(1) Introduction: Death and the concept of a person; (2) Garo beliefs in the afterlife; (3) Pouring water and eating food: on the symbolism of death in a Sasak community on Lombok, Indonesia; (4) The journey through the Bardo: notes on the symbolism of Tibetan mortuary rites and the Tibetan Book of the dead; (5) The politics of death: rituals of protest in a Chilean exile community; (6) The colours of the soul and the origin of Karmic eschatology; (7) Death and the end of society: official ideology and ritual communication in the Somali funeral; (8) Death rituals as inversions of life structures: a comparison of Swedish and African funerals; (9) The politics of chaos: on the meaning of human sacrifice among the Kuba of Zaire