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Governing the dead in Guatemala : public authority and dead bodies / Finn Stepputat -- Evolving mortuary rituals in contemporary Japan / Yohko Tsuji -- Revealing brands, concealing labor / George Sanders -- Playing with corpses : assembling bodies for the dead in southwest China / Erik Mueggler -- Death and separation in post-conflict Timor-Leste / Judith Bovensiepen -- Migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in southeastern Nigeria / Daniel Jordan Smith -- After death : event, marrative, feeling / Michael Lambek --Reflections on the work of recovery I and II / Beth A. Conklin -- The pursuit of sorrow and the ethics of crying / Oliver Allard -- Mourning as mutuality Jason Danely -- A comparative study of Jewish-Israeli and Buddhist-Khmer trauma descendant discontinued bonds with the genocide dead / Carol A. Kidron -- Facing death : on nourning, empathy and finitude / Devin Flaherty and C. Jason Throop -- What is a mass grave? : toward an anthropology of human remains treatment in contemporary contests of mass violence / Isabeth Anstett -- Death on the move : pantheons and reburials in Spanish Civil War exhumations / Francisco Ferrandiz -- Accountability for mass death, acts of rescue and silence in Rwanda / Jennie E. Burnet -- Impassable visions : the Cambodia to come, the detritus in its wake / Hudson McFann and Alexander Laban Hinton -- Experience, empathy, and flexibility : on participant observation in deadly fields / Ivana Macek -- Learning how to die / Robert Desjarlais -- Whirlpools, glitter and ferocious intruders : the palpability of death in Chachi animism / Istvan Praet -- Shamanic rebirth and the paradox of disremembering the dead among Mapuche in Chile / Ana Mariella Bacigalupo -- After death communications (ADCs) : signs from the other world in contemporary North America / Ellen Badone -- Cryonic suspension as eschatological technology in the secular age / Abou Farman -- From here and to death : the archaeology of the human body / Liv Nilsson Stutz -- Death, corporeality and uncertainty in Zimbabwe / Joost Fontein -- Death, power, and silence : Native Nations' ancestral remains at the Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania / Jacqueline Fear-Segal -- In the absence of a corpse : rituals for body donors in the Netherlands / Sophie Bolt -- Death as spectacle : plastinated bodies in Germany / Uli Linke -- The body as medicine : blood and organ donation in China / Charlotte Ikels -- Ethical dilemmas in the field : witchcraft and biomedical aetiology in South Africa / Isak Niehaus -- The disappearance of dying and why it matters / Helen Stanton Chapple -- The fragility of biomedicine : death, detachment and moral dilemmas of care in a Kenyan hospital / Ruth J. Prince -- The new normal : mediated death and assisted dying in the United States / Frances Norwood

Thousands of people died in Rotterdam during the Second World War in more than
300 German and Allied bombardments. Civil defence measures had been taken before
the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 and these efforts were
intensified during the country's occupation as Allied bombers attacked
Rotterdam's port, factories, dry docks and oil terminals. Residential
neighbourhoods were also hit through imprecise targeting and by misfired flak
grenades. Inadequate air raid shelters and people's reluctance to enter
them caused many casualties. The condition of the corpses and their post-mortem
treatment was thus co-constituted by the relationship between the victims and
their material circumstances. This article concludes that an understanding of
the treatment of the dead after war, genocide and mass violence must pay
systematic attention to the materiality of death because the condition,
collection and handling of human remains is affected by the material means that
impacted on the victims.

The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death. Timothy Taylor. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2002. 353 pp. Death, Dismemberment, and Memory: Body Politics in Latin America. Lyman L. Johnson, ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004. 354 pp.

This article compares the combat motivation of Argentinian troops against guerrilla insurgents in a 1975-80 domestic counter-insurgency war with the performance of Argentinian soldiers against British forces in the 1982 Falklands war. The comparison reveals that the willingness to fire and fight differs from the desire to enter into war, and that combat motivation is not determined exclusively by mental preparedness, professional training and superior armament, but depends as much on shifting motivations and dynamic social and political circumstances during the armed conflict. Furthermore, combat motivation is also affected by the type of warfare conducted, and is only given meaning during a pause in the hostilities, when the desire to continue fighting is reassessed.

The Argentine dirty war that raged from 1976 to 1983 was a massive assault on the foundation of the social contract. The violence unleashed penetrated deep into the homes of the Argentine people, and disrupted the relations of protection, safety, trust, and love that dwelled there. Nearly two thirds of all disappeared were abducted at home. I shall argue that the disappearances carried out in the intimacy of the home invaded the primary object-relation of parent and child, and provoked intense guilt feelings among the surviving parents about having failed to protect their adult and adolescent children. It was at this intersection of the political and domestic domain that parental trust and protection became mobilized. I shall conclude that the politicization of the dead by the military led mothers to cope with their separation anxiety either by a projective search for the human remains or by an introjective vindication of the revolutionary ideals embraced by many disappeared before their abduction. ; La guerra sucia argentina, que tuvo lugar entre 1976 y 1983, fue un ataque masivo hacia los fundamentos del contrato social. La violencia desatada penetró profundamente en los hogares de los argentinos, irrumpiendo en las relaciones de protección, seguridad, confianza y amor que descansaban en ellos. Casi dos tercios de los desaparecidos fueron secuestrados en sus hogares. En este trabajo, argumentaré que las desapariciones que tuvieron lugar en la intimidad del hogar invadieron la relación objetal primaria de padres e hijos, provocando intensos sentimientos de culpa entre los padres sobrevivientes por haber fallado a la hora de proteger a sus hijos adultos o adolescentes. Fue en esta intersección entre el dominio político y el doméstico que la confianza y la protección parental se vieron movilizadas. Y concluiré en que la politización de los muertos por la dictadura llevó a las madres a lidiar con su ansiedad por la separación ya sea a través de una búsqueda proyectiva de los restos humanos, o a través de una reivindicación introyectiva de los ideales revolucionarios que levantaban muchos de los desaparecidos antes de ser secuestrados. ; A guerra suja argentina, que ocorreu entre 1976 e 1983, foi um ataque massivo para os fundamentos do contrato social. A violência penetrou profundamente nos lares dos argentinos, irrompendo as relações de proteção, segurança, confiança e amor que existia entre eles. Quase dois terços dos desaparecidos foram seqüestrados em seus lares. Neste trabalho argumentarei que os desaparecimentos que ocorreram na intimidade do lar invadiram a relação objetiva primária de pais e filhos, provocando intensos sentimentos de culpa entre os pais sobreviventes por haverem falhado na hora de protegerem aos seus filhos adultos ou adolescentes. Foi nestas interseções entre o domínio político e o doméstico que a confiança e a proteção parental se viram mobilizadas. Concluirei que a politização dos mortos pela ditadura levou as mães a lidarem com sua ansiedade pela separação, seja através de uma busca projetiva dos restos humanos, seja através de uma reivindicação introyectiva dos ideais revolucionários que levantavam muitos dos desaparecidos antes de serem seqüestrados.

The Argentine dirty war that raged from 1976 to 1983 was a massive assault on the foundation of the social contract. The violence unleashed penetrated deep into the homes of the Argentine people, and disrupted the relations of protection, safety, trust, and love that dwelled there. Nearly two thirds of all disappeared were abducted at home. I shall argue that the disappearances carried out in the intimacy of the home invaded the primary object-relation of parent and child, and provoked intense guilt feelings among the surviving parents about having failed to protect their adult and adolescent children. It was at this intersection of the political and domestic domain that parental trust and protection became mobilized. I shall conclude that the politicization of the dead by the military led mothers to cope with their separation anxiety either by a projective search for the human remains or by an introjective vindication of the revolutionary ideals embraced by many disappeared before their abduction. ; La guerra sucia argentina, que tuvo lugar entre 1976 y 1983, fue un ataque masivo hacia los fundamentos del contrato social. La violencia desatada penetró profundamente en los hogares de los argentinos, irrumpiendo en las relaciones de protección, seguridad, confianza y amor que descansaban en ellos. Casi dos tercios de los desaparecidos fueron secuestrados en sus hogares. En este trabajo, argumentaré que las desapariciones que tuvieron lugar en la intimidad del hogar invadieron la relación objetal primaria de padres e hijos, provocando intensos sentimientos de culpa entre los padres sobrevivientes por haber fallado a la hora de proteger a sus hijos adultos o adolescentes. Fue en esta intersección entre el dominio político y el doméstico que la confianza y la protección parental se vieron movilizadas. Y concluiré en que la politización de los muertos por la dictadura llevó a las madres a lidiar con su ansiedad por la separación ya sea a través de una búsqueda proyectiva de los restos humanos, o a través de una reivindicación introyectiva de los ideales revolucionarios que levantaban muchos de los desaparecidos antes de ser secuestrados. ; A guerra suja argentina, que ocorreu entre 1976 e 1983, foi um ataque massivo para os fundamentos do contrato social. A violência penetrou profundamente nos lares dos argentinos, irrompendo as relações de proteção, segurança, confiança e amor que existia entre eles. Quase dois terços dos desaparecidos foram seqüestrados em seus lares. Neste trabalho argumentarei que os desaparecimentos que ocorreram na intimidade do lar invadiram a relação objetiva primária de pais e filhos, provocando intensos sentimentos de culpa entre os pais sobreviventes por haverem falhado na hora de protegerem aos seus filhos adultos ou adolescentes. Foi nestas interseções entre o domínio político e o doméstico que a confiança e a proteção parental se viram mobilizadas. Concluirei que a politização dos mortos pela ditadura levou as mães a lidarem com sua ansiedade pela separação, seja através de uma busca projetiva dos restos humanos, seja através de uma reivindicação introyectiva dos ideais revolucionários que levantavam muitos dos desaparecidos antes de serem seqüestrados.

For These Eyes. 1997. 52 minutes, color. film by Gonzalo Arijón and Virginia Martinez. For more information, contact First Run/Icarus Films. 153 Waverly Place, New York. NY 10014.