Researcher(s):
Maya Kelp
ENVS course(s): 330 Initiated: March 2017 Completed: May 2017 Go to project site
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Situated in the deeply religious and vast state of Texas, this minor capstone aims to understand how religious, environmental, and aesthetic factors impact the choice of local burial practice. Through examination of Biblical scripture, Catholic and Southern Baptist doctrine, county-level religious data combined with county-level cremation rates, and a historical analysis of the evolution of cemeteries, I found that unexpected patterns arise. Catholic doctrine is hesitant to accept cremation as a valid method of disposition, but predominantly Baptist counties have dramatically lower rates of cremation. Additionally, Biblical scripture emphasizes the relationship between the body, soil, and resurrection, but the modern structure of cemeteries is resource-intensive and layers of metal and concrete separate the corpse from the soil. These findings and more illustrate that as this project attempts to answer questions, even more questions and apparent contradictions arise.