The Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. He drew a lot of criticism from e.g. Amartya Sen (see e.g. NYT or read his book Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny ).
Samuel Huntington died Dec 24, aged 81.
Thanatology
Thanatology is the academic, and often scientific, study of death among human beings. It investigates the circumstances surrounding a person’s death, the grief experienced by the deceased’s loved ones, and larger social attitudes towards death such as ritual and memorialization. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study, frequently undertaken by professionals in nursing, psychology, sociology, psychiatry, social work and veterinary science. It also describes bodily changes that accompany death and the after-death period.
The word is derived from the Greek language. In Greek mythology, Thanatos (θάνατος: “death”) is the personification of death. The English suffix -ology derives from the Greek suffix -logia (-λογια: “speaking”).
Source: wikipedia
In memoriam
Joseph Heller died 8 years ago aged 76. Like George Orwell with 1984, Heller captured a key concept with the title of his novel, Catch 22 – giving the English language a popular new phrase in the process.
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.”
“That’s some catch, that catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.
(from Chapter 5 of Catch-22)
About graveyards and memorials
Death is a solemn affair, of course, but more often than not, the banality of its architecture only compounds the grief. Steve Rose reports on moves to shake up the architecture of death.
The internet is filled with corpses. There are numerous online memorials, from eGraves to do-it-yourself concepts like My Last Email (via). And haven’t you noticed that the internet is slowly and inexorably becoming a vast digital mausoleum ? Sites like YouTube and Flickr are vast virtual burial chambers. See e.g. here and here and here and here.
Related, physical responses to the need for enduring memorials: the impressive Igualada Cemetery, near Barcelona, the well-know Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. See also the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (yes, everyone wants an association).
Also related, internet history links and the Internet Archive.
A requiem to end this post.
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