The Problem of Imagining the Real
One of the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis is taking serious action against a threat that seems so abstract and intangible.
Death
-
-
What Will Italy Become Without Its Elders?
The coronavirus has swept away a generation of wisdom-keepers, WWII survivors, storytellers, parents, and grandparents in Bergamo, Italy. An anthropologist mourns with her community—the hardest hit in the country—and asks all of us the most difficult questions of this pandemic.
-
Is It Ever OK to Publish Photographs of Human Remains?
In many cultures, people consider it unethical, insensitive, and harmful to photograph human remains, much less to make such an image viewable to the public. The SAPIENS editorial team explains its philosophy and approach to handling images of human remains.
-
Digging up the Dead
An archaeological field school experience shines a light on the grave concerns people have about the treatment of human remains.
-
What Migrants Leave Behind
Piles of backpacks, empty water jugs, and even high heels left scattered on migrant trails leave visible markers of the desperation and endurance of those who traveled there.
-
How to Care for the Dead
How long have we been burying the dead? And why is it so haunting when we can’t set those who have passed to rest?