Invitation to the 3rd Virtual Colloquium on cemeteries

The Cemetery Research Group invites you to participate in the 3rd Virtual Colloquium on cemeteries, taking place on 15th November 2024 via Zoom.

About the event

On Friday, 15th November 2024, a virtual colloquium organized by the Cemetery Research Group will take place via the Zoom platform.

The main theme is cemeteries and death practices, focusing on how burial and commemoration customs intersect with social, cultural, and political changes across different countries and historical periods. Speakers from around the world will address a range of subjects, including the transformation of funeral practices, the architectural and legal aspects of cemeteries, and the evolving role of cemeteries in urban settings.

This year's keynote speaker is professor Andrew Kipnis, who has written extensively on funeral practices in China. His presentation, titled "Ghosts, Urbanization, and Strangers in China and Hong Kong", will offer insightful perspectives on these themes.

The full programme with the list of speakers and their topics is available HERE.

Registration details

Attendance at the virtual colloquium is free of charge, but registration is required to secure your spot and receive Zoom invitations to the sessions you wish to attend.

To register, please complete the form at this LINK. Deadline for registration is 8th November 2023.

For any additional questions, please contact Dr. Julie Rugg at julierugg36@gmail.com.

*Photo source: https://www.cemeteryresearch.org/events/

Athens: lecture by Dr. Julie Rugg about Cemeteries in Western culture

ASCE is helping grow the international scientific cooperation in Europe.

Book: Churchyard and Cemetery: Tradition and Modernity in Rural North Yorkshire

By Julie Rugg, Manchester University Press, 2013

About the book

This book explores for the first time the turbulent social history of churchyards and cemeteries over the last 150 years. Using sites from across rural North Yorkshire, the text examines the workings of the Burial Acts, and discloses the ways in which religious politics framed burial management. It presents an alternative history of burial which questions notions of tradition and modernity, and challenges long-standing assumptions about changing attitudes towards mortality in England.

This study diverges from the long-standing tendency to regard the churchyard as inherently 'traditional' and the cemetery as essentially 'modern'. Since 1850, both types of site have been subject to the influence of new expectations that burial space would guarantee family burial and the opportunity for formal commemoration. Although the population in central North Yorkshire declined, demand for burial space rose, meaning that many dozens of churchyards were extended, and forty new cemeteries were laid out.

*Source: Google Books