Anthropology of Death & Dying : a guide to library resourcesContents: Starting PointsWhen you need to define your topic and/or get some background reading try consulting a dictionary or encyclopedia on death. The guide to Anthropology dictionaries/encyclopedias will help if you need explanations of anthropological terminology or theory. To find overviews on the subject try the following: - Anthropology of the beginnings and ends of life (2005) [electronic]
[Reviews anthropological attention to the "beginnings" and "endings" of life. Published in vol 34 of the Annual review of Anthropology. Also available in print format]
- Celebrations of death : the anthropology of mortuary ritual (1991) [print]
[Cross-cultural study of death rituals. A book review is linked here]
- Death : a cross-cultural perspective (1984) [electronic]
[A review of anthropological literature on death. Published in vol.13 of the Annual review of Anthropology. Also available in print format]
- Death and bereavement across cultures (1997) [print]
[Cross-cultural perspective of issues related to death, dying and bereavement]
- Death, mourning and burial: a cross-cultural reader (2004) [print]
[An introduction to the anthropology of death across cultures. A book review is linked here]
- Death ritual and belief: the rhetoric of funerary rites (2002) [print]
[Describes a variety of funeral ritual from major world religions and from local traditions. A book review is linked here]
Handbook of death and dying (2003) [print]
[Cross-cultural studies of death-related topics. A book review is linked here]
International handbook of funeral customs (1998) [print]
[Explores the cultural and religious customs concerning death, burial, and mourning]
Finding Books Using The Library CatalogueBooks can be found by searching the library catalogue. Keyword searching is probably the best way of identifying material and your results will be maximised by using keyword searching techniques such as truncation and Boolean searching, and by incorporating subject headings into your search where appropriate. Here are some examples on how to construct searches: - bereavement and customs
- "mourning customs"
- "funeral rites" and Indonesia
- ("funeral rites" or death) and (anthropol? or ethnog?)
Finding Journal Articles Using Databases & BibliographiesJournal articles can be found through databases listed in the Databases for Anthropology guide - Sociological Abstracts, Anthropology Plus, Academic OneFile and Academic Search Premier are probably the best starting points for finding articles written on anthropology of death and dying topics. Pubmed is also recommended because of its international coverage of biomedical journals.
In addition, there are printed bibliographies of books & journal articles in the library which are probably most useful for identifying earlier material on death and bereavement topics. Web Resources
The following are starting points for discovering Death & Dying resources on the Web Death the last taboo
[From the Australian Museum, this website is an introduction to death & its rituals] Sociology of Death and Dying
[Created by Professor Michael C. Kearl, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Trinity University this is an extensive guide to sociological thanatology]
Last update: 4 June 2009 Helen Attar
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