Vol. 11 (2025): post(s) 11
Akademos

The Ruined Aura: Dead Bodies in Contemporary Times

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Rosa Inés Padilla
Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ
Bio
Portada del ensayo El aura arruinada: cuerpos muertos en tiempos contemporáneos

Published 2025-06-13

Keywords

  • funeral industry,
  • ritual,
  • Anthropocene

Copyright (c) 2025 Rosa Inés Padilla

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Padilla, R. I. (2025). The Ruined Aura: Dead Bodies in Contemporary Times. Post(s), 11, 80-99. https://doi.org/10.18272/post(s).v11i1.3082

Abstract

This article attempts to understand death in the Anthropocene; a time so named because of the dominance we as humanity exert over everything around us. A time that seems to be in ruins. Based on these ruins and debris, I seek to understand how the body and death function and what assemblages are possible: what voices are heard and what are the possibilities of the funerary ritual in this context. In addition, through terms such as work, creativity and aura, I make analyses and reflections on the modus operandi of the funeral industry and how, nowadays it has brought about changes both in the treatment of dead bodies and in the forms and processes of farewell. 

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