MORS NEERLANDICA - Deathstyles in the Netherlands: Martin Hoondert (Tilburg University)

Death, dying and grief are increasingly discussed topics in Dutch society. In 2023, the daily newspaper Trouw devoted a series of articles to the process of dying, and the Volkskrant also dealt with the finitude of life in its series ‘De sterveling’ (‘The Mortal One’, (October 2022 – July 2023). Television programs that have been running for some time, such as ‘Over mijn lijk’ (‘Over my dead body’), have explicitly dealt with death. For several years, the government is working to modernize the Burial and Cremation Act, and in 2022 the Dutch organization SIRE launched an advertising campaign to draw attention to death and mourning.  Funeral organizations, like DELA and Monuta, are manifesting themselves in advertising campaigns, and cemeteries and crematoria are becoming increasingly important places in society for commemoration and mourning. Recurring themes in discussions of dying and death include autonomy, diversity, inclusion and sustainability.

The research and book project MORS NEERLANDICA aims at mapping these dynamics, taking into account the diversity of practices, rituals and ideas about dying, death and remembrance. Based on about 30 case studies, we explore patterns that characterize the dealing with death in the Netherlands. Key question in this project is: How do people in Dutch society deal with dying, death, and the dead?

In this presentation, Martin Hoondert will present the Mors Neerlandica project. The following topics will be dealt with:

1. Source of inspiration of the project: Mors Brittanica by Douglas Davies (2015)
2. Lifestyles and deathstyles
3. A case study project: an overview and methodological considerations
4. Presentation of some of the case studies: what patterns can be traced?
5. Discussion

About the speaker
Martin J.M. Hoondert (* 1967) studied musicology and theology and is specialized in music and rituals. Since 2007 he is (associate) professor of ‘Music, Religion & (Digital) Ritual’ at the Department of Culture Studies of Tilburg University (the Netherlands). His research focuses on ‘death rituals’, ‘music and death’ and ‘practices of memorialization’. His current research topics are: the development of the cremation ritual in the Netherlands, the contemporary requiem, divorce rituals (both offline and online), and practices of memorialization regarding genocide (esp. Armenia and Srebrenica).

E-mail: m.j.m.hoondert tilburguniversity.edu