Professed atheists are by no means the only people who donate their bodies, yet
the practice is strikingly prevalent in a variety of atheist circles across time and
geographical region. We concentrate here on the Indian case, exploring body
donation as a key instance of the material culture of atheism. Recent moves to
reinvigorate study of the material culture of religion are to be welcomed, but
should be extended to irreligion as a means of addressing the longstanding irony
that sees scholars represent materialism as an abstract doctrine and, hence, as
immaterial. Body donation – as a personal act – might be considered an intimate
objectification of materialism that, dialectically, both evidences and forms it.
Moreover, body donation has come to form a key indicator of the morality of
materialism, and as such has come to act as a key component of atheist
impression management, in India and elsewhere.