Burning women : a global history of widow sacrifice from ancient times to the present
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Burning women : a global history of widow sacrifice from ancient times to the present
Seagull, 2006
- : pbk
- Other Title
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Burning women : a global history of widow-sacrifice from ancient times to the present
Tödliche Rituale : die indische Witwenver Brennung und andere Formen der Totenfolge
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Note
"This book was first published in German as Tödliche Rituale: die indische Witwenver Brennung und andere Formen der Totenfolge"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. [518]-580) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
"Following into death" is an ancient and widespread custom which entails one or more people - voluntarily or involuntarily - following a dead man or woman into death. The event is ritualized as a public act. The decisive feature is not the manner of dying but the intent, which is to accompany a dead person into the hereafter. "Burning Women" explores how this custom - of which the Indian Hindu custom of sati, or widow burning, is the best known example - has existed in various forms in most parts of the world. The practice of widow-burning combines strong spiritual beliefs in the hereafter with the more secular power struggles of this world, both between the sexes and social groups. Widow burning in India has long been hotly debated, but its practice in other parts of the world has been neglected. "Burning Women" is the first history of the anthropological, religious, social and political contexts of widow-burning across the world.
Table of Contents
PART I: Following into death outside India1.Egypt and the Ancient Near East2.Europe3.America4.Africa5.Oceania6.China7.Japan8.Central Asia9.Southeast Asia10.The Indian influence in Southeast Asia: Java and BaliPART II: Widow Burning In IndiaSources, Presentation and Terminology11.The history of widow burning12.Anatomy of a custom13.Backgrounds and Origins14.The struggle against widow burning: the end without an end15.Summary16.Outlook: Following into death - a custom between religion, class struggle and gender struggle
by "Nielsen BookData"