Funeral rites, Windows of Opportunity and Co-Construction Policies for Social Responses to Epidemics
The Ebola virus disease outbreak (2014-2016) and the COVID-19 pandemic are urgent reminders of the need to take sociocultural issues into account in epidemic preparedness and response policies. The following article considers this perspective, as it aims to show the issues involved in rearranging funeral rites in the context of an epidemic and discuss how counter-rites and windows of opportunity can serve as anchor points for co-constructing social responses to epidemics with stakeholders. The analyses are based on 26 observations, coupled with daily discussions, interviews and 30 semi-structured interviews, as well as document review and bibliographic research. This work shows that funeral rites involve multiple issues. However, a culture’s counter-rites and windows of opportunity can serve as an anchor for co-constructing inclusive responses in an epidemic context. This imposes an approach based on funerary imperatives: looking for prohibitions, obligations, permissions, or authorizations, according to the type and the circumstances of death. Operationalizing this socioanthropological knowledge requires an anthropology of epidemics with a culture of action and a focus on a systemic approach to co-construction.