Dr. Minakshi Dewan on last rites and rituals in India, gender, faith, religion, funeral pyres, sky burial, caste, gender, discrimination and the professionalisation of rites and funerals
The Death Studies PodcastShow Notes
What's the episode about?
In this episode, hear Dr. Minakshi Dewan on last rites and rituals in India, gender, faith, religion, funeral pyres, sky burial, caste, gender, discrimination and the professionalisation of rites and funerals
Who is Minakshi?
Dr Minakshi Dewan is a researcher and writer with a PhD degree in social medicine and community health from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a master's degree in social work from TISS Mumbai. She possesses extensive experience in health, gender, and community mobilization with grassroots and international development organizations. She has contributed chapters in academic publications on tribal health and healing rituals. Her writings have appeared in leading Indian and international publications and address a range of issues, including, health, human rights, the environment and culture. She has also written a non-fiction title for children. The Final Farewell: Understanding the Last Rites and Rituals of India’s Major Faiths, is her debut non-fiction book with Harper Collins, India.
How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?
To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:
Dewan, M. (2024) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 September 2024. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.26886349
What next?
Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts!
Got a question? Get in touch.
More from The Death Studies Podcast
Who is Jane? Jane McCarthy is an English sociologist who has worked for many decades across various disciplines to focuson ‘family’, childhood, and relationality. In the last 25 years,since the death of her husband when their daughter was aged 5, she has built on this earlier work to explore death and its continuing aftermath in the everyday relational lives of the living, alongside ‘family troubles’ more broadly. She has approached these topics in terms of lived experiences, academic approaches, and professional practices and services. She has particularly offered a view of bereavement as a source of change, rather than the narrower view of ‘loss’, including in the lives of children experiencing a significant death in their lives. Her general approach to all these subjects is to set aside what may be considered ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’, ‘harmful’ or ‘beneficial’, and rather to focus on how disruptive change may be experienced in everyday relational lives, with multiple ramifications, and how people themselves make sense of these within the circumstances of their lives. Some of Jane’s work has involved research and collaborations in Senegal and China, but her primary experience is UK based, where she has particularly valued her involvement with the Community Voices network.
What's the episode about? In this episode, hear about an event on Love and Loss: A DayAt Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery, Bristol discussing love, romance, sex, death, culture, prison writing, slow suicide, creative writing, obituaries, epitaphs and more.
Dead Women and Gendered Death in Visual Culture for MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture