Hw 54- Independent Research B

Being a Muslim, care of the dead and funerals were never discussed a lot growing up because of the fact that it is almost considered taboo. Doing research on the topic I realized that there isn't really that much that is special about a Muslim funeral. The rituals preformed are very similar to that of the dominant social practices. The loved ones bury the body in a cemetery with others (friends and distant family) attending a ceremony. It is traditionally considered haram (not permissible) to leave the deceased with a Qur’an or any sort of other materials as it is considered a waste of money because of the fact that it benefits nobody and throwing dirt on objects like the Qur’an (as you would do when burying a body) is a definite no, it is considered a large insult to Allah. Death, according to the Qur'an, is not the end of man's life; it only opens the door to another, a higher form of life: " We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not." Qur'an 56: 60 - 61.


There are a few little things in the Qur’an however that got me thinking a bit. Doing research on ISNA.net (Islamic Society in Northern America) I discovered a section where funeral and care of the dead are discussed. A question is posed about whether or not it is permissible to place flowers on the grave to which the response was "The practice should be shunned. One should do pious deeds that will be of benefit to the deceased, for example reciting the Qur'an, giving charity, etc. on behalf of the deceased. Placing flowers on the grave does not benefit the deceased in any way. It is waste of money. Rather, that money is given to the poor and needy as charity on behalf of the deceased. Insha’Allah, the deceased will benefit from that immensely." which almost directly contradicts a answered posed to the question of whether or not cremation is allowed in Islam, that answer was "The procedure of honorably dispensing the corpse by burying is explained in the Qur'an and Ahaadith. Even in the burial procedure, the corpse must be handled with utmost care. The beloved Prophet (upon him be peace) said, ‘ Breaking the bone of a corpse is like breaking the bone of a living person.' Obviously, in the cremaProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ng procedure, the entire body is damaged. In view of the above, cremating a body is Haraam". Now in the first quote it is stated that the practice of doing things like putting flowers on the grave should be shunned because it doesn't benefit anybody and yet it is not ok to cremate somebody, I find cremation to be a much more useful and beneficial way of caring for the dead than burial. Cremation is much more flexible with what can be done with the dead after the ritual while after burying someone there is not much you can do with them. Crematoriums also are as Dr.Troyer said a way to power other objects such as houses, homeless shelters, or even mosques. It seems to me that being cremated can benefit people much more then it a burial can.


Interviewing an imam, I discovered that although caring for the dead is basically the same as the dominant social practice. The ritual of caring for the dead is much different simply because of the religious aspect. A big aspect of this ritual is this idea of paradise (heaven) vs. hell. According to the imam, the point of life is to do enough good to reach paradise in the after-life. He specifically said that "Those who are blessed with nearness (to Allah) in gardens of bliss.  They will be sitting on thrones woven with gold reclining on them facing each other.  They will be served in rounds by Immortal boys with bowls and jugs and a goblet of pure wine.  Which will neither cause them to suffer headache, nor will they be intoxicated.  They will be given fruits of their choice and the meat of birds that they desire.  And for them there will be women having lovely big eyes all neat and clean like a hidden pearl as a reward for what they used to do (from good) in their worldly life." he clearly says that you will be rewarded for doing well in your worldly life and that if you don't you will be sent to hell. Learning about the Islamic perspective on care of the dead I realized that it is what people would consider a "normal funeral". Friends and family come to pay their respects and the body is buried into the ground only to be covered up with dirt. I feel Islam puts so much emphasis on its followers being useful and beneficial that it does not realize that some of its practices and rituals are not very beneficial. That being said I want to know why Islam is structured in such a way where it seems like there is only pure good or pure evil, similar to the idea of being cartoony we discussed in class.

Eco Friendly Burial sites gives a chance to be green forever (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/13/national/13cemetery.html?pagewanted=all)

Forever Fernwood cemetery has debut a new and greener way to care for the dead. Devoting 16 acres of the Fernwood land to try and make this cemetery a little more green. Tyler Cassidy opened this old cemetery said that each of these little graves are ecosystems directed primarily at the dying baby-boomer generation. Mr.Cassity being in this $15 billion dollar funeral industry had to do what about 140 woodland cemeteries in England did and make his cemetery a bit greener. You can't just be a corspse anymore you have to be a eco-friendly corpse.

Biodegradable coffins (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09_6_coffin.html)

"Green" has become more and more popular lately so why not "green" burials which has been increasing in popularity lately and the ecopod is one of the first green products to hit the funeral industry that satisfies consumers. this eco-pod is a coffin that is 100 % biodegradable held together by recycled paper. Cynthia Beal, the founder of The natural burial company is hoping that this although simple concept will help encourage a push popularity towards natural burial parks which there aren't many of.

Analysis-

Both of these articles address this concept of being green/natural. The first article discusses having green cemtaries while the second article discusses having green coffins. Both articles address the popularity of the subject (whether high or low) yet still did not discuss an alternative to their own way of being "green/Natural" which i felt would have made their arguments much stronger (a question i asked my expert). I wanted to know how much being eco-friendly like this cost and is it a reasonable goal that can be achieved on a wider scale whether national or international. The articles here inspired my questions for my expert and gave a chance to learn a little more abProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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t the perspectives on green and natural burial.

Dr.Troyer Interview and Analysis:

I interviewed Dr.Troyer regarding his thoughts on the green and natural burial process. He (being a world expert) had alot of very intelligent things to say about the topic. I basically wanted to know if green/natural burial were the same thing and if they really did help the enviornment more than other forms of care of the dead. I wanted to know what defines a natural burial? to which hes responded saying "A Natural Burial generally means nothing is done to the body (embalming for example) and the corpse is placed in a simple casket or burial shroud and then buried in a shallower-than-normal grave. The natural burial cemeteries often look like forests or woodlands. Generally speaking, a large or even medium sized grave marker is not used." and is natural burial the same as a green burial, he said "Not all the time. The natural burial usually means in the ground. A green burial can involve all kinds of technology: cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, promession, etc. Sometimes green burials don't even look that 'natural' even if they're more eco-friendly."

I also wanted to know of examples where this green burial/ natural burial has really single handedly helped be more eco-friendly. I really wanted to know if this would work on a large scale possibly maybe even on a national one and if so would it really help us? i asked what Dr.Troyer thought and he told me that the countries with  the best practices were the Western European countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway etc. he said that those countries have been looking at these issues for a while and really doing a lot with new kinds of technology. I don't know if there's a direct correlation with natural/green burials as much as it is evidence of a different way of thinking.  he said that the technologies there haven't run into problems (or not too many) and it's largely because the general population supports the idea, which i think is what we need to do here.

We put so much emphasis on being individually green that we dont realize that the few of us that are doing it aren't doing much. According to Dr. Troyer the reason it is workign so well in western europe is because this idea of green/natural burial is supported by the people therefore it has to be practiced by the people. If we would both support and practice this way of caring for the dead it may have an impact. However this begs the question how big will the impact even be. According to Dr. Troyer there is no obvious correlation between having green/natural burials and being a more eco-friendly country. I want to know whether or not there is another option, whether or not we can find a way to be green that is both reasonable and feasible?

 

HW 51 - Second Third of COTD Book

Precis-

Tom Jokinen uses his somewhat morbid humor in the second half of the book to help bring the reader in. Tom Jokinen has a dry wit that works very well in this second half of Curtains.  He describes funeral practices with a lot detail, inserting just a bit of commentary to keep the narrative both entertaining and informant.  Additionally, he finds himself in some pretty funny situations. The commentary about the funeral industry was surprising. Tom Jokinen gave us information that I didn’t expect mainly, the growing popularity of cremation.  It was really interesting to read about the politics between different funeral homes, as well as the relationships these institutions try to develop with the living. It’s these kinds of moments that make the book morbidly amusing yet worth reading.

Quotes-

1. "To richard and me the glasses are a prop. Same with the watch. To the families, they're the women who wore them." Pg 113
2. "The factory at night is a menacing sight. Locking up my bike, thee only lights i can see are those of the airport to the west, and the open garage door of the crematorium, where adina and glenn are waiting for the delivery." Pg 123
3. "Buffering the door handle on the back of the coach, and i think to myself: here's a species i've never encountered, the mellow funeral director."

Analysis-

What i found really both funny and sad was his morbid sense of humor. At one part he’s driving a hearse with a dead body behind him in the back and listening to Mr. Roboto. When reflecting about it, he turns off the radio, thinking that Mr. Roboto is probably not the best song to be playing when you send a person off.  Tom Jokinen although allows his sense of humor to direct his commentary in can sometimes be a little dry (and not in a positive way) which i think takes away from the enjoyment some people might get.

HW 49 - Comments on Best of Your Break HW

To Matt:
 I felt that your blog post was really interesting, being able to explore the choices that correlate between faith and non faith was a very good idea. the one specific line i enjoyed was "She said that her mother had no sense of a afterlife, she had utterly no hope of ever seeing her beloved husband again. She abandoned all the faith she had after he died." i felt that this was very descriptive the thought of how she lost her faith, i was more curious as to what she had faith in to begin with which could have been a good question that you could have asked.

To Arden:

Your blog post as usual was very thoughtful. i felt your analysis was very strong and contained no "bubbles" but instead all somewhat deep thoughts. my favorite part was when you said "It is a helpful way for loved ones to gain emotional support. A Memorial or a funeral is a public display of acknowledgment of the persons life. Some are held with traditions and some not as much. I was intrigued by the religious tradition addressed in this interview. Due to my lack of knowledge about it in the fist place. From this conversation I began to search for excerpts from the Torah. Ideas of the after life seem to be vaguely discussed." i thought that you went above and beyond what most students would have done and actually did your own research into the subject of your specific religious afterlife beliefs. 

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From Steven (protege)-
Im glad that you were able to really think deeply about this topic, and it is clearly represented in your analysis paragraphs (2 & 4). For example, in the second paragraph, you dont only analyze your mothers point of view, you follow up with some questions about how her point of view vs. our point of view would change the way we thought about certain ideas. You did a great job analyzing your dads opinion because you immediately connected it to utilitarianism and you were able to draw a conclusion about what he believes and follow that up by asking a relavant question.

However, i think that you made a pretty big assumption. You said, "The only reason we don’t react like that is because we are used to the idea, our understanding is much more broad". I actually personally dont think this. It doesn't freak me out, but it certainly is a scary idea. Its a little nerve wrecking to think of your body basically being put into a furnace and left to turn into ash. I still think your question is applicable, but i also might add onto it by asking besides our decisions, but about our beliefs based on culture and generation.

From Matt-

You did a nice job in this post Sharif. I liked how you really analyzed your interviews,You did a great job At building a contrast between your mother's /father's point of view and "our view's". You also asked some great questions.

However I disagree somewhat when you say "The only reason we don’t react like that is because we are used to the idea, our understanding is much more broad. We were lucky enough to grow up in a generation where tradition isn't something that is held to as high a standard as the ones before us, which allows us to be able to accept things the my mothers generation and culture really could not, which then begs the question how much does our culture/ generational norms effect our decisions?"

I think that in alot of ways we as a generation have still been made to believe in certain taboos of death. So which your statement is more then valid. I think we are more close minded then we even realize

HW 50 - First Third of Care-of-the-Dead Book Post

Jokinen, Tom. Curtains Adventures of an Undertaker-In-Training.

Precis-
Tom Jokinen in the book Curtains explores the life of an undertaker after quitting his very comfortable government job. Inserting himself in the job and culture that surrounds it while still using his own on the job experience, some journalistic investigation and a good sense of humor. He explores his own thoughts on the subject while also comparing it to that of societies. Discussing the way funeral homes sell there product while still competing with growing popularity of cremation.

Quotes-

1. "In the office, Richard's quick estimate, not including cemetery expenses, comes to $7,680, which he rounds up to $7,900 to provide wiggle room. Then if the final bill is less than the estimate, they'll feel like they got a deal." (page 39)
2. "Just under two hours and a lunch later, we open the heavy door to reveal her scattered skeleton, pieces of white bone blown around by the powerful gas jets."

Analysis-

Tom Jokinen uses his humor and personal accounts to express to the reader this idea of being and undertaker. He doesn't use historical or even statistical information but uses personal accounts to make it seem more like he is the readers friend telling him a story and less like the reader's author.the most interesting part of the first part of the book is the small section where he discusses the techniques is selling coffins. he is so descriptive with the way Richard studies his clients focusing on the person in the family who he knows is in charge even if they aren't focused on him. The author also stated one line that really caught my attention when describing Richard, he said " He doesn't want to be your friend he wants to be your funeral director something that most corporate funeral directors do not do." this specific line really gave me more of an understanding as to the type of person that Richard is, which is one thing i really appreciate about the author's writing style he is always very descriptive.

HW 48 - Family Perspectives on the Care of the Dead

For this assignment, I interviewed my mother and father. They both grew up in Middle Eastern countries but as you'll soon see there ways of caring for the dead are very different. I first interviewed my mom, who was a bit reluctant about talking about this topic. I personally have never had this conversation with her before and so I wasn't sure what to expect. I asked how she would liked to be cared for after her death, to which she responded saying that she would want to be buried like everyone is. I got the assumption that she wasn't too familiar with the other forms of caring for the dead so I told her about cremation and "natural" care of the dead. She wasn't a big fan of cremation the idea of having her body burned kind of freaked her out, which when you think about it, is kind of weird.


Analyzing this interview I realized that her reaction to cremation is completely understandable. The only reason we don’t react like that is because we are used to the idea, our understanding is much more broad. We were lucky enough to grow up in a generation where tradition isn't something that is held to as high a standard as the ones before us, which allows us to be able to accept things the my mothers generation and culture really could not, which then begs the question how much does our culture/ generational norms effect our decisions?


The second person I interviewed was my dad. His perspective was a little different, I asked him similar questions to that of my mother and got some very different answers. I asked him how he would like to be cared for after his death and he said that it didn't really matter, I asked him why to which he responded that he would be dead its not like he is going to have any feeling or memory of how he is cared for after his death. I asked him which he feels is better cremation or burials and he told me that the truth is, whichever one is more beneficial to society and his loved ones afterwards would probably be the better one for him that is at least.


The one thing I noticed about my dad's point of view is that it is very utilitarianism. His ideas on care of the dead are very unselfish and its not because he wants to be a unselfish man but because being able to provide for his loved ones and/or society may be his way of making death work for hProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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benefit. Instead of allowing death to be unbeneficial he makes it so that it is beneficial. Which then also is a gateway to asking the question do people make excuses for death to be a part of their life or is it genuine kindness that causes people to do things like donate money or make the care of them after their death as easy as possible?

Future Death: The Dead Human Body as Biomass (extra credit)

Attending this lecture i feel that i have gotten a better look into the care of the dead. Dr. John Troyer The deputy director of the Centre for Death & Society focused mainly on cremation. He really wanted to get across this feeling of how cremation is one of the more popular ways for caring for the dead. He started off with informing us about his work, but then eventually started talking about new and innovative ways of caring for the dead. He mentioned that there is an infrastructure inside this idea of care for the dead. he talked about controversial topics regarding burial (what is natural Burial?) and then even discussed the problems with the system right now. He also discussed the use of crematoriums as a energy source that could power 20 houses at once(one of my favorite parts of the lecture). However he mainly focused on informing the audience on the basics and then choose to go deeper into a specific part of care of the dead which again is cremation.


I was surprisingly entertained by the lecture. I went in there scared because of all this talk about death. I remember the first thing Dr.Troyer saying was that he the Centre for Death & Society wasn't a bunch of Gothic fanatics obsessed with death which gave me a big sense of relief. The topic i really enjoyed was his focus on new and innovative ways to care for the dead. Specifically he discussed this machine that feeds off of biomass which can be a very resourceful tool in retrieving the thousands of bodies that are to radioactive to touch in japan right now. I started off thinking care of the dead is a part of life that wasn't necessarily important, however after attending this lecture i realized that this is what so many other people think as well which is why care of the dead is such an important topic. There are 54 crematoriums in NY that handle about 700 bodies, if one were to shutdown for any reason there would be 700 bodies with nowhere to go and then all of a sudden care of the dead would become an important subject. I have a new respect for care of the dead and am excited to learn more about it. At the beginning of this unit i mentioned that i can't see any nightmarish industrial atrocities, however it is becoming clearer what they are now.