What is it about?
In contemporary Nigeria, it is not uncommon for human corpses to decompose in the open. In this paper I explain why burial rite, which is basic to most human societies, eludes some categories of the dead.
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Why is it important?
Extant literature on death and burial in Nigerian societies emphasize the aspect of social ceremonies and mortuary rites. There is the assumption that all dead are accorded burial rites. An important point stressed in this article is that the human identity is not sufficient to guarantee a corpse burial where and when it is considered to be socially anonymous.
Perspectives
This article is more or less a commentary on a social problem. Like I stated somewhere in it, the putrefying smell oozing from a decomposing roadside corpse is a point of introspection on the real worth of every individual. When human corpses suffer similar fate as goats, chickens, and other animals, then questions needed be asked of the humanity we commonly profess.
Babajide Ololajulo
University of Ibadan
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Roadside corpses in Nigeria: social anonymity, public morality, and (in)dignity of the human body, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, June 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2017.1341043.
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