Date of Award

8-20-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Philosophy and Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Kathryn King

Abstract

From 2012-2013 a mortuary analysis of Oakland-Fraternal cemeteries in Little Rock, Arkansas was conducted for this thesis. Evidence that this cemetery serves as a cultural database for the city of Little Rock and that resources like this should be preserved as Cultural Resource Management projects are presented in an interdisciplinary approach to mortuary analysis combining the disciplines of Anthropology and Rhetoric. Analysis of iconography found on grave markers was conducted employing Robert E. Horn's visual rhetoric theories and methodologies. Kenneth Burke's Dramatic Pentad was also employed as a tool for measuring the motivations behind the authorship of grave markers. Issues of intersubjectivity, consubstantiality, co-presencing, and multi-vocality are also explored as they relate to race, ethnicity, gender and age, and the segregation of these people. The role of empathy is a major focus of this work that leads to theories about the roles that the dialectical historical context and the empathic context play in the cemetery setting.

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