Celebrating tragedy: dying, death and mortuary arts among the Igbo. (2nd January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ikwuemesi, Chukwuezugo Krydz
• Is Part Of: Mortality. Volume 28:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 126
• Page End: 153
• Publication Date: 2023-01-02
• Subjects: Death -- Igbo -- mortuary -- arts -- funeral; Thanatology -- Periodicals; Mortality -- Periodicals; Bereavement -- Periodicals; Undertakers and undertaking -- Periodicals; 304.64
• DOI: 10.1080/13576275.2021.1884057
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1357-6275

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Death among the Igbo is not the end of existence but is seen as an access road to the otherworld. Hence it is seen as the spin-off of the send-forth of the dead to the next phase of existence more commonly known as ancestry. This send-forth, defined in the framework of funeral encodes a chain of creative and spontaneous acts and actions which tend to democratise the pain of death and the burden of attendant funeral in line with the principles of Igbo thanatology. Furthermore, if art can be spontaneous, then some of the activities that characterise the funeral arena can be seen as creative actions arising from the agency of death. But even at that, they are not a frivolous affair devoted to mere jolitty and fanfare. Rather, Igbo funerals help to demonstrate the interface of this life and the next through culturally coded actions and performances that approximate some of the essences of art in their outlook and content. This paper examines the processes of dying and death and the politics of after-death in Igbo land with the attendant renegotiation of reality as well as the evolution of funeral in Igbo land in the mill of postcoloniality.