Identities

Abstract

One of the most interesting and valuable aspects of memorials is that they are designed to encapsulate certain culturally important features of the deceased. The total text available, and degree of pictorial representation allowed, was restricted by practical constraints such as size, and by social convention. Priorities therefore have to be made in terms of what descriptors an individual will be given. This has already been assessed within the context of social relationships, but other aspects of identity may also be indicated, or may even supplant familial ties. These other kinds of identity can take two forms. Some identities are very conscious and are deliberately selected, to set the individual apart as a member of some group. Others are normative and subconscious within that group but to the anthropologist today, or indeed any external viewer, can be seen as identifying the deceased with a group. In many cases there is an element of conscious selection, made within a subconscious framework. There has as yet been little research on this balance. For example, Ridlen (1996) has briefly indicated how a particular monument form, the tree-stump tombstone, can represent any of six aspects of identity, through its form, additional symbols and text. She lists these as family and home, religion, occupation, patriotism, association, and agrarian values; most would seem to be conscious, but not necessarily expressed in those terms by those who commissioned the memorials.