Dreams, souls and death: conception of death in the population of Olaya

Abstract

The identification of the communities' conceptions of situations related to life and death acquires importance when the contemplation of the exotic is left aside and utility is sought through the use that can be made of these conceptions, in order to understand the behavior of peoples with respect to the society-violence relationship.

Death, for example, can be caused by different reasons that determine, to a certain extent, the behaviors that are adopted in the face of it.

The research on which this article is based was carried out in the town of Olaya (a small town of no more than 500 inhabitants of African descent, located on the right bank of the Patía River, in the Patía Valley) with the purpose of identifying the conceptions of death and its implications in the daily life of the population.