Throughout the month of March, New Canaan Library celebrates “One Author New Canaan” and the literary works of award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson with programming that supports and honors themes found throughout her work. The Library welcomes Margaret Schwartz, PhD, and Matthew Engelke, PhD, to speak on the many and varied funerary traditions around the world. Join them for the live webinar on Monday, March 8, at 7 PM EST. Please register at newcananlibrary.org; Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
In Jacqueline Woodson’s novel Another Brooklyn, readers get to know the main character August at two points in her life – as a young girl who reluctantly moves to Brooklyn with her father and brother, and as an adult researcher who studies funerary traditions and the ways in which the dead are preserved around the world.
In this lecture, Margaret Schwartz, PhD, associate professor at Fordham University, will discuss how personal archival media– photographs, video/audio recordings, and even social media posts in the digital age– are employed to commemorate the deceased, and Matthew Engelke, PhD, Professor of Religion at Columbia University, will speak about funeral rites around the
world and their cultural significance. Their presentations will lead into an audience Q & A about global funerary traditions.
Margaret Schwartz, PhD, is associate professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. Her book, Dead Matter: The Meaning of Iconic Corpses looks at the relationship between photography and embalming in the memorialization of public figures.
Matthew Engelke, PhD, is Professor of Religion at Columbia University and director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life. An anthropologist by training, he is currently writing a book on humanist and non-religious funerals in England.