lecture 10: status, compettion, and display

Smith 2018: study of funerals in Igbo communities

Nigeria – population currently ca. 211 million, largest economy in Africa including strong tech and cultural sectors (film industry)

Smith 2018: the Igbo are an ethnolinguistic group

Like the Lòlo community discussed last time, the rural Igbo people Smith worked with were traditionally farmers but affected by economic pressures that encouraged many of them to move to cities for work

• The pressures involved in presenting oneself as a successful city dweller but also as a good community member with strong ties to family and home are one focus of the article

Cooperation and competition

Smith remarks that funerals in Igbo communities serve a stabilizing/reinforcing role in many ways. If we wanted we could look at this function, as we did last class for Lòlo deathways.

• However, Smith points out that mortuary practices can also reflect the tensions inherent in a society

  • Focusing on this shows “how a more dynamic perspective can better explain social change and how rituals can sometimes be events that express conflict as much as cohesion” (p. 72)

Smith’s theoretical perspective

Smith’s description of Igbo communities shows one reason why he found this a useful approach for his study

• Strong cultural values placed on competition and achievement

• However there’s also the question of what we look for

• If we look for competition we’re more likely to find it

• Our culture, methods and assumptions impact our study’s findings

Death, display, and competition

Smith uses a basic concept in modern AoD: a funeral can be a sincere expression of grief but also a display of / claim to status

Conspicuous consumption

Used in anthropology as one way to understand how people (not just elites, not just in consumer societies) use material objects to signal status

• idea originated outside anthropology (economics)

• As used in our field it means ‘display consumption’ - consuming resources (food, clothing, etc.) in such a way as to claim status

• A display of one’s wealth and/or one’s discerning taste

• Often (though not always) associated with showy/excessive consumption

A classic example of conspicuous consumption in mortuary behaviour is working-class funerals in Victorian England

• Substantial sacrifices made to afford black clothing and other funeral gear

• Here people were not claiming high status but showing they knew ‘what is decent’ and could afford it

Kin ties, patronage and cash

Smith starts by describing a conflict caused by importance of urban work and connections to the wider Nigerian economy

• Traditionally, Igbo communities would measure at least some of their success through kin networks – “wealth in people”

• However now wealth is measured more and more in terms of money – creating conflicts between urban migrants and those at home

• In a way, he argues, funerals try to bridge this gap through conspicuous redistribution

Redistribution ceremony

redistributes resources from a few individuals to the wider community via gifting/sharing

• May be reciprocal (different people alternate the giving and receiving roles over the long term)

• May be more one-sided (wealthy individuals assert status and place others in their debt through giving)

By using the term ‘conspicuous redistribution’ Smith recalls idea of conspicuous consumption and its role in display and competitive claiming of status

This particular term is Smith’s but the basic idea of competition by giving gifts is not unique to him

• E.g. seen in anthropological and archaeological studies of feasting

• The suggestion that large grain surpluses for beer may have been one motivation behind the adoption/spread of grain agriculture comes from this model – the point is not the beer but the use of the beer in feasts

Conspicuous redistribution and conflict

Igbo funerals are described as both a reflection of this conflict and a way in which it is played out

The funeral as public display: The very best and most prestigious Igbo funeral is lavish, and is an expensive undertaking including:

• Printing posters and banners, making radio and TV announcements

• Renting vehicles for procession, generator, tents, chairs

• Hiring photographer, videographer, entertainers

• Clothing for the deceased, coffin, viewing platform, headstone

• Clothing for mourners

• Food and drink for guests

The journey home

• All of these arrangements take time to prepare

• Time is also required for travel

  • Mourners need to come home if possible, from distant cities or even from abroad

  • For the death of someone living/working in a city or abroad, the body also needs to travel

• The emphasis on everyone (including the deceased) coming

  home reflects importance placed on one’s home village

An aside – importance of coming home

Smith’s study is not the only one in the AoD literature to discuss the dead ‘coming home’ for their burial

• This is a common theme in discussions of death, funerals and mourning in immigrant/migrant communities – not only in anthropology but also sociology, history

The procession

from the mortuary to the family compound starts the formal event of the funeral and stresses the importance of family relationships in status and identity

• Key events and actual burial occur in family compound

• Ambulance (hearse) accompanied by convoy of cars and vans

• The bigger the procession – the more family/friends, the more vehicles – the greater the prestige

The night vigil

• Analogous to wake in some other cultures’ funerals

• Communal celebration of deceased

  • Food, music, socialization

  • Foods and drinks offered are important

    • Ability to offer quality food and drink demonstrates family’s status

  • Equally important is who gets what food and drink

    • This reflects the guests’ perceived status and may cause complaints – not due to unequal shares but due to disagreements over status evaluation

    • Contrast to some other cultures where fair sharing = equal sharing

The funeral ceremony

• Christian ceremony in local church or family compound

  • This ethnic group is predominantly Christian

• This is followed by interment (burial) in the family compound, preceded by orations on life of deceased

  • Only positives – achievements are praised, so are contributions and generosity to community, fulfilment of duties to others

  • Like the survivors putting on the funeral, the deceased is praised and respected for what has been given to others

The entertainment

• A second event with food and drink, following interment

• Some similarities to night vigil

  • Food and drink are offered

  • Different foods and drinks given to different guests

• However there are some important differences

  • The one that Smith stresses is division into hosting groups

  • This makes the hospitality given to different individuals openly displayed and easy to judge

Conflict and status negotiation: Seeing the funeral as ‘conspicuous redistribution’ explains a lot

• Goal of deceased’s relatives is to put on a funeral that claims status for the deceased and for themselves through what they can share

• Urban returnees’ contributions redistribute resources and ‘convert wealth into people’ (money status in form of social links)

  • Conflicts over what they should give and what respect they get back echo general tensions over money/migration/status in community

• At the same time the guests are vigilant about their own status

  • What group am I placed in? Am I treated fairly as part of that group? Am I being properly respected?

Multiple levels of meaning

Smith also pointing out some other levels we can ‘read’ these funerary activities on:

• Rite of passage (specifically for those burying a parent – prove own abilities, move to higher level of family responsibility)

• Entertaining and honoring guests correctly reinforces kinship and patron-client ties, fulfils reciprocal obligations

• Importantly, the participants’ own interpretation: a lavish funeral Honours the dead and is pleasing to go to

Status display in Lòlo rituals: Mueggler emphasizes cooperation but we also see display here: Some of this is material/financial

• A proper Emerging from the Courtyard ritual requires financial resources – this is why daughter should be economically secure

• Wealth is symbolically referred to (buying water, paying taxes)

• The role of the heirs calls attention to the legacy of the deceased

• Those offering goats and rice sing about their hard work to produce these, me everyone sees who gave what

Status display in Lòlo rituals: Mueggler emphasizes cooperation but we also see display here: However it’s likely even more important that the ritual emphasizes the deceased’s wealth of social ties and their success in leading a ‘proper’ life

• the structure of the ceremony and the many people involved calls everyone’s attention to the many social ties of the deceased

• Like the Igbo, the Lòlo value “wealth in people” - a common value in many cultures

Status in US/UK viewings

• Harper does not discuss status display or competition

  • Intentionally focuses on other aspects of the funerals (identity)

  • This doesn’t mean status display isn’t taking place!

  • US/UK funerals can be ostentatious and expensive, and industry often encourages the mourners to buy “the best” to demonstrate their love

• One place we can see status display is the expectation that the deceased will be visited by many family and friends

  • This may be seen as emphasizing the status of the deceased as someone who’s mourned by many (again, ‘wealth in people’)