Funerary Practices in the Netherlands

Brenda Mathijssen|Claudia Venhorst

Emerald

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Paperback / softback

9781787698765

19 September 2019

£45.99

eBook (PDF)

9781787698734

19 September 2019

£33.99

eBook (ePub)

9781787698758

19 September 2019

£33.99

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Contents
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About

In contextualizing the Dutch funerary practice in its wider legal, national and local governance framework, this book describes the historical context for current practices, provides data on trends in burial and cremation, and examines recent developments including natural burial, increasing religious diversity and changing national legislation.

Chapters provide an overview of funerary history and contemporary practice, alongside photographs, charts and tables of key information. Topics explored include: the death care industry; the Corpse Disposal Act; a typical funeral including funeral costs and insurance; cemetery and crematorium provision; and, the practices, technicalities and legalities of burial and cremation. The book also analyses and illustrates the commemorative practice of public mourning events related to World War II, the Holocaust and the MH17 plane crash.

This book provides a broad frame of reference on funeral practices, making it a useful resource for academics, policy makers and practitioners interested in the historic, legal, technical and professional aspects of the funerary industry.

Chapter 1. The Netherlands: An Introduction Chapter 2. History Chapter 3. Demographic and legal frameworks Chapter 4. The funeral directing industry Chapter 5. Paying for funerals Chapter 6. A typical funeral Chapter 7. Burial and Cemeteries Chapter 8. Cremation and Crematoria Chapter 9. Death and Remembrance in the Public Sphere

Mathijssen and Venhorst describe funerary practices in the Netherlands as a dynamic field still being shaped by a Protestant majority in the North and a Roman Catholic majority in the South, by the segregation of society into pillars, by the arrival of migrants from the former colonies of Suriname and Indonesia and from the Caribbean territories, by the arrival of guest workers from the peripheries of Europe and elsewhere, by individualization and secularization, by emancipation movements, and by technical innovation. They cover history, demographic and legal frameworks, the funeral directing industry, paying for funerals, a typical funeral, burial and cemeteries, cremation and crematoria, and death and remembrance in the public sphere.
- Annotation ©2019

Brenda Mathijssen is Assistant Professor of Psychology, Culture and Religion at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. She is the author of Making Sense of Death: Ritual Practices and Situational Beliefs of the Recently Bereaved in the Netherlands (2017) and Dood: Wegwijs in de Nederlandse Uitvaartcultuur (2017).

Claudia Venhorst is a religious studies scholar and photographer at the Centre for Thanatology at Radboud University, the Netherlands. She is author of Muslims Ritualising Death in the Netherlands: Death Rites in a Small Town Context (2014) and Dood: Wegwijs in de Nederlandse Uitvaartcultuur (2017).