have long carried concepts of ancestor veneration, not unlike the norm in this region (Southeast Asia). A very interesting read.

[versarbre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather "secular" understanding of death (in the sense that that the dead body is just "body"). But it comes at a time when scholars were not paying enough attention to death, let alone the materiality of the dead bodies. So it's good to read as a historical record of academic discourses.

[Dimitrii Ivanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good essay on the relations between the funereal and the political in Eastern Europe, clearly and concisely combining case studies with theoretical discussion. Like many good books, balances between high tragedy and dark comedy.

[Reagan Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started the book interested and I needed confused. The writing style is difficult and the content requires a lot of previous knowledge. It’s obvious she knows what she’s talking about, but as a reader I had no clue.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic for anyone interested in dead body politics, particularly as the relate to the former Soviet bloc. An excellent and enlightening read.

[Horia Bura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting theme, solid, well argued and thoroughly researched study about the sociopolitical, ethnical and religious avatars in Eastern Europe's recent history, especially in Romania (namely Transylvania) and former Yugoslavia, starting from some reburials, both individual (the case of the Greek-Catholic bishop Inochentie Micu-Klein) and collective (Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian victims of the many wars throughout 20th century), and how they shape not only the historical subjective projections about the past of one nation or another, but also the present interactions of the various ethnic and religious communities in a region so complicated and complex as the Balkans.

Regarding form and style, the author becomes a bit redundant when she repeats and insists on her intentions regarding this study, thus sometimes printing a too didactic touch to this otherwise well written book.

[Bobbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one really interesting. It was about the political battles over where to have someones remains buried. It mostly concerns the states that formed after the fall of communism and their attempts to demonstrate their history of the period before communism, to help them distance themselves from the collosal failure that was the Soviets.