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Africa: Burying SM - Simply Complex

29.09.11

Death and the event of a funeral are always political moments and it is the politics that reveals the complexity of human interaction. In most settings, funerals become a theatre for the contestations of claims. Whether it is in the order of who speaks or doesn't, where one sits and the potential children and 'other' wives that often appear during the burial of men, in addition to who is perceived to bear the burden of grief. These are some of the politics that surround the death and funeral of an 'ordinary' person in most contexts. They may differ in complexity and this will be informed by the connection to death and family. Where death is considered part of a life ritual that must be celebrated alongside other key milestones - the processes become simply complex. It follows therefore that the 'politics' described above would be magnified when the person is considered 'prominent' and a whole slew of dynamics are thrown into the ring. This I argue is what distinguished the SM Otieno burial case from the others - the theatre of complexity in an 'ordinary' death and burial became magnified.

Source: AllAfrica.com