"We Will All Go, But What We All Seek Is Good Death": Cultural Notions of Good Death And Related Mortuary Rituals Among the Akan of Ghana.

The article focuses on the Akan ethnic group of Ghana's cultural conception of a "good death" and the associated mortuary practices. Akan good death is characterized by a natural, peaceful death occurring at an advanced age, following a morally upright and meaningful life, often marked by parenthood and social responsibility. Such deaths are honored with elaborate burial rites, including public display of the body, grand funerals, and the appointment of successors, which contrast sharply with the abbreviated or absent rituals for "bad deaths" such as suicide or stigmatized illnesses. The study highlights the importance of these practices in facilitating the deceased's transition to the ancestral realm (asamando) and maintaining ongoing relationships between the living and the ancestors, while also noting contemporary social changes influencing these customs.