Godless People and Dead Bodies

Materiality and the Morality of Atheist Materialism

in Social Analysis
Author:
Jacob Copeman University of Edinburgh jacob.copeman@ed.ac.uk

Search for other papers by Jacob Copeman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
and
Johannes Quack University of Zurich johannes.quack@uzh.ch

Search for other papers by Johannes Quack in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

Atheists are not the only people who donate their bodies, yet the practice is strikingly prevalent in a variety of atheist circles. We concentrate here on the Indian case, exploring body donation as a key instance of the material culture of atheism. Recent efforts to reinvigorate study of the material culture of religion are to be welcomed, but they should be extended to non-religion in order to address the irony that sees scholars representing materialism as an abstract doctrine and, hence, as immaterial. Body donation holds value for Indian atheists as a bridge between 'positive' and 'negative' modes of atheist thought and action. It also provides a ready-made solution for atheist activists keen to circumvent the cadaver-centered death rituals they find so redundant.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Social Analysis

The International Journal of Anthropology

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 676 233 18
Full Text Views 61 10 0
PDF Downloads 88 19 0