Death to Dollars

Death to Dollars

Arch 342

Assignment 3

Course Instructor: T. Bissett

Written: 24 April, 2023

By: Youngjin Kim 20894187

Introduction

This report seeks to examine the meaning and implications of death and death rituals in contemporary capitalist society. Death, as it stands as a fundamental part of life, is intrinsically woven into the human experience; it is both feared and celebrated through burial rites, which are a distinctly human phenomenon. These rituals have existed since the beginning of human history and have been observed across all civilizations and eras. Historically, burial rituals served primarily religious and spiritual purposes, often accompanied by beliefs of an afterlife1, and have provided a “sense of social and personal power”2 3 .

Mortuary rites are also unique in the sense that the death of a person outlives the person itself - the event postdates the lifetime of the subject, and while the subject may have a small input on how the event is to proceed, the actual execution of the event has no impact on the subject themselves except in an anthropological desire to be remembered and commemorated throughout time itself. This suggests that the true intended beneficiary of mortuary rites is dependent on the social conditions the individual is a part of, and is inherently a social phenomenon.

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Thus, from this knowledge, it can be understood that mortuary rites and their meaning will change in response to the changes in social context. If so, in a late-stage capitalist society such as the one I am currently living in, how do these rites change in response? What is the Zeitgeist cultivated through these rites? Have the intended audiences shifted over time? Has the commodification of such inherently-human events altered a contemporary society’s views of death and memorial?

Social impacts of capitalism on death and mortuary practices have been widely documented in multiple angles. This paper focuses on a particular aspect of the phenomenon, which has been termed “funeral-capitalism”4 by Gil-soo Han. In contrast to, or perhaps in extension to “necrocapitalism”, which Achille Mbembe defines as “contemporary forms of subjugation of life to the power of death”5, funeral-capitalism refers to the exploitation of historically non-capitalist methods of memorial.

In particular, I will be analyzing Korea’s funeral rites throughout time. This was selected due to the long history of Korean society, which spans over approximately two millenia, and has experienced a rapid translation into capitalism in the past hundred years, which has created a distinct disjuncture between traditional Buddhist, Confucian, and Shamanistic rites and belief systems and late-stage capitalism.

Therefore, the conclusions drawn from this case study will serve as a heuristic device and provide an insight into how historical value systems may become corrupted and translated into capitalistic exploitation, which extend far beyond a seemingly simple premise of exchange of services for money. This analysis raises questions regarding an individual’s autonomy over their body, both while alive and after death, including who has the right to the deceased’s remains, who presides over the right to be remembered and profited from, and what the resulting belief system underpin these assumptions of sovereignty.

1

Pine, Vanderlyn R., and Derek L. Phillips. “The Cost of Dying: A Sociological Analysis of Funeral Expenditures.” Social Problems 17, no. 3 (1970): 405–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/799558.

2

Kellehear, Allan. A Social History of Dying. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 116.

3

Bloch, Maurice., and Jonathan P. Parry. Death and the Regeneration of Life. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ;: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

4

Han, Gil-Soo. “Funeral Capitalism: Commodification and Digital Marketing of Funeral Services in Contemporary Korea.” Korean Studies 40 (2016): 58–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44508428.

5

Mbembe, Achille, and Steve Corcoran. Necropolitics. Translated by Steve Corcoran. Durham ;: Duke University Press, 2019.

Case Study: Korea

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Unified Silla Dynasty (668-935)

With the introduction of Buddhism, both monks, nobles, and commoners alike have participated in cremation.1 The ashes were then later:

1) placed in an urn and buried (장골) or;

2) sprinkled over rivers and mountains.

Such rites were held in traditional shamanistic beliefs that Water God (수신) and Sea God (해신) would prevent floods, droughts, or ensure safety during travelling.2

Fig. 1: Traditional urn dating back to the Unified Silla Dynasty. Gyeongju-si, Hwagok-ri, South Korea.

Fig. 2: Buddhist Dabi (cremation) ceremony.

Fig. 3: Cremation of Monk Sukjeong.

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Goryeo Dynasty (936-1392)

Entering early Goryeo Dynasty, Buddhist funeral rites from Silla Dynasty have carried over until Gyeongjong of Goryeo, the 5th King, established a Confuscian Five-Garment Policy (5복제도), which are a series of hemp-woven garments (from finely woven to loosely woven) to be worn during a set mourning period depending on the bereaved person’s relationship to the deceased.3

The five garments are: chamjoie, jaechoie, daegong, sogong, shima (참죄, 재최, 대공, 소공, 시마). Chamjoie and jaechoie are to be worn for 3 years, daegong for 9 months, sogong for 5 months, and finally, 3 months for shima. Chamjoie and jaechoie are also to be paired with wood or bamboo canes; a round-top cane symbolizing the sky in the case of the death of a father, or a square-top cane symbolizing the ground in the case of the death of a mother.

Fig. 4: Traditional mourning clothes.

However, due to a heavy Buddhist presence among commoners, and the complexity of such rites, Buddhist cremation took place more often than Confucian rites. As a result, in 1109, Injong of Goryeo’s decree stated that anyone who abandons their parent’s ashes in a Buddhist temple shall be punished and the state shall pay for anyone who cannot afford to hold a funeral. This suggests that the act of burying was a crucial part in a Confucian society, and that the act of grieving was viewed as an act of honouring one’s parents. As time passed, these strict rules were modified to assume one day as one month’s worth of grieving, or many people stopped wearing the garments after just 100 days.4

Fig. 5: Traditional mortuary rite to celebrate and help grieve. Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

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Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897)

In late-Goryeo Dynasty and entering Joseon Dynasty, traditional Confucian belief systems slowly adopted Neo-Confucianism as a newly placed core belief system.5 Taejong of Joseon (1367-1422) put in place Joojagarye (주자가례), a series of four books written by Zhu Xi (1130-1200) that outline Neo-Confucian manners of living. The Joojagarye is the base of another influential text titled Sangryebiyoe (상례비요) (1602), whose text would serve to be the base of traditional funeral rites that follow into modern day Korea.6

Fig. 6: Joojagarye.

In this Neo-Confucian text, the funeral rite taken right after burial is called an Oojae (우제). On a large table, specific food items are placed in exact locations7:

First row: rice / a small glass for alcohol and its saucer / spoon and chopsticks / vinegar, soup

Second row: rice noodle / meat dish / grilled dish / fish dish / rice cake

Third row: preserved meat / wild greens or herbs / miso soup without any garnishes / salted and fermented meat or fish / kimchi

Fourth row: six different kinds of fruits

Furthermore, in the eyes of the royal court, only the 49-Ritual (49 재) was deemed a valid method of Buddhist funeral rite. During this process, a ceremony of reading Buddhist texts and making offerings is held every 7 days, 7 times in total, for 49 days. This is based on the Buddhist belief that there is a 49-day period where the dead will await their next life.8

Fig. 7: Diagram of Oojae table layout.

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Fig. 8: 49-Ritual.

49-Ritual.

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Fig. 9: 49-Ritual.

49-Ritual.

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Korea after 20th Century (1900-)

After Japanese Colonial (1916-1945) rule of Korean Empire (1897-1916), mortuary rites have mostly carried over - Buddhist, Confucian, Neo-Confucian rites still exist, but with some changes in their modern counterparts.

In particular, Neo-Confucian funeral rites have added steps in its preparation of food items; on top of the traditional four-row configuration, there is the Hongdongbaekseo (홍동백서) which directly translates to Red East, White West. This requires the red fruits to be placed in the East, and white fruits to be placed in the West. There is also the addition of Joyool-ishi (조율이시), which requires dried korean dates, chestnuts, pears, and dried persimmons to be placed in that particular order. These new additional steps are particularly peculiar as there is no record of them prior to Japanese Colonial rule.9 These added steps on top of the already time- and resource-consuming traditional rites, as well as the additional pressure to replicate these intricate ceremonies on Korean Thanksgiving (추석) in modern times have resulted in the loss of these rites.

Fig. 10: Typical contemporary mourning ceremony preparation.

Youngjin Kim 20894187

In contemporary Korean society, funerals are no longer held in family homes due to limitations in house sizes; whereas traditional Korean homes have had courtyards, the loss of these spaces force people to hold their funerals in funeral homes or even in the hospital mortuary itself.10

Furthermore, while cremation has existed for thousands of years in Korean society, it was widely regarded as a remnant of Japanese Colonialism, which held disrespectful or distasteful connotations. However, after the 1990s, cremation replaced burial as the most common funeral rite, due to limitations in burial plots and land.11

Fig. 11: Typical contemporary burial plot.

Death to Dollars 22

1

Lee, Geunwoo. “통일 신라 시대의 제사 의례(統一新羅時代-祭祀儀 禮). Ancestral Rites of the Unified Silla Period.” 부산역사문화대전. Accessed April 25, 2023. http://busan.grandculture.net/ Contents?local=busan&dataType=01&contents_ id=GC04203050.

2

Binford, Lewis R. “Mortuary Practices: Their Study and Their Potential.” Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology, no. 25 (1971): 6–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25146709.

3

Soyoon Jeon, “고려와 조선시대 상례와 장례풍속,” 지역N문화, accessed April 25, 2023, https://ncms.nculture.org/ceremonial/story/1505.

Ibid.

4

5

Lai, CHEN. “Historical and Cultural Features of Confucianism in East Asia.” In Confucianisms for a Changing World Cultural Order, edited by ROGER T. AMES and PETER D. HERSHOCK, 102–11. University of Hawai’i Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/j. ctv3zp05k.10.

6

Hwang, Wongoo. “상례비요(喪禮備要).” 한국민족문화대백과사전. Accessed April 25, 2023. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/ E0027062.

7

Park, Jooha. “[시대별 장례문화] 고려, 불교식 화장...조선, 유교적 상장례.” 뉴스메카, December 4, 2018. https://www.newsmc.net/ news/articleView.html?idxno=50730.

8

Hwang, Gwanghae. “‘홍동백서(紅東白西)’ ‘조율이시(棗栗梨柿)’는 처음부터 없었다.” 경북매일, September 2, 2019. https://www.kbmaeil. com/news/articleView.html?idxno=825526.

9

“제사의 기원 - 주자가례 상례비요의 진설법,” 네이버 블로그 | 하사가의 무용지용, accessed April 25, 2023, https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView. naver?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=gktkrk&logNo=221667590769.

10

Han, Gil-Soo. “Funeral Capitalism: Commodification and Digital Marketing of Funeral Services in Contemporary Korea.” Korean Studies 40 (2016): 58–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44508428.

Ibid.

11

Conclusion

After analyzing a simple case study of belief systems and mortuary rituals in Korea, there are three things that can be oberved:

1) Funeral rites have existed as a social reflection of ethics and good morals;

2) Funeral rites are adaptive and flexible as a reaction to societal context;

3) Society has always sought out ways to simplify these rituals when faced societal challenges.

My initial assumption that capitalism would have changed the core values of funeral rites were not entirely accurate; in fact, it’s evident that the struggle in contemporary society comes from the desire to retain Buddhist/Confucian/Neo-Confucian beliefs within the typical Korean funeral rite, but unable to do so in a heavily commodifying society; especially in such a rapidly capitalizing society such as South Korea. Rather than an existing belief system becoming corrupted, so to say, it is moreso an exploitation of the existing framework itself. I would argue that

this is due to a distinct clash between community-based value systems such as in traditional Korean societies and neoliberalist value systems which present individual freedom as its ultimate goal.1

This case study can serve as a warning to the effects of capitalistic exploits, and how traditional (or, more accurately, ongoing community value systems) values may be challenged or even threatened to become diminished as it is becoming more and more difficult to be upkept.

Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford ;: Oxford University Press, 2005.