Ritual Economies of Death: The Political Anthropology of Funeral Expenditure and Estate Liability in Yorubaland

In Yoruba inheritance, the dead are expensive. Before any property is shared, the living must perform burial, mourning, and memorial rites that can consume 40-70% of an estate. This article develops the concept of "ritual economy" to explain how funeral expenditure functions as both liability and political strategy in Yoruba family governance. Drawing on 42 observed family meetings and 55 interviews in Ogun and Osun States between 2021 and 2025, the paper argues that ritual spending is not waste but a mechanism for allocating power, debt, and legitimacy. Three findings emerge. First, funeral costs create "debt heirship" where the person who pays becomes the de facto heir, regardless of birth order or gender. Second, ritual obligations are weaponised to exclude widows and daughters who cannot fund large ceremonies. Third, the commercialisation of death through gboku-gboku (corpse bearers), event planners and vendors has turned inheritance into a site of organised extraction. Engaging prior work on land fragmentation (Adewale, 2026a) and on how inheritance disputes feed landgrabbing (Adewale, 2026b), the article shows that legal reform focused only on distribution misses the prior question of liability. I propose a "funeral cap" model and mandatory estate accounting before ritual spending. Without addressing the political economy of death, Section 42(1) and Ukeje v. Ukeje (2014) will remain irrelevant to most Yoruba families.