Book launch 'The Unclaimed. Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels'
With Pamela Prickett
- Date
- 29 May 2024
- Time
- 16:00 -18:00
- Room
- C10.20
Today, more and more next of kin are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to handle disposition. Common explanations blame rising funeral costs, homelessness, drug overdoses, and untreated mental illnesses.
Certainly, these are factors contributing to the rising numbers of Americans who have no next of kin willing or able to claim their bodies when they die. However, this study, which draws on extensive participant-observation, interviews, archival research, and quantitative analyses, locates the rise in unclaimed deaths in a larger social problem: social isolation caused by eroding family ties.
Book launch
On Wednesday 29 May at 16:00, the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) is happy to host the book launch of The Unclaimed, in which Pamela Prickett, as the author, will address the roots of this erosion, discussing how changes in household demographics, widespread family estrangement (Pillemer 2022), and restrictive laws around who qualifies as bureaucratically legitimate kin (Menjívar 2023; Timmermans & Prickett 2022) contribute to the rise of unclaimed bodies.
Prickett will explain who the unclaimed dead are, the factors that lead to their abandonment after death, and the role the state is increasingly forced to play in our afterlives.
A rare and compassionate look into the lives of Americans who go unclaimed when they die and those who dedicate their lives to burying them with dignityMatthew Desmond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Poverty, by America
Aftertalk
After presenting for about 25 minutes, Pamela Prickett will engage in conversation with Kristine Krause, anthropologist working at the intersections of political and medical anthropology.
Afterwards, we welcome you all for drinks & snacks from 17:00 to 18:00.
Program
- 16:00 Room open
- 16:15 Start
- 17:00 Drinks & snacks
About the speakers
Pamela Prickett is Associate Professor of Sociology at the AISSR, part of the University of Amsterdam, and an acclaimed writer and former broadcaster. Her research and teaching focus on urban inequality, community-building, death/dying, religion, gender, mental health, and qualitative methods.
Kristine Krause is Associate Professor in Anthropology at the AISSR, part of the University of Amsterdam. She works at the intersections of political and medical anthropology, interested in subjectivities and health, citizenship and care.