Death and Funeral Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand

This book provides a shortform definitive reference text on the landscape and features of Aotearoa New Zealand that underpin its familiar, though country-specific, ways of caring for the dead. It provides an account of diverse funerary practices that have taken shape through the various cultures that have settled here.

In the backdrop of the colonising history of Aotearoa New Zealand, the book examines the complex legislative framework that separates Māori and non-Māori funerary legislation and practices. Examining the mixed model of provision spanning municipal, commercial, and private organisations, the book outlines various aspects of funerals, such as the care of the body, funeral arrangements, costs, and what state support is available. It also delves into the two legal ways to manage the dead: burial or cremation, with cremation now the majority option. The book explores the numbers, ownership and locations of crematoria and cemeteries before identifying the new trends influencing death care including sustainability. It then looks at how death is memorialised in Aotearoa New Zealand, including in cemeteries, for war memorialisation, and other public commemoration and memorialisation.

This book will be of interest to the growing body of local authority planners, researchers, and funeral professionals who must be responsive to and provide their services in complex multi-cultural contexts. As the scope of the book is historical and contemporary death practices, it will also appeal to social historians.

Ruth McManus is an Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand, where she teaches and researches on sociology and death studies. She is also the inaugural President of the Society for Death Studies, which promotes research and understanding across all areas of death studies with particular reference to Aotearoa New Zealand academic, professional, artistic and practitioner communities. She has also researched and written on a wide variety of death studies topics, including shipwrecks, disaster memorialization, the greening of death and suicide genealogies.

Denise Blake (she/her) is a researcher and educator from Aotearoa/New Zealand. She previously worked at Victoria University of Wellington, teaching health psychology. Denise has worked across community health sectors, including mental health and addiction. Her research address issues of identity, Indigenous wellbeing, disaster management and sustainability.

Jessica Thompson currently works as a freelance Research Assistant, holding contracts with Massey University Psychology Clinic Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand and University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her main interest areas are critical health psychology, gendered healthcare and minoritised groups.