Anthropology of Death Exam 3 Review

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the traditional and modern mortuary models, historical body snatching, border policy deterrence, organ donation protocol, and cultural end-of-life practices.

Traditional Rural Rites (Egalitarian Model)

A Greek mortuary practice where graves are temporary sites ($3\text{--}7$ years) and markers are removed, emphasizing social equality and shared spiritual destiny.

Modern Urban Trends (Hierarchical Model)

A Greek mortuary trend characterized by permanent family monuments and private plats that serve as expressions of family status and individual identity.

Communal Ossuary

A communal vault where remains are placed after exhumation, symbolizing the transition from individual identity to anonymous membership.

Mortuary Consumerism

A trend where purchased goods like marble boxes and inscriptions replace traditional ritual laments led by women.

Era of Infamy

The period in the $18\text{th}\text{--}19\text{th}$ century Britain when dissection was legally mandated as a 'double sentence' punishment for murderers.

Resurrectionists

Professional 'body snatchers' who earned $5\text{--}10$ times an unskilled laborer's wage by digging up graves to supply medical schools.

Burke and Hare

Two individuals who committed $15$ murders in $1828$ to sell fresh corpses to anatomists.

Uniform Anatomical Gift Act

An act from the $1860\text{s}$ that transformed body donation into an altruistic and respected choice.

Person-Object Duality

The psychological phenomenon where severed heads unsettle observers because they are simultaneously a recognizable individual and a literal object.

Prevention Through Deterrence (PTD)

A federal border policy that intentionally funnels migrants into lethal terrain like the Sonoran Desert, using nature as an enforcement tool.

State of Exception

A condition in which migrant deaths are treated as inevitable natural occurrences rather than direct policy outcomes.

Bare Life

A state where individuals, such as migrants in the desert, are stripped of legal protections and their deaths are viewed as inconsequential by the state.

Ischemia Clock

The critical time-sensitive window from low blood pressure to ECMO connection, determining the viability of organs for donation.

5-Minute 'No-Touch' Period

A mandatory observation window where no medical intervention occurs to ensure death is irreversible before organ procurement.

Swan Song Phenomenon

The occurrence of spontaneous, temporary spikes in blood pressure during the dying process.

Grief vs. Mourning

Grief is the personal emotional response to loss, while mourning refers to the cultural expressions and rituals, such as wearing black or holding funerals.

Uniform Determination of Death Act

A legal standard in the U.S. where death is defined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory/respiratory functions or all brain activity.

Laments

Mournful songs, traditionally performed by women in Greek culture, that involve a physical component of mourning the dead.

Mumia

A moss that grows on bones, historically used for medical purposes.

Liminal Space

A state regarding bodies that are not alive but not quite dead, often viewed as not quite human.

Seppuku

A ritualized suicide for Japanese samurai involving self-disembowelment followed by decapitation.

Suttee

A historical practice in India where a widow 'voluntarily' kills herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.

The 'Body Farm'

The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which studies human decomposition to aid law enforcement.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation

A facility located in Phoenix, Arizona, specializing in the cryopreservation of human heads for future medical revival.

Korowai 'Body Matches'

A cultural view from the Korowai people of West Papua where children are seen as their parents' replacements or matches.

Maximum Ischemia Time (Kidneys)

For transplant viability, the maximum ischemia time is $90\,\text{minutes}$.

Palliative Care

A medical approach that focuses on comfort and quality of life for the patient rather than curing an illness.