Governing Cemeteries

This comparative and multi-level study of state responses is confronted with huge complexity. Almost all existing theoretical and methodological approaches -such as secularism (including multiple secularisms or post-secularism)- do not take these complexities seriously into account, focusing on one concept only (wrong Leitdifferenz). They neglect different meanings of terms for agents in the field and they neglect the importance of different levels of governance, times, issues and minorities. This study, however, highlights minimally necessary complexity without drowning in this complexity. It draws clear conceptual, theoretical and methodological lessons, also in a broader sense for the study of governance of religious and cultural diversity and for the governance of migrations. It is a must read. (Veit Bader, Professor Emeritus, University of Amsterdam) Van den Breemer’s fascinating study of the religious governance of cemeteries by secular state institutions proves that cemeteries have become a privileged site to observe empirically the various ways in which the dual accommodation of religious-secular and multi-religious diversity takes place in today’s post-secular Western European societies. (Jose Casanova, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University)