Date: 18 November 2013 

Time: 14.15 – 17.05
Venue: Chancellor’s Building, Room 3.15, University of Bath
Speakers:

• Sue Chard, Independent Funeral Celebrant, Gloucester. ‘The Celebrant Role in Changing Times’
• Brenda Mathijssen, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. ‘The ‘Religious’ in ‘Secular’ Dutch Funerals
• Dr Rachel Ibrek, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Hama Munyikwa, University of Limerick. ‘Symbolic Patronage: the politics of funerals in Zimbabwe’

About the seminar:

Funerals reflect society. In some countries, almost every aspect of life – including funerals – is politicised; some post-industrial societies are very secular, with funerals reflecting personality more than politics or religion.

This seminar considers funerals in three societies. First, how English and Dutch funerals respond to secularisation, often in subtle and complex ways; second, how in Zimbabwe the Mugabe regime succeeds, and the opposition MDC fails, to use funerals to cultivate power.

Further info: http://www.bath.ac.uk/cdas/events/news_0008.html