Wednesday, May 7, 2014 | Categories: Episodes |
"Still Life with Skull", a flower, a skull and an hourglass stand for Life, Death and Time in this 17th-century painting by Philippe de Champaigne.
Death is called the greatest of equalizers -- the greatest of mysteries. At one time we tended to our dead with home funerals and mourning rituals. But, over the last century death has been outsourced to mortuary professionals. Now multinational chains are buying up mom-and-pop operations, offering package deals on funerals. However, the corporatization of death is being challenged: death midwives are returning care of the dead to families by helping us face death and aiding families in arranging intimate home funerals. In Part 2 of Death Becomes Us, IDEAS producer Mary O'Connell explores these diverging trends.
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