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
World Regional Studies
Volume
33
Issue
4
First Page
24
Last Page
35
Identifier
10.3969/j.issn.1004-9479.2024.04.20230061
Citation
GAO, Quan., WOODS, Orlando., KONG, Lily, & ZHOU, Yan..(2024). Political ecology of death: Funeral reforms and the conflicts of land and emotion in Singapore. World Regional Studies, 33(4), 24-35.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4251
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://sjdlyj.ecnu.edu.cn/EN/abstract/abstract1581.shtml