Piecing Together Body and Death: Construction – Deconstruction – Reconstruction

The perceived identity of a person as an individual and as part of a functional or collective identity is influenced by many conscious and subconscious decisions and interpretations. In this context, the body, as a visible and tangible entity, assumes the role of a canvas upon which meaning is produced through the addition and removal of elements, resulting in the formation of a coherent whole: the naked body is clothed, and permanent or temporary modifications can be made to physical features such as skin, hair, or teeth. This entity can, in turn, be further influenced by the external context: an identity constructed on the basis of diff erent social backgrounds. This identit is communicated outward and perceived and interpreted by others.

Unlike in life, with death an individual loses the ability to actively construct itself and enters the static state of a ‘deceased person’. In contrast, death and burial are not neutral or purely technical responses to the end of life. They are cultural processes through which bodies, objects, memories, and narratives are actively shaped, challenged, and reworked.

Cluster 3 Body and Death invites contributions that deal with the construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of bodies, especially after death, both on a theoretical and practical level. The three-day conference will be held from 28th to 30th September at the RGK in Frankfurt (Palmengartenstraße 10–12, Frankfurt am Main).

At a theoretical level, the conference asks how the ideas of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction can be defi ned and applied within the study of body, death, and burial. What does it mean to construct the dead socially, materially, or narratively? How can acts of destruction, disturbance, or denial of remembrance be understood as forms of deconstruction? To what extent is archaeological interpretation itself always a form of reconstruction – necessarily tentative and shaped by modern perspectives? Contributions are encouraged to refl ect critically on these questions and on established scholarly approaches to death.A key focus lies on the construction and deconstruction of the body, both in life and, especially, after death.

Burials and commemorative practices create specifi c images of the deceased through grave goods, grave architecture, inscriptions, narratives, and repeated ritual actions. These constructions may later be altered or undone through grave robbery, destruction, fragmentation, or the erasure of memory. Modern attempts to interpret and reconstruct buried individuals form part of this ongoing process.

The conference also highlights the impact of mortuary practices on the living. As rites of passage, funerary rituals enact processes of transformation in which bodies and identities are reconfigured, authority and succession are symbolically legitimised, and communities are guided through the liminal negotiation of grief and loss. Conversely, the dead may be deliberately deconstructed to neutralize or appropriate their former social or political power, or for ritual, emotional, or pragmatic reasons.

The conference further invites contributions addressing themes such as grave goods, violence and death (including executions and suicide), sensory dimensions of burial practices, mortuary sequences, body manipulation, secondary burials, and processes of fragmentation and defragmentation. Interdisciplinary papers from all periods and regions are welcome, particularly those that combine theoretical refl ection with empirical case studies.

Submissions for papers and posters are invited in English and German and should include an abstract of no more than 300 words. Oral presentations may last up to 20 minutes. Poster presentations are also encouraged; posters should be prepared in A1 format (portrait orientation). The meeting will be held in a hybrid format and will be streamed online. The abstracts should be sent to koerperundtod.sprecher@dainst.de by no later than 31.03.2026.