Dealing with Death (and the Departed): The Changing Face of Funerary Rites among the Bulsa of Northern Ghana

In Ghana, how families and communities across different ethnic groups deal with the dead and the departed has remained unchanged for the past three decades. Presently, however, changes are observable in the increased number of mortuaries, funeral homes, expensive funeral cloths, use of digital technology and big donations. Scholars have attributed these changes to factors such as religion, migration, money economy, mortuary technology, education, and urbanization. Drawing on ethnographic data in the Bulsa area of northern Ghana, this paper examines how a money economy, mortuary technology, and urbanization among other factors have changed the meaning and purpose of funerary rites in the area. The paper concludes that funerary rites will only continue to be meaningful and memorable to the Bulsa when the changes taking place in this cultural practice are well integrated into the way that funerals are celebrated in the families and in the community.