BECOMING AN EMBALMER'S APPRENTICE

233 Pages·2006·1.6 MB·English

BECOMING AN EMBALMER'S APPRENTICE: AN

ASSESSMENT AND APPLICATION OF

EXISTENTIAL SOCIOLOGY

By

MEGHAN DANIEL PROBSTFIELD

Bachelors of Arts Sociology
Central Florida University
Orlando, FL
1998

Master of Arts Sociology
Central Florida University
Orlando, FL
2001

Submitted to the faculty of the
Graduate College of the
Oklahoma State University
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for
the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
May, 2006
BECOMING AN EMBALMER'S APPRENTICE: AN

ASSESSMENT AND APPLICATION OF

EXISTENTIAL SOCIOLOGY

Dissertation Approved:

Dr. J. David Knottnerus
Dissertation Advisor
Dr. Charles Edgley

Dr. Elizabeth Schaefer Caniglia

Dr. Stephen M. Perkins

Dr. Michael Taylor

Dr. A. Gordon Emslie
Dean of the Graduate College

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are several individuals that I would like to send appreciation toward. Thank you,
Dr. Charles Edgley, for initially presenting the idea of an existential sociology in your
seminar, and for remaining on my dissertation committee, even after departing from the
Oklahoma State University. I would like to extend this gratitude to Dr. J. David
Knottnerus, for accepting the responsibility of committee Chair without hesitation, thus
allowing my continued investigation into an existential concept, or more importantly,
permitting me to finish what was started. Thank you, Dr. Elizabeth Schaefer Caniglia,
Dr. Stephen M. Perkins, and Dr. Michael Taylor for your participation, the reminders that
this was still a sociological research endeavor, and for keeping me honest. Or should we
say, more authentic, and almost honest? Thank you Jan Meij and Dahlia [Molloy]
Gonzalez for accepting the tedious task of the final proofreading and editing. Each of
you listed in this paragraph, offered critical insight and guidance that ultimately aided in
the development of a more, sound presentation of experience.
I would like to offer a special appreciation to all family members that apparently offered
all kinds of thoughts and prayers. I am uncertain whether that means I am appreciated or
if you were lacking confidence in my abilities (that is sarcasm, no need to read into it
further Mila, Mom). In any regard, hopefully, I was worthy of receiving such graces.
Again, thank you, to the funeral staff that cooperated and offered friendship while
working at their establishment. You really exemplified a unique and compassionate
business sense, in an industry where far too many individuals seem to have forgotten that
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the deceased are still real people. Lastly, I would like to offer an existentially felt
appreciation for the dead individuals that were moved through this establishment during
my time there. Without you, none of this would have been possible. Hopefully,
everyone acknowledged here, will one day be met with the same kind of gracious hands
that worked for you and your families, that is, when each eventually comes to his or her
ownmost, finite possibility.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I. THE INTERVIEW: AN EXISTENTIAL SELF-CONCEPT .................................1

An Auto-Biographical Account...............................................................................1
The Corpse and Existential Self...............................................................................3
Potential Individual Benefits and Sociological Contributions.................................7
The Initial Self Concept and Existential Tasks......................................................11

II. EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY TO EXISTENTIAL SOCIOLOGY...................12

Existential Philosophy...........................................................................................12
Existential Sociology.............................................................................................17

III. THE TRANSGRESSION FROM CARETAKER OF THE DEAD TO THE
FUNERAL DIRECTOR IN NORTH AMERICA.................................................22

Historical Development of the Funeral Industry...................................................22
Contemporary Trends of the Funeral Industry.......................................................27
The Corporate Influence..................................................................................27
The Potentiality of the Corpse.........................................................................30

IV. BECOMING AN EMBALMER'S APPRENCTICE.............................................34

Meeting the Funeral Directors and State Expectations..........................................34
Becoming Stigmatized: The First Attempt......................................................35
A Set Back: Rejection Number Two...............................................................37
Expectations of the State..................................................................................40
Addressing Uncertainty...................................................................................42
Access Granted................................................................................................44
An Ethnography, Auto-Ethnography or Existential Story of Experience..............46
Ethnographic Considerations...........................................................................47
Auto-Ethnographic Considerations and the Participatory Paradigm...............48
Methods and Risk Factors for Personal Experience..............................................54
Subject Selection and Appointment.................................................................56
Recording Experience......................................................................................56
Human Subjects Issues....................................................................................58
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V. BECOMING AND WORKING AS AN APPRENTICE......................................62

The Work Environment and Staff..........................................................................64
Defining the Role of Embalmer's Apprentice........................................................68
Anxiety and Waiting to Work..........................................................................68
The First Call: A Funeral Arrangement...........................................................70
The Next Few Cases and Role Recognition....................................................73
More Work Delays and Role Redirection........................................................75
A Lot More Cases and the Concluding Role...................................................77
A Regular Day Without Bodies.............................................................................82
Daily Duties, Tasks, and Roles........................................................................82
Handling the Dead and Embalming.......................................................................86
The First Case: A Desire To See......................................................................86
Embalming and Preparing the Dead for Viewing............................................90
Effects to Self and Interaction..........................................................................97
Other Contexts for Handling the Dead Body.................................................112
Funeral Arrangements..........................................................................................130
The Rational Plan or Attempted Goals..........................................................133
The Irrational or Improvised Plan..................................................................137
The Coalescence: Us and Them.....................................................................143
The Funeral Service.............................................................................................148
Setting the Stage and the Hierarchy of Workers............................................149
Social or Personal Significance?....................................................................154
Native American Funeral Service and Graveside Rituals..............................158
Coming to the End.........................................................................................164

VI. TRANSFORMATION OF SELF AND CONCLUSIONS.................................169

The Total Experience: The Search for Authenticity...........................................172
Debunking Myths and Social Contributions........................................................180
Methodological and Academic Limitations in an Existential Approach.............187
Retrospective Account: Personal Significance...................................................196

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................200

APPENDICES...........................................................................................................207

Appendix A -- Oklahoma Funeral Board Certificate of Registration as an
Apprentice Director/Embalmer...................................................207

Appendix B -- Cover Letter for Intention, Anonymity, Confidentiality
of Study: First Draft for Funeral Directors ................................209

Appendix C -- Oklahoma Funeral Board Apprentice Monthly Report...............212

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Appendix D -- Cover Letter for Intention, Anonymity, Confidentiality
of Study: Second Draft for Funeral Directors and IRB..............215

Appendix E -- Funeral Home Privacy Notice Form Used for Rejection
or Acceptance of Participation.....................................................219

Appendix F -- Institutional Review Board Human Subjects
Approval Page..............................................................................221

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

I. Qualifications and Registration Requirements for Apprenticeship..................40

II. Criteria for Apprenticeship and Purposes of Licensing...................................41

III. Basic Beliefs of Participatory Inquiry..............................................................50

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

I. Floor Diagram for the Funeral Home.................................................................67

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CHAPTER I

THE INTERVIEW: AN EXISTENTIAL SELF-CONCEPT

You are dead. Think about this statement for a moment, try to visualize yourself
as a corpse, accept it as real, and do not evade the notion. Keep in mind there is no room
here for afterlife beliefs because that knowledge could only be revealed in a later
incorporeal possibility and right now the idea is that you are dead. There is no relevance
for leaving behind a gene pool, a label for family lineage, symbolic representations of
your identity or personality in photographs, paintings, or even your cremains in the cover
of your favorite book. You are dead. Being dead is not beautiful, glorious, grotesque,
morbid, at the right time, at the wrong time, or without meaning simply because it is
considered a natural transformation of energy, you are dead. Your religion will not save
you, nor will the achievement of Nirvana, meeting your Maker, the Creator, God, Allah,
or deceased relatives on the other side because here in this immediate moment you are
dead. How does that make you feel? What thoughts come to mind when you consider
yourself this way?
An Autobiographical Account
For several years I have contended that thoughts about being dead were a greater
challenge to sense of self than thoughts about death as a concept; being dead and death
were not considered one and the same. Death was thought to be a social, more general
conception, whereas, thoughts about being dead were more personal or concrete. Like
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