Between the Beauty Pageant and Utilitarian Disposal: Ideas and Practices Governing the Modern Funeral Home

This thesis is structured proleptically, in the initial section I introduce the modern funeral service practices, what I call the compromise. The compromise consists of the system of burial rituals defined by what I call the beauty pageant and the utilitarian disposal. The beauty pageant is the burial practice which involves embalming and cosmetically decorating the deceased. The utilitarian disposal consists of cremating the deceased into ashes and leaving the option available for added accessories.