Blowing in the wind? Identity, materiality, and the destinations of human ashes

This article asks whether the recent UK‐based practice of removing ashes from crematoria has led to entirely new, innovative rituals of disposal, or whether contemporary practice is an appropriation of late nineteenth‐century Romantic values and beliefs. Drawing on findings from a major empirical study among both professionals and lay people involved in the removal of ashes, it explores the potentiality of ash remains as a mobile material residue of the corpse, and considers whether they enable disposal strategies which no longer reflect concerns with space and place – particularly those associated with traditional burial grounds

La crémation et le devenir des cendres

Dans nos sociétés laïques, de plus en plus de personnes choisissent de se charger de toute une série de décisions concernant les cendres de leurs défunts. Actuellement au Royaume-Uni où la législation est très permissive, près de 250 000 urnes sont retirées des crématoriums chaque année. À partir d'une enquête menee auprès de particuliers et de professionnels, les auteurs interrogent l'apparition de ces nouveaux processus rituels dans quatre villes d'Angleterre et d'Ècosse. En réinventant des sites de dispersion des cendres, lors de ce qui pourrait bien être un « rite optionnel », les survivants créent des « espaces vécus » qui transcendent les conceptions officielles sur les lieux réservés aux morts. La perspective matérialiste l'emportant, le désir de ces derniers serait d'établir des liens avec les restes du défunt, afin de créer, par le biais d'une expérience vécue, des espaces de mémoire. A quarter of a million sets of cremated ashes are now removed annually from crematoria in the UK, involving survivors of the deceased in a series of decision-making processes for these remains. This change in practice has escalated over the past decade within a legislative regime that places few, if any, restrictions on the movement and placement of ashes. Issues concerning new ritual practice in a secular society have been the focus of ethnographic research among professionals and bereaved individuals and families, in four regional UK locations. Consideration is given here to what may be « optional rites » marking the emergence of new ritual processes. We argue that in imaginatively re-inventing the sites of ash disposal, survivors have sought to establish « lived spaces » which transcend institutional conceptions of spatial allocations for the dead. The emergence of individual — often private — practices around ashes suggests materially-engaged desires to connect with these remains and to transform institutional conceptions of spaces and places for the dead into « lived » spaces that can engender environments for memorialisation. In unseren Laiengesellschaften wählen immer mehr Leute, sich um das Werden der Asche ihrer Verstorbenen zu kümmern. In dem Vereinigten Königreich, wo die Gesetzgebung sehr permissiv ist, werden jedes Jahr beinahe 250 000 Aschenurnen aus den Krematorien herausgenommen. Auf der Basis einer Umfrage, die bei Privatpersonen und Professionellen gemacht wurde, studieren die Autoren die Erscheinung dieser neuen Rituale in vier Städten Englands und Schottlands. Beim Inventieren neue Orte für die Zertreuung der Asche bei diesen « Wahlritualen » schaffen die Hinterblieb enden « gelebte Räume », welche die institutionellen Auffassungen der für die Toten bestimmten Orte transzendieren. Die Entwicklung solcher individueller Praktiken bezüglich der Asche, weisen auf den Wunsch hin, mit den Totenresten in Verbindung zu treten, um Gedächtnisräume mittels einer gelebten Erfahrung zu schaffen

Triangulating data

This accessible introduction to key concepts, methods and issues in social gerontological research presents a unique view of the research process by focusing on the relationships between conceptual definition and research methodology and between research, policy and practice. At a theoretical level, the text draws on the core gerontological concepts of age, dependency, social support and quality of life to illustrate their complexity, and the difficulties of measurement. On a practical level, the contributors present a number of methodological approaches which have been particularly useful in social gerontological research. Finally, they consider three critical issues: whether old people require special ethical consideration; the prospects for funding; and the importance of disseminating research effectively. Researching Social Gerontology has been specially commissioned by the British Society for Gerontology to outline current thinking in conceptual and methodological development, and the context in which gerontological research is being carried out. As such it will prove stimulating and useful for researchers at all levels, practitioners, policy-makers and those with a more general interest in the ageing proces

Making space for identity

This chapter outlines and brings together some key debates and theories about the place attachments that older people make at national, regional and local level. Based on a study of older people living in a range of locations and accommodation, the authors extend existing theories and describe place identity as a component of self identity. In particular, they position home as crucial to older people in terms of meaning, attachment and interaction. Their theory of re-engagement demonstrates how people constantly work on connections to environment

Private lives in public places: a research-based critique of residential life in local authority old people's homes

Is there a future for old people's homes? Is it possible to maintain a sense of independence and individuality whilst living within a close community? these are the types of questions that this book sets out to examine in depth. In this book the authors present a research-based critique of institutional living that draws on evidence from one hundred public sector homes. It is the outcome of a massive survey set up to examine design and accommodation requirements, describe existing physical and social environments, and look at ways in which these might be improved. The authors come up with some constructuve recommednations building on positive attributes of homes identified by the elderly clients themselves, they propose an alternative model - the 'residential flatlet'. This, by combining the advantages of a radical shift towards independent living in a residential setting with the security of support essential for a frail population, attempts to capture the essence of 'home'

Option recognition in later life: variations in ageing in place

During the 1970s, American gerontologist M.Powell Lawton and colleagues saw the person-environment system as fundamential to defining the quality of later life. They proposed the environmental docility hypothesis that weighed the more competent the person, the less dependent they are on environmental circumstances. This work was later advanced to show that environmental pro-activity, including adaptation, could reinfroce control and autonomy. While that theoretical development focused on the micro-environment of accommodation, it can be applied to the macro-environment of community living. This paper, which utilises data from an empirical study 'Environment and Identity in Later Life', examines both the micro and macro scales, develops the theoretical content of the person-competence model, considers the complexity of person- environment interaction, and argues that over time some people find that their attachment to particular environments are compromised by declining competence or changes in the environment, or both. The point at which change impacts on an individual's independence and wellbeing is reached when adaptive behaviour cannot rebalance the macro- and micro-environmental press. This point, termed 'option recognition', leads to a range of strategic responses including: modification of the behaviour or environment; structural support using formal and informal services; and relocation; all of which impact on self-identity

Environment, identity and old age: quality of life or a life of quality

This chapter focuses on the role of the environments where older people live on the quality of their lives. To understand the dynamic that connects environment to identity the suthors looked at a wide variety of accommodation and neighbourhoods. The authors downgrade rigid formulations of quality of life in favour of the dynamic strategies that people bring and make for themselves a 'life of quality' - revealing a higher and more complex engagement with their physical environment than was previously throught the case