Menzfeld Mira. Anthropology of Dying. A Participant Observation with Dying Persons in Germany

Wiesbaden: Springer, 2017. — 296 p. — ISBN10: 9783658198251; ISBN13: 978-3658198251Mira Menzfeld explores dying persons’ experiences of their own dying processes. She reveals cultural specificities of pre-exital dying in contemporary Germany, paying special attention to how concepts of dying ‘(un)well’ are perceived and realized by dying persons. Her methodological focus centers on classical ethnographic approaches: Close participant observation as well as informal and semi-structured conversations. For a better understanding of the specificities of dying in contemporary Germany, the author provides a refined definition catalogue of adequate terms to describe dying from an anthropological perspective.Introducing dyingFieldwork with dying persons
Becoming dying
First experiences as a dying person
Cultural models of dying
How it feels to be a dying person
Changing perceptions in dying
Emic perspectives on the course of dying
Dying as liminality in the making
Insights from and for dyingEpilogue