Anthropology of Dying: A Participant Observation with Dying Persons in Germany

Mira Menzfeld explores dying persons’ experiences of their own dying processes. She reveals cultural specificities of pre-exital dying in contemporary Germany, paying special attention to how concepts of dying ‘(un)well’ are perceived and realized by dying persons. Her methodological focus centers on classical ethnographic approaches: Close participant observation as well as informal and semi-structured conversations. For a better understanding of the specificities of dying in contemporary Germany, the author provides a refined definition catalogue of adequate terms to describe dying from an anthropological perspective.