Sharrard, Taylor

American mortuary ritual, including either embalming and burial or cremation, has largely gone unchanged since the Civil War. The growing movement of “death positivity” started by mortician Caitlin Doughty has been educating the American public about funeral alternatives that advocates believe are better for survivors of the deceased as well as the environment. I analyze past criticisms that have influenced Doughty to craft the death positive movement’s ideals and discuss these in terms of capitalistic greed as well as death denial culture. I describe the downfalls of the current embalming and cremation practices that the death positive movement opposes. Furthermore, I highlight the eco-friendly and family involvement-based funeral rituals that the death positive community promotes and how these are changing the homogeneity of American funeral rituals. I will demonstrate how the death positive movement is providing ritual change to U.S. funeral rituals, moving past uniformity.