Resisting the commodification of cremation practice at an urban crematorium in Nepal

In recent decades, scholars have highlighted that haphazard urbanisation, changing family structures, economic factors, environmental issues, and cremation capacity constraints in densely populated urban settings have driven the adoption of energy-efficient cremation technologies, such as electric crematoria and improved wooden pyres in Nepal. While these technologies have simplified rituals, studies also indicate that they have eroded community engagement and encouraged a dependence on external providers, thereby accelerating the commodification of cremation practice. This article employs an anthropological study of cremation practices in urban Nepal to explore the commodification of cremation practices and the resistance to them. The paper begins by framing cremation practices through the lens of commodification and resistance and then presents two traditional cremation sites in Kathmandu, Pashupati and Indrayani, emphasising how rituals are reorganised after introducing newer cremation technologies. It further discusses integrating technology as a negotiated socio-technical process aimed at maintaining the social relations of people and material entities within the cremation practice. The article concludes by highlighting cremation technologies as part of socio-ritual connections, where partial commodification coexists with ritual efficacy, and emphasises the consideration of the roles of people, community, and materials in technology integration.