Death scholar Dr. Candi Cann joins Kinda Religious for a wide-ranging, often funny conversation about how we deal with death. We cover why COVID didn’t change how we talk about dying, DIY versus traditional funerals, and what food means in death rituals. We also get into why “the dead will return to haunt us,” how grief theory has changed, the corporatization of funeral homes, and mourning through apps, VR and AI.
Dr. Cann’s Website: https://www.candikcann.com
Topic Timestamps
- 0:27 – Intro and guest bio
- 1:16 – Did COVID change how we talk about death? (Not much. Will-writing is still around 50%.)
- 5:00 – Comparing COVID with the 1920s flu epidemic, and “trauma fatigue”
- 8:39 – DIY and personalized funerals versus traditional ritual
- 11:35 – Arlington burials and the comfort of ritual
- 15:35 – Food in death rituals across cultures
- 16:17 – Dying to Eat, Peter Brown and feeding tubes at early Christian graves
- 17:36 – Sin eaters in the Middle Ages
- 18:55 – Offerings in China, Buddhism, and Jewish and Muslim round foods (bagels, couscous)
- 22:18 – Recipes as a connection to the dead: grandma’s recipe box, a family cookbook, recipes on headstones, “XXX” in rum balls
- 31:08 – “The dead will return to haunt us,” The Body Keeps the Score, and ghosts and Geist
- 35:06 – 9/11 versus COVID: why we memorialize one and not the other
- 41:53 – How American mourning has changed over fifty years
- 42:21 – Kübler-Ross and stage models versus the dual process model and continuing bonds
- 46:18 – Corporatization of the funeral industry (the “McDonald’s of funeral homes,” funeral homes owned by hospitals in Korea, and the funeral home that bakes cookies)
- 51:06 – Funeral food, and grief as physical work
- 52:57 – Social media and grief
- 55:00 – Technology and mourning: candle apps, Chinese tomb-sweeping apps, Singapore columbarium livestreams, virtual grave tending
- 57:33 – AI replicas, chatbots and the VR reunion in the Korean show Missing You
- 1:02:30 – What makes a good death (hospice, death doulas, agency)
- 1:04:06 – Closing question