Cemeteries as Translocal Contact Zones: Navigating Regulations, Unwritten Rules and Divergent Expectations in Luxembourg City

in Maddrell, Avril; Kmec, Sonja; Priya Uteng, Tanu (Eds.) et al Mobilities in Life and Death Negotiating Room for Migrants and Minorities in European Cemeteries (2023)

Migration, intercultural encounters and integration do not cease with death, but are taken with the deceased into cemetery grounds. This article explores the translocal dimension of cemeteries, where ... [more ▼]

Migration, intercultural encounters and integration do not cease with death, but are taken with the deceased into cemetery grounds. This article explores the translocal dimension of cemeteries, where diverse expectations and practices are confronted by, engage with and respond to regulations and unwritten rules of a particular public space. This article looks at migrants who wish to be buried or have buried close kin or friends in Luxembourg, a small country in Northwestern Europe. Disposition of the dead in the host country instead of post-mortal repatriation is often seen as sign of integration or belonging. However, this choice must be understood in the context of a set of constraints that can be experienced in a variety of ways. Examining three contested issues at cemeteries (burial practices, cemetery and grave design, and grave perpetuity), we show how both the regulations and unwritten rules of cemeteries are negotiated and challenged by individual migrants and migrant communities, highlighting different practices of lived citizenship. Based on participant experiences and narratives, we argue for the necessity of valuing and managing cemeteries, less as bounded spaces that can foster integration during life and after, but as permeable and transformative contact zones in which translocal citizenship can be enacted. [less ▲]

Mobilities in Life and Death Negotiating Room for Migrants and Minorities in European Cemeteries

Book published by Springer (2023)

This open access book focuses on migrant and minority cemetery needs through the conceptual lens of the mobilities of the living and the dead. In doing so, the book brings migration and mobility studies ... [more ▼]

This open access book focuses on migrant and minority cemetery needs through the conceptual lens of the mobilities of the living and the dead. In doing so, the book brings migration and mobility studies into much-needed dialogue with death studies to explore the symbolically and politically important issue of culturally inclusive spaces of cemeteries and crematoria for migrants and established minorities. The book addresses majority and minority cemetery and crematoria provisions and practices in a range of North West European contexts. It describes how the planning, management and use of cemeteries and crematoria in multicultural societies can tell us about the everyday lived experiences of migration and migrant heritage, urban diversity, social inclusion and exclusion in Europe, and how these relate to migrant and minority experience of lived citizenship, practices of territoriality and bordering, colonial/postcolonial narratives. The book will be of interest to readers in the fields of migration/mobilities studies and death studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners, such as local government officers, cemetery managers and city planners. [less ▲]

Rules, Norms and Practices. A Comparative Study Exploring Disposal Practices and Facilities in Northern Europe

in Omega: Journal of Death and Dying (2021), 83(4),

We identify and analyse practices and management regimes around burial and handling of ashes across eight case study towns within six Northern European countries. We analyse management of cemeteries and ... [more ▼]

We identify and analyse practices and management regimes around burial and handling of ashes across eight case study towns within six Northern European countries. We analyse management of cemeteries and crematoria gardens, majority practices and provision for minority communities, including various burial types, cremated remains, the re-use of graves, and costs for interments. Comparative data is drawn from analysis of national and local regulations, interviews with stakeholders, and observations at cemeteries and crematoria gardens. The findings show significant variation in national and local regulations and practices for burial and cremation particularly around the re-use of graves, handling of ashes and costs for grave space and cremation. We identify the opportunities and constraints of these variations in terms of accessibility, diversity and equality; and argue for national directions to avoid unequal treatment within nations. Furthermore, we stress the importance of a liberal and inclusive management of European cemeteries and crematoria gardens. [less ▲]

Friedhöfe und Krematorien. Zur inklusionsorientierten Adaptierung öffentlichen Raums

Report (2021)

Cemeteries and Crematoria. Creating inclusive public spaces in Luxembourg

Report (2021)