Borders, bodies, and beliefs: Death in a globalized world

Section 1. Caitlin Doughty’s Cosmopolitanism in Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and From There To Eternity: Cultural Conversation and Death Acceptance 1. Introduction This chapter is influenced by the cultural side of Caitlin Doughty’s discourse. And because we cannot separate it from the literary side, this section will provide explanations as to the way Doughty uses cosmopolitanism in two of her books, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity. Understanding the author’s attitude towards death is essential to comprehend what she wants to transmit to her readers. In the twenty-first century, cosmopolitanism acquires global proportions, especially in the context of present cultural and political changes (Pagden 1977; Beck 2012). To discuss death acceptance and phobia, we must look at cosmopolitanism from a certain angle: that of duality between local and general and, more precisely, that of conversation, as presented by Appiah (2006) and Jeffers (2013). This section aims to highlight the connection between the cosmopolitan attitude towards death and death practices and how Caitlin Doughty (2015, 2017) presents it as an essential element in the process of death acceptance with the help of cultural conversation. In two of her books, we witness a stance that draws its power from the positive consequences of globalization: observation, lack of judgement, and exchange of cultural information. Today’s cosmopolitanism is situated on the axis of international education (Gunesch 2004) and cultural creativity (Pogge 1992, Held 2013). But the paradox is that the world has never been so unified and at the same time so divided (Boia 2000); this affirmation comprises the duality of contemporary cosmopolitanism: on the one hand, we experience the coexistence of local and global culture, and on the other hand, we sustain the preservation of local values despite our natural curiosity for the Other (Appiah 2006). This duality plays a massive part in understanding the death rituals of other cultures without expressing any judgement when some might appear absurd to us. When we are locked in our own cultural bubble, everything outside of it is odd. When we pop it, it takes time to adjust to the novelty of something never encountered before in the modern world, such as choosing to be buried in a piece of cloth under a tree. These are the times we are living right now: of self-awareness, discovery, and bubble popping.