‘I can't return to the village without my baby': ‘Evil deaths' and the difficulty of mourning in Brazil in the time of COVID-19
Human Remains and Violence
; 8(1):23-46, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-2302509
ABSTRACT
Based on the anthropological classification of death into ‘good deaths', ‘beautiful deaths' and ‘evil deaths', and using the methodology of screen ethnography, this article focuses on mourning in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the extreme cases of deaths in Manaus and among the Yanomami people. The article ‘follows the virus', from its first role in a death in the country, that of a domestic worker, to hurriedly dug mass graveyards. I consider how the treatment of bodies in the epidemiological context sheds light on the meanings of separation by death when mourning rituals are not performed according to prevailing cultural imperatives. Parallels are drawn with other moments of sudden deaths and the absence of bodies, as during the South American dictatorships, when many victims were declared ‘missing'. To conclude, the article focuses on new funerary rituals, such as Zoom funerals and online support groups, created to overcome the impossibility of mourning as had been practised in the pre-pandemic world.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Human Remains and Violence
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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