The Good Death in Kaliai: Preparation for Death in Western New Britain

Abstract

Examination of the preparation for death among the Kaliai, an isolated Melanesian people, offers the basis for instructive comparisons with the institutionalization of death and the dehumanization of the dying in North America. The Kaliai see death not as an end to life, but a transition between different life states. This is a gradual separation process, not a sudden cleavage of the dead from the living. The good death comes with the acquiescence of the dying person and after sufficient time for the severance of social relationships.