Death enchanted: comparing conventional and conservation burial in the United States with a technological mediation lens

Abstract

ABSTRACT Though conventional burial continues to dominate whole-body internment in the United States, natural burial practices are growing in acceptance and use. These shifting dynamics necessitate consideration of how the body’s material end shapes the actions and imaginations of the living. This paper situates conventional and conservation burial as ethically resonate technologies using the the theory of technological mediation in order to analyse and contrast the realities, ethics, and imaginations shaped by each. It argues that conventional burial is aligned with the logic of neoliberal capitalism to which conservation burial provides an alternative which fosters multispecies thriving. Additionally, it constructs two technomoral scenarios to further develop the death-imagination of conservation burial. This interdisciplinary analysis contributes to ongoing discussion around natural burial, as it considers how burial practices reciprocally shape individuals and societies and invites a novel way of reflecting on one’s material relationship to death.