Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead • Hacker News Board

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#161

Post by thelock85 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC

bobanrocky wrote: post #34

thelock85 wrote: post #15

It’s interesting how this is framed as a “bad deal” (being apart of a kinship society) without taking time to breakdown the cost of being on your own in Ghanaian society, especially when healthcare, credit harm and other emergencies are broadly unaffordable in individualist, capitalist American society.

Lots of buzzwords in your comment, but pointless. This is a complete waste of money, and a burden on the living to ‘show off’ their status. The ancient egyptian kings at least had the resources, power and wealth to build their pyramids..

I lifted or paraphrased the terms from the benefits that the author ascribes to kinship society; not sure how that’s buzzword-y unless you are referring to “individualist, capitalist” which seems like a pretty fair description of broadly held American societal values related to wealth.

Regardless the question still stands and I’ll put it more plainly: Do the lifetime costs and contributions(including the accrued funeral costs) to a kinship society outweigh the shared benefits? That would be my criteria for an overall “bad deal”.

And this is no shot at the author because I appreciate the exposure to another culture, but if the framing is the highest earners in a kinship society subsidize the lowest, there is also a question of the extent to which the high earners were successful in spite of or due to their kinship society membership.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#162

Post by nightsd01 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:53 AM UTC

levocardia wrote: post #60

>Kinship societies are actively hostile to economic growth, because economic growth undermines the basis of kinship: that is why kinship societies demand constant, visible sacrifices of wealth—funerals being the most spectacular—that make it extraordinarily difficult for any individual to accumulate capital, reinvest their assets, and pull ahead. The funeral is a window into a system of wealth destruction that serves…

It's doubled because it practically couldn't get any worse. Let's see what happens (sadly) now that USAID has been dismantled

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#163

Post by cineticdaffodil » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:56 AM UTC

madradavid wrote: post #155

andrewl wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His article has a link to an article about Uganda called How the deceased are robbing the living . [1] I know approximately nothing about Uganda, and I have no way of evaluating the article. Especially since I haven’t read it yet. But it does contradict Madradavid’s statement that these kind of burials are unheard of there. [1] https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/life/how-the-dece...

I did read that article; it is just a generic article about how funerals are expensive, you could replace Kampala with New York, and it would still hold. My point is that the Author has picked a practice by a couple of tribes on a Continent so diverse and large you could fit the states, the UK, and still have space for 30 or so more countries, and passed it off as the norm. Funerals can be expensive, anywhere. I don'…

That counter argument is valueless. Yes, it might be unequally spread but unless you can proof the locality of the phenomena the cliche still communicates. Not everything in the west is California but thanks to hollywood it is.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#164

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:58 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #109

stavros wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The economies mentioned in the article are capitalist economies.

Yes, the State economy is capitalist, but the family groups are clearly operating under some kind of Communism. The article itself mentions it - "nothing you own is actually yours, everything is owned by the family." Thus wealth accumulation not really being possible, a hallmark of a communistic economy. This is my experience with extremely rural areas or tightly knit / kinship / indigenous cultures as well. They hap…

This "tradition" isn't possible without refrigeration technology to delay the burial. It is a modern aberration.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#165

Post by Daz912 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:04 AM UTC

vasco wrote: post #160

kqr wrote: post #157

This was an eye-opener for me when I read C.A. Gregory's Savage Money . Our values, i.e. the things we do to gain the approval of each other, has a huge effect on how we live. Much larger than I had expected. Some people (not limited to Africa -- common also in e.g. rural India) value lifecycle rituals, like coming-of-age parties, marriages, and funerals. Those are the reasons they make money. They don't make money f…

You struggle to see how a society which has a system where you put requests from other people ahead of your own healthcare is not equal to one where you take care of yourself? Did you see the examples that those women started actually getting healthcare as soon as they had their own bank account? The picture you paint is about respecting what people do with their surplus money. The picture the article paints is that…

Moral relativists can't be reasoned with, no matter how plainly the logic in front of them.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#166

Post by giza182 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:06 AM UTC

In South Africa, health insurance is prohibitively expensive, but you can get funeral insurance as a value added service from your data plan provider, bank, or even your favourite football team. It is extremely common, so there’s just more money going around. That said all the other points made around the kinship society are still valid. Its also very like that they contribute to the proliferation of funeral insurance themselves.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#167

Post by abenga » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:06 AM UTC

andrewl wrote: post #148

madradavid wrote: post #142

I am Ugandan. These kind of burials are unheard of in my country. The Author is labeling this an “African” thing which is just the usual daft nonsense. A number of Ghanaian and Nigerian tribes bury their dead like this , it is more a celebration of life. This is like taking something a small town in Louisiana does and declaring it an “American” tradition.

His article has a link to an article about Uganda called How the deceased are robbing the living . [1] I know approximately nothing about Uganda, and I have no way of evaluating the article. Especially since I haven’t read it yet. But it does contradict Madradavid’s statement that these kind of burials are unheard of there. [1] https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/life/how-the-dece...

Articles about two countries cannot be more true than the lived experience of actual residents of Africa. I am Kenyan as well, that article describes something very specific to individual communities in some countries in West Africa, it is foreign to me. The largest expense of funerals that I've experienced in my life is usually paying the medical expenses of the deceased (if the person had been ill for a long time) and feeding the funeral attendees (we do usually get a huge crowd and they generally get lunch).

Another data point: maybe 35-40% of people in Africa identify as Muslim. They usually bury people the same day they die or at worst the next day, and there is no elaborate coffin, usually just a cloth sheet.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#168

Post by HKH2 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:15 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #101

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> flip side is that rich and modern people feel lonely and sad The happiest countries in the world are also rich [1]. I'm not saying you can't fuck up being rich. But it's a lot harder to be fulfilled if you're poor. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report#2025_re...

Lots of valid criticisms of the oft touted "happiness index." Off the top of my head from something I read a while back: Finland is listed as one of the happiest countries, but also has a higher rate than normal of prescribed anti psychotics and anti depressants, and also has high rates of alcoholism and suicide. Something isn't lining up there. My own anecdotal experience as well conflicts. When I travel through Sca…

I can't see how all the mental overhead of modern multicultural living can make you happier either.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#169

Post by alephnerd » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:17 AM UTC

madradavid wrote: post #142

I am Ugandan. These kind of burials are unheard of in my country. The Author is labeling this an “African” thing which is just the usual daft nonsense. A number of Ghanaian and Nigerian tribes bury their dead like this , it is more a celebration of life. This is like taking something a small town in Louisiana does and declaring it an “American” tradition.

> The Author is labeling this an “African” thing which is just the usual daft nonsense

> This is like taking something a small town in Louisiana does and declaring it an “American” tradition.

I've mentioned this issue on HN a ton but it gets downvoted to oblivion. It truly is a hivemind.

Re: Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead

#170

Post by 0x1ceb00da » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:19 AM UTC

littlexsparkee wrote: post #139

voganmother42 wrote: post #106

when I'm dead just throw me in the trash

seriously, i've never understood spending so much money on rituals like burial or marriage, might as well set it on fire. i'd just do aquamation or mushroom burial, whichever's the best mix of green/cheap.

It's a way of dealing with the fear of death. "When I die, an event will be organized for me and then I'll go to heaven". The living need to do that to maintain the illusion.