THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Anthropological Talk by Gordon Mathews
Senses of Life After Death Today: The United States, Japan, Mainland China and Hong Kong
Friday 28 October 2022, 7:00pm
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
What happens to us after we die? Up until recently, most people in the world, following one of the world's religions, more or less knew the answer to this question. Today, however, senses of life after death have become profoundly individualized as well as secularized. This talk, based on a book to be published in January 2023, explores senses of life after death or its absence in the United States, Japan, Mainland China, and Hong Kong, through ethnographic interviews that Mathews, Yang Yang, and Miu Ying Kwong have conducted with some 500 people in these societies. While in the United States, the Christian God and heaven still serve as a moral guide and shadow for Christians and atheists alike, in Japan, a society full of pressure to live in certain ways, senses of life after death serve as matters of personal hope and moral escape. In Mainland China, senses of life after death have reemerged as materialist ideology has lost meaning for some as a guide by which to live. In Hong Kong, there is a mixture of Christianity, Chinese religious traditions, and secularism in senses of life after death; how will this shift as Hong Kong becomes more Chinese? This talk shows how senses of life after death can serve as a fascinating window into life before death in these different societies.
Gordon Mathews is a Research Professor in Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has long been active in the Hong Kong Anthropological Society, and is incoming Chair of the World Council of Anthropological Associations.