"[S]heds light not only on the obstacles to making motherhood safer, but to improving the health of poor populations in general."-Social Anthropology Since 1987, when the global community first recognized the high frequency of women in developing countries dying from pregnancy-related causes, little progress has been made to combat this problem. This study follows the global policies that have been implemented in Solola, Guatemala in order to decrease high rates of maternal mortality among indigenous Mayan women. The author examines the diverse meanings and understandings of motherhood, pregnancy, birth and birth-related death among the biomedical personnel, village women, their families, and midwives. These incongruous perspectives, in conjunction with the implementation of such policies, threaten to disenfranchise clients from their own cultural understandings of self. The author investigates how these policies need to meld with the everyday lives of these women, and how the failure to do so will lead to a failure to decrease maternal deaths globally. From the Introduction: An unspoken effect of reducing maternal mortality to a medical problem is that life and death become the only outcomes by which pregnancy and birth are understood. The specter of death looms large and limits our full exploration of either our attempts to curb maternal mortality, or the phenomenon itself. Certainly women's survival during childbirth is the ultimate measure of success of our efforts. Yet using pregnancy outcomes and biomedical attendance at birth as the primary feedback on global efforts to make pregnancy safer is misguided.

It is estimated that there are 60,000 excess Black American deaths annually compared with White Americans. Not only do Black babies die earlier than White babies, but, in recent years, there are reports that while life expectancy for Whites has improved, for Blacks there has been a leveling off, if not a reduction. These are among the issues detailed in this important guide to the major causes of Black illness and death. Divided into 27 chapters, this handbook provides a mosaic of the conditions, issues, and policies related to Black American health. The more than 40 contributing authors, drawn from institutions across the country, are the premier scholars in their respective fields. The scope and multidisciplinary nature of the handbook makes it invaluable for those concerned with contemporary Black society, clinical medicine, epidemiology, health care administration, medical sociology, nursing, nutrition, public health, social work, and public policy.

Suicide Prevention: A Holistic Approach contains the selected and edited papers that were presented during the congress Suicide, Disease, Disadvantage, A Holistic Approach, organized by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, which was held in June 1995, in Venice. Suicide prevention is still sadly neglected by governments and public health authorities, despite the fact that in several Western countries suicide has become the primary cause of death among younger age groups. The selected papers express the need for a holistic viewpoint in suicide management. The subjects range from parasuicide to the role of the media, from the special type of psychotherapeutic approach required to the most recent guidelines in pharmacological treatment, from a homage to the memory of Erwin Ringel to the presentation of specific national prevention schemes. The book will be of interest to public health workers, doctors, psychologists and social workers, as well as voluntary staff and their organizations, and to all those who make suicide prevention one of their primary interests.

This anthology of 16 chapters (see details below) is VOLUME 4 of the DEATH AND ANTI-DEATH series by Ria University Press. Most of the contributions consist of scholarship unique to this volume. Includes index. Although published in honor of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the chapters do NOT necessarily mention Simone de Beauvoir or Martin Heidegger. The 16 chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) ARE directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death - as follows: 1. Mechanism, Galileo's Animale And Heidegger's Gestell: Reflections On The Lifelessness Of Modern Science (by Giorgio Baruchello); 2. Simone De Beauvoir (by Debra Bergoffen); 3. Existentialism (by Steven Crowell); 4. Time Wounds All Heels (by William Grey); 5. The Ethical Importance Of Death (by Jenann Ismael); 6. The Poetics Of Death: Intimations And Illusions (by Lawrence Kimmel); 7. Death And Aesthetics (by Keith Lehrer); 8. Ageing And Existentialism: Simone De Beauvoir And The Limits Of Freedom (by Shannon M. Mussett); 9. Life Extension And Meaning (by Carol O'Brien); 10. Consciousness As Computation: A Defense Of Strong AI Based On Quantum-State Functionalism (by R. Michael Perry); 11. Reality Shifts: On The Death And Dying Of Dr. Timothy Leary (by Carol Sue Rosin); 12. Extraterrestrial Liberty And The Great Transmutation (by Charles Tandy); 13. A Time Travel Schema And Eight Types Of Time Travel (by Charles Tandy); 14. Boredom, Experimental Ethics, And Superlongevity (by Mark Walker); 15. Exopolitics: The Death Of Death (by Alfred Lambremont Webre); 16. Embryo Cloning: Current State Of The Medical Art And Its Far-Reaching Consequences ForMultiple Applications (by Panayiotis M. Zavos).

The official death rates from suicide vary considerably between countries in the world for which data are available. They range from 3 to 45 persons a year, per 100,000 of population. Historically, the higher rates of suicide are in the older age groups and in males. However, the general trend in the last twenty years has been for suicide increasing in the younger age groups (15-34) and in femah;s. It has been suggested that thi~ development is related to the phenomenon of attempted suicide, of which the rates in most industrialized countries have doubled and in some countries even tripled over the past two decades. The average rate of attempted suicide is now estimated to be around 200 per 100,000 for males and 350 for females. Almost two-thirds of these occur before the age of thirty. Although the majority of attempted suicide are not intended to be lethal, once a suicide attempt has been made, there is more likelihood of subsequent death by suicide. As many as ten percent of people who have made a previous unsuccessful attempt commit suicide at a later stage in their lives. rersons with increased likelihood to commit suicide are youngsters from disrupted families and from families with a history of suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, those who have failed at school, the unemployed and those suffering from depression.

Death and grief have often elicited the response of creativity, from elegies and requiems to memorial architecture. Such artistic expressions of grief form the focus of Grief, Identity, and the Arts, which brings together scholars from the disciplines of musicology, literature, sociology, film studies, social work, and museum studies. While presenting one or more case studies from a range of artistic disciplines, historical periods, or geographical areas, each chapter addresses the interdependence of grief and identity in the arts. The volume as a whole shows how artistic expressions of grief are both influenced by and contribute to constructions of religious, national, familial, social, and artistic identities. Contributors to this volume: Tammy Clewell, Lizet Duyvendak, David Gist, Maryam Haiawi, Owen Hansen, Maggie Jackson, Christoph Jedan, Bram Lambrecht, Carlo Leo, Wolfgang Marx, Tijl Nuyts, Despoina Papastathi, Julia Placzkiewicz, Bavjola Shatro, Caroline Supply, Nicolette van den Bogerd, Eric Venbrux, Janneke Weijermars, Miriam Wendling, and Mariske Westendorp.

Where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from? As strange as it may seem to us now, there was a time when no one thought they would go to heaven or hell after they died. In fact, there is no mention of them in the Old Testament, and Jesus did not believe the souls of the departed were bound for either realm. In this gripping history of the afterlife, Bart Ehrman reveals how the concepts of heaven and hell developed and took hold, and why they endure to this day. He examines the social, cultural and historical roots of competing views held by Greeks, Jews and Christians, and traces how beliefs changed over time. Ultimately, he shows that many of our ideas about heaven and hell emerged long after Jesus's time, through the struggle to explain the injustices of the world.

In this original and compelling book, Jeffrey P. Bishop, a philosopher, ethicist, and physician, argues that something has gone sadly amiss in the care of the dying by contemporary medicine and in our social and political views of death, as shaped by our scientific successes and ongoing debates about euthanasia and the "right to die"-or to live. The Anticipatory Corpse: Medicine, Power, and the Care of the Dying, informed by Foucault's genealogy of medicine and power as well as by a thorough grasp of current medical practices and medical ethics, argues that a view of people as machines in motion-people as, in effect, temporarily animated corpses with interchangeable parts-has become epistemologically normative for medicine. The dead body is subtly anticipated in our practices of exercising control over the suffering person, whether through technological mastery in the intensive care unit or through the impersonal, quasi-scientific assessments of psychological and spiritual "medicine." The result is a kind of nihilistic attitude toward the dying, and troubling contradictions and absurdities in our practices. Wide-ranging in its examples, from organ donation rules in the United States, to ICU medicine, to "spiritual surveys," to presidential bioethics commissions attempting to define death, and to high-profile cases such as Terri Schiavo's, The Anticipatory Corpse explores the historical, political, and philosophical underpinnings of our care of the dying and, finally, the possibilities of change. This book is a ground-breaking work in bioethics. It will provoke thought and argument for all those engaged in medicine, philosophy, theology, and health policy.

Perfect for school and public libraries, this is the only reference book to combine pop culture with science to uncover the mystery behind mummies and the mummification phenomena. Mortality and death have always fascinated humankind. Civilizations from all over the world have practiced mummification as a means of preserving life after death-a ritual which captures the imagination of scientists, artists, and laypeople alike. This comprehensive encyclopedia focuses on all aspects of mummies: their ancient and modern history; their scientific study; their occurrence around the world; the religious and cultural beliefs surrounding them; and their roles in literary and cinematic entertainment. Author and horror guru Matt Cardin brings together 130 original articles written by an international roster of leading scientists and scholars to examine the art, science, and religious rituals of mummification throughout history. Through a combination of factual articles and topical essays, this book reviews cultural beliefs about death; the afterlife; and the interment, entombment, and cremation of human corpses in places like Egypt, Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Additionally, the book covers the phenomenon of natural mummification where environmental conditions result in the spontaneous preservation of human and animal remains. Includes photographs, reproductions of ancient art, images from films and television, and a bibliography to encourage further research Features profiles of famous archaeologists and key figures who have been instrumental in bringing the mummy to modern consciousness Contains various timelines tracing the exploration of the Egyptian tombs, the birth of modern genetic and radiologic methods of study, the evolution of mummies in film and literature, and the history of mummies around the world Highlights key facts and interesting trivia related to mummies in helpful sidebars Offers an extensive bibliography to encourage further reading

Volume Three in the Death And Anti-Death Series By Ria University Press is in honor of Albert Einstein and Soren Kierkegaard. The chapters do not necessarily mention Einstein or Kierkegaard. The 17 chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) are directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death. Most of the 400-plus pages consists of scholarship unique to this volume. Includes Index. ---CHAPTER ONE: Death And Life Support Systems: A Novel Cultural Exploration by Giorgio Baruchello. ---CHAPTER TWO: Recent Developments In The Ethics, Science, And Politics Of Life-Extension by Nick Bostrom. ---CHAPTER THREE: Life, And The Concept Of A Relativistic Field In Kant by Douglas Burnham. ---CHAPTER FOUR: Towards An Ethics Of Ontogeny by Anthony S. Dawber. ---CHAPTER FIVE: An Easy Death by Mikhail Epstein. ---CHAPTER SIX: Fear Of Death And Muddled Thinking -- It Is So Much Worse Than You Think by Robin Hanson. ---CHAPTER SEVEN: The Illusiveness Of Immortality by James J. Hughes. ---CHAPTER EIGHT: A Question Of Endings by Lawrence Kimmel. ---CHAPTER NINE: What Is Left After Death? by Jack Lee. ---CHAPTER TEN: Life Extension And Pleasure: Can The Prolongation Of (Self) Consciousness Deliver Greater Pleasure Or Happiness? by Carol O'Brien. ---CHAPTER ELEVEN: Raising The Dead Scientifically: Fedorov's Project In A Modern Form by R. Michael Perry. ---CHAPTER TWELVE: The Emulation Argument: A Modification Of Bostrom's Simulation Argument by Charles Tandy. ---CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Managing The Consequences Of Rapid Social Change by Natasha Vita-More. ---CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Eros And Thanatos -- The Establishment Of Individuality by Werner J. Wagner. ---CHAPTERFIFTEEN: Universal Superlongevity: Is It Inevitable And Is It Good? by Mark Walker. ---CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Return To A Pristine Ecosphere Via Molecular Nanotechnology by Sinclair T. Wang. ---CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Fedorov's Legacy: The Cosmist View Of Man's Role In The Universe by George M. Young.

Talking to the Dead is an essay on death and its tenacious hold on Irish culture. There are few traditions in which funerary motifs have been so ubiquitous in literature, popular rituals, folk representations, public rhetorics, even constructions of place. There are even fewer cultures in which funerary genres and preoccupations constitute the central thread of continuity. The Irish Theatrum Mortis is not simply an obsession of writers from the bards to Beckett and Heaney. Nor is it confined to contemporary Republican iconography. It is to be found in the pages of the local press, in acts of ritual resistance to unpopular decisions, in the way in which significant public events are narrated and framed. Though the funerary Ireland presented here may well yield to the new, positive self-image of the Celtic Tiger, it is the authors' contention that at the end of the twentieth century the funerary sign continues to define Irish identity. For good and ill, it is the centre that holds.

There have been five different settings that at one time or another have contained the dead body of Mustafa Kemal AtatA1/4rk, organizer of the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923) and first president of the Republic of Turkey. Narrating the story of these different architectural constructions - the bedroom in DolmabahAe Palace, Istanbul, where he died; a temporary catafalque in this same palace; his funeral stage in Turkey's new capital Ankara; a temporary tomb in the Ankara Ethnographic Museum; and his permanent and monumental mausoleum in Ankara, known in Turkish as 'Anitkabir' (Memorial Tomb) - this book also describes and interprets the movement of AtatA1/4rk's body through the cities of Istanbul and Ankara and also the nation of Turkey to reach these destinations. It examines how each one of these locations - accidental, designed, temporary, permanent - has contributed in its own way to the construction of a Turkish national memory about AtatA1/4rk. Lastly, the two permanent constructions - the DolmabahAe Palace bedroom and Anitkabir - have changed in many ways since their first appearance in order to maintain this national memory. These changes are exposed to reveal a dynamic, rather than dull, impression of funerary architecture.

Challenging the widely held notion of a hospice as a building or a place, this book argues that it should instead be a philosophy of care. It proposes that the positive and negative impact that space can have in the pursuit of an ideal such as hospice care has previously been underestimated. Whether it be a purpose-built hospice, part of a hospital, a nursing home or within the home, a hospice is anchored by space and spatial practices, and these spatial practices are critical for a holistic approach to dying with dignity. Such spatial practices are understood as part of a broad architectural, social, conceptual and theoretical process. By linking health, social and architectural theory and establishing conceptual principles, this book defines 'hospice' as a philosophy that is underpinned by space and spatial practice. In putting forward the notion of 'hospice space', removed from the bounds of a specific building type, it suggests that hospice philosophy could and should be available within any setting of choice where the spatial practices support that philosophy, be it home, nursing home, hospice or 'hospice-friendly-hospitals'.

We have lost the ability to deal with death. Most of our friends and beloved relations will die in a busy hospital in the care of strangers, doctors and nurses they have known at best for a couple of weeks. They may not even know they are dying, victims of the kindly lie that there is still hope. They are unlikely to see even their family doctor in their final hours, robbed of their dignity and fed through a tube after a long series of excessive and hopeless medical interventions. This is the starting point of Seamus O'Mahoney's thoughtful, moving and unforgettable book on the western way of death. Dying has never been more public, with celebrities writing detailed memoirs of their illness, but in private we have done our best to banish all thought of dying and made a good death increasingly difficult to achieve.

The first in-depth study of the ceremonial and music performed at British royal and state funerals over the past 400 years. British royal and state funerals are among the most elaborate and solemn occasions in European history. This book is the first in-depth study of the ceremonial and the music performed at these events over the past 400 years, fromthe funeral of Elizabeth I in 1603. Covering funerals of both royalty and non-royalty, including Nelson, Wellington and Churchill, this study goes up to the funerals of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002 and the ceremonial funeral of Baroness Thatcher in 2013. While some of these funerals have received a good deal of attention - especially the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales - these extraordinary events have largely not been discussed in their longer historical context. The book examines the liturgical changes in the Anglican funeral rite since the Reformation and also the change from the so-called 'public' to 'private' funerals. It includes many new findings onthe development of the ceremonial and its intricate peculiarities, as well as new insights into the music and its performance. British Royal and State Funerals shows that, despite a strong emphasis on continuity in the choice of music, the ceremonial itself has shown an astonishing flexibility over the last four centuries. Overall, the book also contributes to the debate on the monarchy's changing public image over time by paying particular attention to topics such as tradition and propaganda. Drawing on substantial research in principal libraries and archives, including those of Westminster Abbey, the College of Arms, Lambeth Palace and the British Library, this book is an exhaustive resource for musicologists, musicians and historians alike, providing an unprecedented insight into this most sombre of royal and state occasions. MATTHIAS RANGE is author of Music and Ceremonial at British Coronations (2012). He is a post-doctoral researcher for the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music and its partner AHRC-funded Tudor Partbooks project at the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford.

This book addresses the dying process and the nature of death itself with the intention that it might help us to accept and embrace both these things as a part of life. Intended to provide a shift in perception, this book aims to alleviate some of the fear, resistance and denial surrounding death. Much has been written about death by spiritual teachers, psychologists, philosophers and palliative specialists, but this book is an entry into the conversation from a viewpoint that is not medical, religious, nor postulating any form of belief system. It is partly a survey of our attitude and resistance to dying and death, and partly an examination of the options available that could serve as a non-denominational enquiry into this unavoidable eventuality. The principle belief is that the tools required for this shift in perception are to be found within us - we already possess what we need that would allow us to drop the heavy weight of fear and anxiety. This book will help the reader to find these tools, guiding the reader towards their own, most direct route, and focuses on the validity of individual experience.

The Death And Anti-Death Series By Ria University Press discusses issues and controversies related to death, life extension, and anti-death. A variety of differing points of view are presented and argued. Death And Anti-Death, Volume 11: Ten Years After Donald Davidson (1917-2003) is edited by Charles Tandy, Ph.D.: ISBN 978-1-934297-17-9 is the Hardback edition and ISBN 978-1-934297-18-6 is the Paperback edition. Volume 11, as indicated by the anthology's subtitle, is in honor of Donald Davidson (1917-2003). The chapters do not necessarily mention him (but some chapters do). The chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) are directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death, broadly construed. Most of the contributions consist of scholarship unique to this volume. As was the case with all previous volumes in the Death And Anti-Death Series By Ria University Press, the anthology includes an Index as well as an Abstracts section that serves as an extended table of contents. There are 12 chapters, as follows: ------CHAPTER ONE Do We Really Want Immortality? (by David Brin) pages 25-42; ------CHAPTER TWO The Importance Of Being Identical: On How Not To Derive A Contradiction Within A Metaphysical Theory (by Troy Catterson) 43-60; ------CHAPTER THREE In Saecula Saeculorum? Bioscience, Biotechnology And The Construct Of Death: A Neurobioethical View (by Christine Fitzpatrick and James Giordano) 61-80; ------CHAPTER FOUR Making Death Worth Its Cost: Prolegomena To Any Future Necronomics (by Steve Fuller) 81-92; ------CHAPTER FIVE On What Persists After Death (by Vladimir V. Kalugin) 93-104; ------CHAPTER SIX Extreme Lifespans Via Perpetual-Equalising Interventions: The ELPIs Hypothesis (by Marios Kyriazis) 105-124; ------CHAPTER SEVEN What Philosophy Ought To Be (by Nicholas Maxwell) 125-162; ------CHAPTER EIGHT Resurrecting The Dead Through Future Technology: Parallel Recreation As An Alternative To Quantum Archaeology (by R. Michael Perry) 163-172; ------CHAPTER NINE Supervenient Spirituality And The Meaning Of Life (by Gabriel Segal) 173-190; ------CHAPTER TEN What Might It Take To Get From Donald Davidson's Mature Philosophical Position To Recognize The Possibility, And Even Plausibility, Of An Afterlife? (by Charles Taliaferro and Christophe Porot) 191-210; ------CHAPTER ELEVEN Roger Penrose, Rupert Sheldrake, And The Future Of Consciousness (by Charles Tandy) 211-228; ------CHAPTER TWELVE Rational Suicide And Global Suicide In The Amor Fati Of Modal Totality (by Sascha Vongehr) 229-268; ------The INDEX begins on page 269.

Medical advances prolong life. They also sometimes prolong suffering. Should we protect life or alleviate suffering? This dilemma formed the foundation for a powerful right-to-die movement and a counterbalancing concern over an emerging culture of death. What are the qualities of a life worth living? Where are the boundaries of tolerable suffering? This book is based on a hugely popular undergraduate course taught at the University of Texas, and is ideal for those interested in the social construction of social worth, social problems, and social movements. This book is part of a larger text, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?, http://www.routledge.com/9780415892476/

The high rate of suicide and self-harm in prisons around the world is of major concern to prison administrators, coroners, all those who work in prisons, observers of the justice system as well as prisoners and their families. This book provides a comprehensive overview of attempts to minimize the incidence of self-harming behaviour in custodial settings. Expert contributors from nine different countries offer a global perspective on what is a widespread problem of international concern.

This book is the first detailed examination of death in early modern Ireland. It deals with the process of dying, the conduct of funerals, the arrangement of burials, the private and public commemoration of the dead, and ideas about the afterlife. It further considers ways in which the living fashioned ceremonies of death and the reputations of the dead to support their own ends.

Most studies of human development in developing societies have focused on the childhood stage, and in a few cases exploration has extended up to adolescence, since this age group represents about half the population in developing societies. The developed world, however, is experiencing a surge in the elderly population and this has spurred its study. There is growing recognition that studies are needed in order to understand aging in all contexts, and to discover how the experience may differ in developing and developed societies. In this book, the authors discuss the appropriateness or inappropriateness of applying Western theories and perspectives to studies of aging in the developing world.

The present study critically examines the major theories in the area of aging and adult development, covering such domains as the physical, psychological, and social aspects of aging, death and dying, and social and public policies. Applying the concepts of individualism and collectivism, as well as the global and environmental dimensions of the developing world, the authors have earmarked the theories that seem suitable only to the developed world and those that appear to be universally relevant.