Cultural Perspectives on Death & Dying

In 2006, the DMNS hosted an extraordinary exhibit called Body Worlds. This exhibit included plastinated human bodies. DMNS staff realized that our guests, as they visited this blockbuster exhibit and realized that they were seeing portrayals of actual human bodies might very well ponder their own mortality. Because our western culture tends to avoid topics surrounding death and dying, a group of DMNS staff proposed this video project.

The Death and Dying Video project was an attempt to address end-of-life issues directly in a culturally sensitive manner by presenting a broad perspective about issues, customs, and actions related to the end of life. We interviewed religious representatives, representatives from different cultural groups, and representatives from the community who deal with death and dying on a regular basis (e.g., funeral directors, hospice workers, palliative care doctors) and asked each the following questions:

· What do you believe happens to you when you die?

· Do your actions in life influence your death or afterlife?

· What are your funerary and mourning rituals?

· How do you honor and remember the dead?

· How has what you do professi