Being Dead Otherwise

by Anne Allison

With an aging population, declining marriage and childbirth rates, and a rise in single households, more Japanese are living and dying alone. Many dead are no longer buried in traditional ancestral graves where descendants would tend their spirits, and individuals are increasingly taking on mortuary preparation for themselves. In Being Dead Otherwise Anne Allison examines the emergence of new death practices in Japan as the old customs of mortuary care are coming undone. She outlines the proliferation of new industries, services, initiatives, and businesses that offer alternative means---ranging from automated graves, collective grave sites, and crematoria to one-stop mortuary complexes and robotic priests---for tending to the dead. These new burial and ritual practices provide alternatives to long-standing traditions of burial and commemoration of the dead. In charting this shifting ecology of death, Allison outlines the potential of these solutions to radically reorient sociality in Japan in ways that will impact how we think about the end of life, identity, tradition, and culture in Japan and beyond.

Genres: Japan, Anthropology, Sociology

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2023

Reviews

[Sara Hosseini]

دقت مردم‌نگارانه و خلاقیت در نوشتار با کمک گرفتن از منابع مختلف و موضوع به‌شدت جذاب و جدید باعث شد خیلی از خوندن کتاب لذت ببرم.

[Brett Glasscock · Rating 4 out of 5]

really well written with just some fascinating information about contemporary death practices in japan and astute analyses of their implications. that said, and maybe this is unfair, but i couldn't help but feel that perhaps the source material for "Being Dead Otherwise" was a bit slim. at times, the chapters blended into each other, and entire lines of prose seemed to be copy and pasted several times throughout the text.

[Kathryn Hemmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being Dead Otherwise is an anthropological account of the shifting cultures of death and dying in contemporary Japan. Despite its seemingly grim topic, this is one of the most joyful academic books I’ve read in recent years.

Anne Allison is primarily concerned with Japan’s aging population, who have begun to form communities surrounding their preparations for burial. Due to urbanization and an increase in nuclear family households, it’s no longer feasible to rely on one’s children or relatives for end-of-life arrangements. Still, older generations have been finding hopeful solutions.

I especially enjoyed the chapter about the social meetings of the future occupants of urban columbaria (repositories for burial urns), who call themselves “grave friends” and get together to make scrapbooks and other creative projects that will commemorate their lives for their children and grandchildren.

Allison argues that this type of self-care is often necessary to work around Japan’s outdated burial laws, in which only the formally registered Head of Household (who is almost always male) is allowed to make arrangements with a Buddhist temple. Thankfully, many temples are starting to ignore this law in order to serve the needs of older women who survive their husbands.

Without a doubt, many problems still exist in an increasingly fragmented society, but Allison is optimistic and respectful as she interviews death workers ranging from priests to city officials to entrepreneurs. Being Dead Otherwise is an academic book that achieves the highest standards of scholarship, but it’s also a fascinating read that’s easily accessible to a wide audience.

[University of Chicago Magazine]

From our Summer/23 issue:

In recent decades, Japan has experienced economic depression, urbanization, an aging population, declining marriage and childbirth rates, and a rise in single households. As a result, more people live and die alone, and traditional practices of caring for the deceased often are no longer possible. Cultural anthropologist Anne Allison explores these changes and the new mortuary businesses and initiatives—such as interment of commingled ashes in collective burial sites, one-stop mortuary complexes, and even robotic priests—that have appeared in Japan to provide alternatives to ancestral graves and familial caregiving. Allison’s analysis of this evolving ecology of death provides insight into the forces shaping Japanese identity, society, and traditions.

https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-n...

[t. · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'd never read an anthro book before this one but i need to keep doing it in the future. i learned a LOT and also it was just a wonderful book to meditate on

[Charlie Buckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit more of a dry academic style at points than in Precarious Japan, but every bit as interesting