This thesis examines the personalisation of Pakeha (European) post-mortem practices in New Zealand. While much of the discourse surrounding funerary and disposal processes maintains that contemporary practices demonstrate a �denial� of death and funeral director esurience, funeral directors themselves have argued that the austere Anglophone approach to death has been superseded by personalised practices. This transformation has become particularly evident in the last two decades and emphasises a historic shift to funeral services that encompass the heterogeneity of late-modern individuals. The aim of this thesis, however, is not to recapitulate funeral director rhetoric or reiterate the criticisms levelled at the industry, but to critically examine the implications and manifestations of personalisation, and explore the funeral directors� role in the provision of contemporary funeral services. In addition to archival research, this ethnographic endeavour includes in-depth interviews with funeral directors (and related occupational groups) and an extended period of participant observation. The theoretical issues explored in this thesis are grounded in this ethnographic data. This study reveals that personalisation is integrally linked to constructions of grief, the pastoral role of funeral directors, and Foucault�s concept of bio-power. Funeral director participants asseverated that funeral practices had �evolved� to effect the �healthy� resolution of grief. Personalised funerals represented a re-alignment of �natural� human needs and cultural practices, and funeral director rhetoric amalgamated essentialist interpretations of grief with personalised memories and continuing bonds (Klass and Walter 2001). Funeral directors explicitly linked personalisation to secularisation, emphasising the perceived lack of �guidance� and �care� in contemporary society. Although �impersonal� religious funerals provided funeral specialists with an important point of departure, many funeral directors emphasised the pastoral dimension of contemporary funeral directing. This dimension constitutes a key component of the funeral directors� role and permeated all facets of funeral service - particularly the increasing range of after-care funeral options. Although the funeral director rhetoric emphasises the democratisation of funeral practices and the primacy of individuality, an examination of the discourse reveals that this personalisation also demonstrates the normalising technologies integral to Foucault�s concept of �pastoral power�. I argue that funeral directors play a significant role in articulating the boundaries of �appropriate� funeral behaviour by accentuating the importance of �authenticity�, �dignity� and �healthy grief�. These concepts underline the expertise of funeral directors, define the acceptable parameters of post-mortem practices, and reify the integral involvement of funeral directors in the construction process. The specific subjectivity promoted by funeral directors constitute individuals that are not only �honest� and �real�, but recognise the �need� for a funeral service, emotional expression, and memorialisation. These individuals similarly realise the importance of integrating the deceased into their own biographies, while acknowledging the significance of guidance and control. This subjectivity clearly legitimises the role of the contemporary New Zealand funeral director. This thesis illustrates, therefore, that funeral directors play a salient role in articulating bio-power within New Zealand society, and that this endeavour is integrally linked to the occupations� continuing pursuit of professional identity.

by Cheung Chi-Wing, Julian, Lo Chi-Yun. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-56). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.vi / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.vii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Terminology --- p.2 / Scope of the Study --- p.4 / Literature Review --- p.5 / Methodology --- p.6 / Chapter II. --- CONSUMER ANALYSIS --- p.8 / Who will be the Customers --- p.8 / Death Care Goods and Services: A High Involvement Purchase --- p.9 / Complex Decision Making Process --- p.10 / Two Underlying Factors Affecting the Chinese in Purchasing Decision of Death Care Services --- p.12 / Confucian Values --- p.12 / "Superstition and""Feng Shui""" --- p.13 / Four Main Types of Consumer --- p.16 / Chapter III. --- ANALYSIS OF DEATH CARE INDUSTRY --- p.19 / Death Care Products (Goods and Services) in Hong Kong --- p.19 / Existing Players --- p.22 / Current Practices of Industry Players --- p.23 / Demand for Death Care Goods and Services --- p.25 / Analysis of the Performance of Funeral Homes of Hong Kong --- p.26 / The Perception of Death Care Providers --- p.29 / Deficiency in Existing Service --- p.31 / Chapter IV. --- PROPOSAL FOR INTRODUCING FREE GRIEF COUNSELING SERVICE IN FUNERAL HOMES --- p.34 / Bereavement Counseling in Hong Kong --- p.34 / The Jessie and Thomas Tam Centre --- p.34 / The Market Potential of the Service --- p.36 / Problems and Constraints of the Centre --- p.37 / Reasons behind Our Proposal --- p.37 / Contents of the Proposal --- p.39 / Setting up a Grief Counseling Division --- p.39 / Enhancing Communications with Other Bereavement Counseling Service Providers --- p.41 / Promotion of the Service --- p.42 / Actual Delivery of the Service --- p.42 / Pros and Cons for Funeral Homes as Counseling Service Providers --- p.44 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION --- p.48 / APPENDIX --- p.50 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.54

Cemetery companies were the principal agency of the transition from a traditional reliance on graveyards to the use of modern extra-mural cemeteries. The thesis comprises a study of the 113 cemetery companies established from 1820 to 1853, a period which saw the origin of this type of enterprise and its spreading throughout Britain. The companies are not analysed as economic entities, but rather as representations of a range of attitudes towards the problems associated with intramural interment. To facilitate discerning different trends relating to the public perceptions of the burial problem, the companies have been classified according to type. This is an exercise which relies on textual analysis of company documents to understand the principal motivation of each group of directors. Three different types of company are examined in the thesis. Directors of enterprises within the first group to emerge saw the burial problem as a religious-political issue, and used cemetery companies as a means of providing extended space for burial which was independent of the Established Church. The new cemeteries had unconsecrated ground, and offered the freedom for Dissenters to adopt any burial service they wished. The increased enthusiasm for all joint-stock enterprise in the mid-1830s saw the advent of the speculative cemetery company, which saw in the burial issue the potential to make profits in one of three ways: by tapping a specific territorial market, a particular class market, or by buying and selling the scrip of grand and impractical necropolitan schemes. A third type of company dominated the 1840s, and its main concern was the provision of extra-mural cemeteries as a sanitary measure. In addition to studies of these three groups of companies, the thesis presents analysis of two additional themes essential to the progress of burial reform: fears concerning the integrity of the corpse; and the cultural significance thought to attach to cemetery foundation. The thesis demonstrates, by studying these companies, that the reasons for taking action to found cemetery companies could vary considerably, and that perception of the burial issue altered a number of times.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2009. / Includes abstract. Bibliography: leaves 154-164.

Master of Science

No description available.

Traditionally, funeral homes have been family-owned small businesses which pride themselves on their personal, caring service. Many are located in historic houses worthy of preservation. In the past few decades, however, many family-owned funeral homes have been bought out by large, national corporations in search of big profits. The future of oldhouse funeral homes is uncertain. An inventory of funeral homes was conducted in a ninecounty area of east-central Indiana, including Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Hancock, Henry, Jay, Madison, Randolph, and Wayne Counties. Findings show that a majority (59%) of the funeral homes in the nine-county area of east-central Indiana inventoried are located in former residences built before 1950, with varying degree of modification. While some have had minimal or moderate alterations, a large percentage (54%) of these have been extensively altered over the years. Case studies of four pre-1950 funeral homes in the inventory area revealed that alterations, many of which reflect the needs of the funeral business, have affected not only their integrity but also their ratings in the Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory. Recommendations include greater communication between the funeral industry and preservationists, and the establishment of guidelines for sensitive additions that are addressed specifically to the needs of the funeral industry. / Department of Architecture

Like death, the defining human reality underlying our relationships and views of life's meaning, the experiences and activities of undertakers, remains an uncommon subject for psychological research. Existential anxiety roots a society-wide denial of the fundamental nature of death. which necessitates the development of institutions to take responsibility for the dying and dead. As the image and service of the stigmatised funeral industry improves, society's experience of death should become more meaningful. The overview of the research into these topics noted the need for further studies. Within a holistic, ecosystemic epistemology, this study adopted a qualitative approach and case study method, which provided descriptions of the ecology, contexts, and relationships characteristic .of the undertaker's vocation by focussing on patterned expressions of views and attitudes. The aim was to gain insight into the undertaker's experience of the many faces of death, with a genuine interest and deep respect for their world. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Like death, the defining human reality underlying our relationships and views of life's meaning, the experiences and activities of undertakers, remains an uncommon subject for psychological research. Existential anxiety roots a society-wide denial of the fundamental nature of death. which necessitates the development of institutions to take responsibility for the dying and dead. As the image and service of the stigmatised funeral industry improves, society's experience of death should become more meaningful. The overview of the research into these topics noted the need for further studies. Within a holistic, ecosystemic epistemology, this study adopted a qualitative approach and case study method, which provided descriptions of the ecology, contexts, and relationships characteristic .of the undertaker's vocation by focussing on patterned expressions of views and attitudes. The aim was to gain insight into the undertaker's experience of the many faces of death, with a genuine interest and deep respect for their world. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)