Hindu Mobilities and Cremation: Minority, Migrant and Gendered Dialogues and Dialectics in English and Welsh Towns

Abstract

AbstractIn Chap. 1 Avril Maddrell, Brenda Mathijssen, Yasminah Beebeejaun, Katie McClymont and Danny McNally untangle the embodied, gendered, racialised and institutionalized cremation practices of Hindu communities in three case study towns: Northampton and Swindon in England and Newport in Wales. They argue that attending to questions of (in)adequate funerary infrastructure and norms – including prompt cremation; accommodating ritual requirements for witnessing the charging the cremator; the negotiation of designated sites for the disposition of cremated remains in local rivers; and local bus services – are essential steps to creating and maintaining a sense of inclusiveness, lived citizenship and justice for these communities. The chapter underscores the changing local-national-international mobilities of cremated remains and other evolving practices and beliefs to reflect the role of varied corporeal, material, institutional and religious-emotional (im)mobilities that are instrumental in shaping contemporary Hindu funerary practices and experiences in England and Wales. This raises issues regarding inclusive funerary provision for Hindus in England and Wales, as well as providing conceptual insights regarding the material and spiritual mobilities of the dead, their remains and their mourners.