Sur le dos des morts? Organiser des funérailles catholiques à Abomey (Bénin)

This paper concerns the redistribution of benefits which accrue from dealing with the dead, whether these be material or symbolic, following the decision by the Catholic Church of Dahomey in southern Benin to revise the historic compromise that was in place until very recently and which enabled the combination of catholic and lineage funerals. The author examines the consequences of the institutional radicalisation of the Church from different points of view. He looks at this in terms of the divisions within families which this initiative has created and also of the creation of new and as yet unstable compromises which the change has required of the different parties involved in the organisation of funerals. The paper pays particular attention to the different ways in which parties might benefit from the dead.SCOPUS: ar.k