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A ‘Mad Ecology’: Development, Heritage, and Stewardship of Sankt Lars Cemetery

Priest, Hannah Beth LU (2025) HEKM51 20251
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
This thesis views Sankt Lars begravningsplats (cemetery) as a deathscape where histories of institutionalization, social exclusion, and neoliberal expansion are spatially materialized in the cemetery’s ecology. Tied to the former Sankt Lars asylum on the margins of Lund, Sweden, the cemetery embodies the intersections of human and nonhuman forces where ecological transformations intertwine with cultural memory and land development. It serves as a site of marginalized deaths, where unmarked graves and shifting ecological processes shape its contemporary meaning through current preservation and memorization efforts. As of 2022, Svenska kyrkan manages the cemetery, yet the cemetery is owned by retail banking company and housing developer... (More)
This thesis views Sankt Lars begravningsplats (cemetery) as a deathscape where histories of institutionalization, social exclusion, and neoliberal expansion are spatially materialized in the cemetery’s ecology. Tied to the former Sankt Lars asylum on the margins of Lund, Sweden, the cemetery embodies the intersections of human and nonhuman forces where ecological transformations intertwine with cultural memory and land development. It serves as a site of marginalized deaths, where unmarked graves and shifting ecological processes shape its contemporary meaning through current preservation and memorization efforts. As of 2022, Svenska kyrkan manages the cemetery, yet the cemetery is owned by retail banking company and housing developer Ikano Bostad AB. Through thematic analysis, Lunds Kommun’s detail plan for housing on Sankt Lars property, Kulturen’s cultural and historical investigation, as well as Skåne Regional Museum’s care and maintenance plan are analyzed. Through analyzing the assumptions and priorities embedded in these documents, this thesis shows how different institutional actors construct the cemetery's meaning and value, often in ways that obscure or minimize the experiences of those buried there. The ecologies of former asylum cemeteries are largely understudied due to cases of severe neglect, deterioration and sometimes total erasure through development. As a case study, Sankt Lars offers a glimpse of what can be called a “mad ecology”: the ways in which psychiatric histories become embedded in environmental systems and continue to exert agency through material processes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Priest, Hannah Beth LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9209913
date added to LUP
2025-11-06 15:24:52
date last changed
2025-11-07 08:54:45
@misc{9209913,
  abstract     = {{This thesis views Sankt Lars begravningsplats (cemetery) as a deathscape where histories of institutionalization, social exclusion, and neoliberal expansion are spatially materialized in the cemetery’s ecology. Tied to the former Sankt Lars asylum on the margins of Lund, Sweden, the cemetery embodies the intersections of human and nonhuman forces where ecological transformations intertwine with cultural memory and land development. It serves as a site of marginalized deaths, where unmarked graves and shifting ecological processes shape its contemporary meaning through current preservation and memorization efforts. As of 2022, Svenska kyrkan manages the cemetery, yet the cemetery is owned by retail banking company and housing developer Ikano Bostad AB. Through thematic analysis, Lunds Kommun’s detail plan for housing on Sankt Lars property, Kulturen’s cultural and historical investigation, as well as Skåne Regional Museum’s care and maintenance plan are analyzed. Through analyzing the assumptions and priorities embedded in these documents, this thesis shows how different institutional actors construct the cemetery's meaning and value, often in ways that obscure or minimize the experiences of those buried there. The ecologies of former asylum cemeteries are largely understudied due to cases of severe neglect, deterioration and sometimes total erasure through development. As a case study, Sankt Lars offers a glimpse of what can be called a “mad ecology”: the ways in which psychiatric histories become embedded in environmental systems and continue to exert agency through material processes.}},
  author       = {{Priest, Hannah Beth}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A ‘Mad Ecology’: Development, Heritage, and Stewardship of Sankt Lars Cemetery}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}