Elizabeth Hallam

Articulating bones: an epilogue

Taking the articulation of bones as its main theme, this epilogue draws together the articles in this issue and discusses theoretical concerns relevant to anthropological analysis of the substance of bones. In particular, it examines bones as relational entities, whose forms and material properties emerge through the interactions which take place with them. With reference to the author’s own historical anthropological research on anatomy in Britain, discussed here in a wider European context, the epilogue explores the articulation of bones through metaphors and images, the relations between anatomical skeletons and memento mori and the assemblage of bones in ossuaries. It then discusses the interdependence of bones and embodied practices — the bones of the dead and the bodies of the living both mutually shaping one another — with reference to the articulation or making of skeletons by anatomists whose artisanal work with bones has not only generated knowledge but also entailed forceful emotional dynamics.

Turning the hourglass: Gender relations at the deathbed in early modern Canterbury

The paper examines the gender relations and tensions that surrounded and informed deathbed practices in early modern Canterbury. Based on a detailed analysis of church court materials it argues that gender was a significant factor in the organization and management of dying. The care and attendance of the sick and dying were commonly associated with womens work and duty. As wives, neighbours, friends and servants women contributed in important ways to the preparations for death. Women were, however, largely marginalized during willmaking—the ritualized production of a text which was to guide the distribution of the deceaseds wealth and a set of practices which were mainly conducted by high-status, professional men. The representation of women as figures which were required to be present at the deathbed and to watch over and tend the dying, combined with the representation of men in terms of their production of the will document, gave rise to gender divisions and differences. The process of dying often i...