Alternative Title

死亡的生态政治：新加坡丧葬改革中的 土地与情感矛盾

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2024

Abstract

This paper explores the political ecology of death and emotion through the secularized funeral rituals reform in Singapore. Although scholars have recently acknowledged the roles of emotion in shaping environmental politics, religion and death as socio-affective forces have not been substantively engaged with by political ecologists. In this paper, we argue that death is inherently both a spiritual and ecological phenomenon, as it addresses not only the spiritual landscape of how people see the natural world, but also the affective tensions and struggles over what counts as a "proper" form of burial in relation to religion and nature. We first investigate the way that the Singapore state utilizes ecological discourses to secularize Chinese death rituals, such that the death can be separated from the transcendent spheres and incorporated into the environmental biopolitics. Second, we examine how Chinese Singaporeans negotiate the emotional tensions in relation to the secularized rituals and especially the sea burials. This paper brings the issue of death into dialogue with political ecology and reflects on its emotional capacity in shaping environmental politics.

Keywords

Death, Chinese religion, Political ecology, Emotion, Rituals, Singapore

Discipline

Geography | Sociology | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Publication

世 界 地 理 研 究 [World Regional Studies]

Volume

33

Issue

4

First Page

24

Last Page

35

ISSN

1004-9479

Identifier

10.3969/j.issn.1004-9479.2024.04.20230061

Publisher

East China Normal University

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1004-9479.2024.04.20230061

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