No One Here Gets Out Alive: Burying Dead the American Way

An Industry Evolves

Funerals are not a topic that come to mind when discussing the virtues of American exceptionalism. However, much like other American institutions, the funerary industry is unique to American ideals and sensibilities. Far removed from the antebellum period when an undertaker might construct a coffin, transfer, and dispose of a body. Today, Funeral Director’s provide turnkey solutions for the bereaved that substantially exceed the services of his/her predecessor. Early reform movements of the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries would both professionalize and institutionalize the business of death. In doing so, the changes brought forth the institutionalization of funeral services that had far-reaching effects on American burial rituals. While twentieth-century reforms transformed the industry, the practices, traditions, and rituals that take place during the internment of the dead remained fundamentally the same. Social, cultural, and psychological traditions established the framework by which the deceased are laid to rest in America. Once a ritual to reflect on the salvation of the dead, the funeral steadily became focused on the bereaved escaping the trappings of death. As the industry flourished during the twentieth-century so too did the complexities regarding how American’s should bury their dead. What is it that demarcates American traditions of burial from other parts of the globe and finally, why do American’s perform these distinct rituals in burying their dead? In other words, what factors create the framework by which American funeral traditions are exceptional? “No One Here Gets Out Alive: Burying Dead the American Way” aims to answer these questions and highlight the change over time that resulted in burial rituals unique to American society.

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