The Non-Controversy of a Non-Existent Muslim Burial Ground - Research Paper Example

Full A non-existent Cemetery (Social, Legal, and Cultural Geography) 14 June (estimated word count 635) Introduction The authors introduced their article and its subject topic by discussing the works of a previous author, that of the influential French-speaking sociology professor Jean Ziegler. The book in question by Ziegler is titled The Living and the Dead (Les vivants et la mort) which had influenced sociologists for so many years after its publication back in 1973. The book had examined the funerary practices of societies as a function of social relations in production that is well within the confines of merchant capitalism, reminiscent of some of those arguments by Karl Marx about feelings of alienation in an industrialized society. In fact, Ziegler mentioned how these funerary practices are a function of a political project in governance. This introduction framed the forthcoming discussion as essentially an academic and philosophical exercise, in the sense the topic of funerary practices is talked about in unusually deep intellectual discussion of the sensitive topics of death, immigration, politics, integration, power, governance, and other highly-conceptual topics. In other words, the reader was well-advised to prepare himself for a profound discussion of the said topics and that much material of academic origins will be used to support and augment the discussions and arguments. The article authors had read a lot of background academic material on their topic and used them extensively all throughout their article, by making frequent and liberal citations in the article. The article had seemed like a literature review of sorts by the sheer number of the journal articles, writings, and books used in the discussions. At any rate, it is hard to argue for or against some of the justifications they had used in their article, because the discussions are also very abstract in nature although the reader is free to form his or her own conclusions. Discussion (Argument) Their argument centered on how the perception of death had changed so much in the eyes of Western society. Death had once been seen as a great equalizer, a natural consequence of life, but the new social sciences had denaturalized death; it is now viewed as the social and political product of social relationships; that death is essentially a social construction whereas the prevailing mindset was that death is largely a cultural thing or a result of civilization. This new paradigm overturns the previous philosophy of death due to the emerging importance of funerary practices, especially within an urban setting in a modern society, with politics in it. A desired effect of this article is to bring the discussion of death into a new direction. The article authors gave the three main approaches with regards to funerary practices in terms of the location of cemeteries within the larger discussion of the geography of religion in which the first is the physical arrangement of a cemetery (its layout, design, or architecture) or called as the classical approach, the second is the cultural geography, in which a cemetery is indicative of social representations of the phenomenon of death, a function of the culture of a given society affecting the relationships between the living and the dead, and lastly, the third approach which is a conception of the idea of “deathscapes” that involve appropriate land-use and the allocation of burial spaces, which in turn cause certain conflicts among stakeholders. Structure The academic and intellectual premise of the article was framed in the form or kind of a question: how does the regulation of a space (in this case, a cemetery) dedicated to a certain type of funeral practices related to the “governmentality” of the political community of citizens? (Matthey, Felli, & Mager, 2013, p. 430). Along this line, funerary practices such as the allocation of precious urban space is located within the larger context of the politics in that particular community, in which aspects of domination are shown in legal frameworks. The authors structured their discussion based on certain criteria which are important in furthering this new view of the deathscape. Each topic comprising this new view is then discussed briefly below to show the overall flow of the structure of this article in terms of its crucial issues which indicate how funerary practices are manifestations of political power. Critical legal geography – the state has the power to regulate life as well as death. In the article, the techniques of good government require the exercise of power, even including not only the management of life but also of death; there is a relationship between society, its legal structures, and the concept of the “nomosphere” is introduced in this sub-section. Emergence of a national demand for cemeteries – a local government unit has to deal with this issue sufficiently, and the response is to create cemeteries as secular entities, open to all citizens, and to reinforce the supremacy of local authority to avoid controversies. Creation of denominational areas in Lausanne – all cemeteries within the canton are considered as public spaces, and in relation to the previous section, the municipal authority is authorized how to splice or allocate the space allotted for public cemeteries within its area. The splice war – the local government determined how space is allocated, devoid of any public discussions on the issue, as everything is tackled in the municipal council away from the public eye, although it has consulted nomospheric technicians and experts on this. Creating the nomosphere – although cemeteries are legally speaking public places, a solution was offered for specific religious denomination to have their own private spaces by a concept of “concessioned” areas which they can get for a period of up to thirty years. Nomosphere technicians as spokespeople – these technicians are paradoxically and ironically representing themselves as spokespersons of a non-existent constituency, in a sense, because they represent people who are already dead, but whose burial arrangements can still affect those who are still living, by means of how cemeteries are spliced and re-spliced. Review of Literature The authors first situated their argument within the context of theoretical viewpoints, in the perspectives of sociology and ethnology. The social dimensions of death as a cultural event had undergone various shifts and changes in Western civilization. People of European or Western origins had traditionally buried their dead as a deep mark of respect and devotion for their dearly departed, but modernity had taken hold in funerary practices, such that in the case of Switzerland, in which some 80% of dead people are now cremated (with France 27% and Italy at 10%) instead of the traditional burial, in effect freeing up space in the cemeteries. This big change in funerary practices has political implications, because more space is now available for Muslims, whose religion requires burying the body in a shroud, not in a coffin. Initial discussion was in the abstract, but then goes to the topical actual situation prevailing in a particular canton. The majority of source citations were peer-reviewed academic journals or books, with six being on-line resources, hence these citations were credible and reliable. Methodology The authors used three main methods for gathering information and material. First is semi-directive interviews with the principal actors like institutional and community leaders; a second method is field talks with migrant association leaders to get their views on this issue; and finally, the third and main method relied upon by the authors is the examination of legal, political, and public documents pertaining to the legal geography of political power. This is heavily supplemented by thorough analysis of textual materials in the form of journal articles and books, including press or newspaper releases and a few reliable on-line resources for the purpose of references or citations to support the discussion. Statistical data was sparingly used and some photographs were shown to emphasize a point. By and large, their main method was through a textual analysis (hermeneutics) of various published documents and papers. Conclusion The authors concluded their article by re-stating the important points first raised in the opening page of their paper, that the politics of dominance can be used positively in many ways, such as in funerary practices, in order to defuse denominational tensions or religious issues, because burial forms an integral part of most major religions. The politics of funerary practices can be depoliticised as well, enabling a governmentality to manage living population despite various ethnicities and religious beliefs belonging to the minorities by resorting to the abstract concept of the nomosphere. In this regard, all debates and discussions pertaining to the highly probable contentious issue of cemetery spaces had been confined internally within the community council, and excluded from the broader public debate. The authors did not call for any further research, as they consider the issue self-evident and well-settled already. But they hinted at probable applications of the lessons in their article, primarily how the sensitive issue of granting specific cemeteries for certain minorities can be defused by depoliticisation. The results of their study can used as a model for other communities dealing with the issues of multiculturalism, immigration, integration, and assimilation in multi-ethnic societies. Critical legal geography can be a useful tool if put in the right hands, especially in situations wherein power and politics can be devolved into the lower units of government and used wisely. Bibliography The bibliography is quite impressive, consisting of seventy-one source materials. It is composed 25 books, 40 journal articles, and six on-line sources, amply supplemented by ten note entries as well. Fortunately, the authors did not cite Wikipedia among the on-line sources as this is not acceptable in academic circles as very reliable, because it is an open-source site; anybody can contribute articles to the Web site without too much editorial control for content although entries could be edited later on; Wikipedia is good as a starting point for research. Work Cited Matthey, Laurent, Felli, Romain, and Christopher Mager. “We Do Have Space in Lausanne: We Have a Large Cemetery: The Non-controversy of a Non-existent Muslim Burial Ground.” Social and Cultural Geography 14.4 (2013): 428-445. Print. Read More