Necronationalism and the Law: A legal geography of Canadian deathscapes

Keywords: necronationalism, legal geography, deathscapes
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

Cemeteries play a significant role in settler colonial nation building and the perpetuation of white mythologies of discovery and possession (Vadasaria, 2015). Through a combination of archival research and GIS mapping, this study analyzes the relationship between the law and Canadian death spaces. Beginning with an overview of sanitary reforms in the mid-1800s, the paper highlights the role of the state in establishing the legal identity of the cemetery and regulating the sale of burial rights. Both the regulatory persistence of this approval-based regime and the protection of burial rights in perpetuity, have created a landscape of death spaces that immortalize the presence of the settler.