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Who is Jane? Jane McCarthy is an English sociologist who has worked for many decades across various disciplines to focuson ‘family’, childhood, and relationality. In the last 25 years,since the death of her husband when their daughter was aged 5, she has built on this earlier work to explore death and its continuing aftermath in the everyday relational lives of the living, alongside ‘family troubles’ more broadly. She has approached these topics in terms of lived experiences, academic approaches, and professional practices and services. She has particularly offered a view of bereavement as a source of change, rather than the narrower view of ‘loss’, including in the lives of children experiencing a significant death in their lives. Her general approach to all these subjects is to set aside what may be considered ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’, ‘harmful’ or ‘beneficial’, and rather to focus on how disruptive change may be experienced in everyday relational lives, with multiple ramifications, and how people themselves make sense of these within the circumstances of their lives. Some of Jane’s work has involved research and collaborations in Senegal and China, but her primary experience is UK based, where she has particularly valued her involvement with the Community Voices network.    Since her ‘retirement’ in 2015, as an Honorary Associate at The Open University she has been able to extend this work to initiate an Open Societal Challenge on Existential Dis/Connections. This collaborative interdisciplinary hub seeks a decolonising lens to explore how existential threats are structurally shaped, as well as personally experienced and understood, in the era of modernity/coloniality, with its many forms of disconnect, including the ‘Othering’ of racialised capitalism. The work particularly highlights the dis/connections of existential threats of personal deaths, on the one hand, and the planetary existential threats rapidly (but unequally) emerging with the Climate and Ecological Emergency on the other. A ‘decolonising’ lens is therefore sought to explore dis/connections of many forms and through many means in regard to these concerns. The collaboration seeks a polyphonic approach with an emphasis on both ‘being’ and ‘doing’, towards both epistemological and ontological/cosmological justice. These issues require attention to the taken-for-granted Whiteness of knowledge in relation to death and its aftermath alongside the power and oppressions of necropolitics, in the era of modernity/coloniality.    In the podcast, in conversation with Bethan Michael-Fox, Jane explores some of the twists and turns of her life journey across these terrains over 40 years.  ***In the podcast Jane refers to a proverb: "I am because we are one". She has since clarified that this should just be: "I am because we are". She notes that this is an error risking appropriating the proverb by adding her own meaning when the actual wording of the proverb is in any case strikingly powerful in its original form. She is aware that 'ubuntu' is a pervasive and complex philosophy that relates to many aspects of life.**   Besides her position at The Open University, Jane is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Death and Society at Bath University, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Reading. She publishes extensively on these topics as Jane Ribbens McCarthy.    Demystifying Death Documentary For anyone interested in the Demystifying Death event in India in January, please contact Mariya directly on [email protected] To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: McCarthy, J. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 2 October 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.34056750

What's is this episode about?   In this episode, hear Professor Joanna Stalnaker on death and philosophy, writing at the end of life, last works, Enlightenmentthinking, women and philosophy in the Enlightenment, teaching, pedagogy, and her experience of discovering she had a brain tumour causing an unexplained obsession with Harry Styles and fan fiction Who is Joanna? Joanna Stalnaker is the author of two books: The Rest Is Silence:Enlightenment Philosophers Facing Death and The Unfinished Enlightenment: Description in the Age of the Encyclopedia. She teaches in the Department of French at Columbia University. She is currently developing a new course, co-taught with an art historian, called Birth, Death and the Human. Her currentproject is a memoir about her experience of living with an undetected brain tumor and developing an unexplained obsession with Harry Styles and fan fiction.  You can read more about Joanna here.  You can buy The Rest Is Silence:Enlightenment Philosophers Facing Death her with code FAL25 for 30% off.  How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Stalnaker, J. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox,B. and Visser, R. Published 1 September 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.33406186  What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

Who is J.T. Welsch?   J. T. Welsch is a writer and academic born in the US andbased in the UK, where he teaches at the University of York. He is the author of several books of and about poetry, including Orchids (2010), The Hell Creek Anthology (2015) and The Selling and Self-Regulation of Contemporary Poetry (2020). He also edited the anthology of migrant poetry Wretched Strangers (2018) with Ágnes Lehóczky. His writing has appeared in Poetry Review, Boston Review and the Guardian. In this episode hear about his new book on The Poetry of Suicide: Lessons in grief from the lives and deaths of poets.   In the episode introduction, you heard from:   Joshua Hurtado Hurtado, PhD, University of Helsinki and Jason Glynos, Professor at the Department of Government, University of Essex about their new article, "Thanabots, fantasy, and theethics of mourning", published in AI & Society. You can find ithere: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-026-03200-9    And then Dr. Mórna O’Connor on her and Dr Dorthe Refslund Christensen's new collection, Creative and Aesthetic Ways of Grief: "All Things Reimagined".How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Welsch, J.T. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 August 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.33129308 What next? Check out more ⁠episodes⁠ or find out more about the ⁠hosts! ⁠Gota question? ⁠Get in touch⁠.

What's the episode about?  In this episode, hear about an event on Love and Loss: A DayAt Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery, Bristol discussing love, romance, sex, death, culture, prison writing, slow suicide, creative writing, obituaries, epitaphs and more. You will listen to a range of academic research love, romance, death, grief and loss, all based or connected to the South West of England, and many of whom were recorded whilst walking around the rather hilly Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery in Bristol, so do forgive any out of breath-ness!   The day in April 2026 at Arnos Vale began with a networking and idea generation event for researchers, followed by a guided tour open to the public with the theme of love and loss. This was filled with a rich mix of real-life tales — from couples united in life but separated in death, to daring elopements, parental love, and forbidden love. Some stories are touching, some tragic, and some wonderfully surprising.  This was followed by a creative writing workshop on the theme of love and loss, including practical activities and stimulus prompts drawn from the cemetery and the lives of its occupants.   The aims of the day were:   ●      To provide a forum for constructive discussion & preliminary dissemination of research works in progress. ●      To identify potential future collaboration. ●      To share research of high public interest with an openaudience in an established heritage setting.   Links below for more information on the place and people inthis episode! Find out more about Arnos Vale.   Find out more about newly appointed Associate Professor Dr JoParsons.   Find out more about Janine Marriott.   Find out more about Dr Andrew Griffiths.   A huge thank you to the Open University for their supportfor this event via the Academic Communities Fund!  How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use thefollowing citation: Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. (2026) The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 26 July 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.33089351  What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

Dead Women and Gendered Death in Visual Culture for MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture   Co-edited by Devaleena Kundu, Bethan-Michael-Fox, and Khyati Tripathi, Dead Women and Gendered Death in Visual Culture dives into the factors behind the deeply genderedrepresentations of death and dead bodies in visual culture.   In a world dominated by the visual, the female dead body is glamorised and eroticised for consumption.This focus issueexamines the various ways one negotiates with visual representations of femininity in death and the intersectional politics at work behind representations frequently divesting the female body of its agency even in death.   The issue features scholars from across the globe with contributions exploring subjects such as fetishisation of femalecorpses, necrophiliac fantasies, spectrality and haunted bodies, feminist necropoetics, gendered deaths and wartime propaganda, and female suicides. The issue invites readers to critically engage with the question of looking and consuming gendered representations of death and dying in visual culture.   There is a foreword my Michele Aaron, as her work has informed many of the articles, and you can also hear her on the podcast .   There were 25 submissions overall, and in this episode you can hear from the editors and from 12 of the contributors. You can find the issue here: https://www.maifeminism.com/dead-women-and-gendered-death-in-visual-culture/

What's the episode about?   In this episode, hear Dr Molly Conisbee on social histories of death and mourning, liberation thanatology, lessons fromthe history of death, walking tours and being a bereavement councillor Who is Molly?   Molly Conisbee is a social historian and visiting research fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath.   She has a PhD from the University of Bristol and has spent the last ten years researching the social history of death and mourning.   Conisbee is also a bereavement counsellor, has curated walks on the history of death around the country and has written for the Guardian and Ecologist. To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Conisbee, M. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R.Published 1 July 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.32866145

What's the episode about? In this episode, hear Professor Sandra Ruiz on poetry, writing, form, Brown Study, Ricanness, anticoloniality, grief-work, walking and being with the dead, and minoritarian aesthetics Who is Sandra? Sandra Ruiz is the author of Ricanness: Enduring Time in Anticolonial Performance; Left Turns in Brown Study; and Tears for Tears: Aesthetics in Grief Minor. Ruizis the co-author with Hypatia Vourloumis of Formless Formation: Vignettes for the End of this World and The Alleys: Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was In andco-editor with Shane Vogel & Uri McMillan of the NYU Press book series Minoritarian Aesthetics. When not writing and editing, Ruiz curates and produces through the Minor Aesthetics Lab. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sandra Ruiz is the Sue Divan Professor of Performance Studies in the Department of Theatre. The special issue on gendered death in visual culture mentioned in the introduction is here. How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Ruiz, S. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 June 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.32529204 What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Got a question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about?  In this episode, hear Ruth E. Toulson on the necropolitics of the ordinary, dying and death in Singapore, anthropology, burials, funeral directors and morticians Who is Ruth? At Johns Hopkins, Ruth E. Toulson is a lecturer for the Master of Arts in Museum Studies program. Toulson is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the dead body, and death’s material culture in Southeast and East Asia. Trained at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Toulson brings to Johns Hopkins a multi-sited collaborative international research agenda that combines long-term ethnographic fieldwork and in-depthwork in museum collections. Toulson brings significant teaching and advising experience at the graduate level in anthropology, material culture studies, and critical museum studies. As a whole, Toulson’s scholarship explores the intersection ofdeath and the state, particularly in moments of sociopolitical transition. Toulson probes this intersection by focusing particularly on the dead body as a form of highly politicized material culture. Supported through numerous external grants, including those from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hong Kong Research Council, thisresearch program has resulted in published work, including a book and numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles, including in Journal of Material Culture. Toulson recently delivered the keynote address at University ofMelbourne, Redesigning Deathcare Conference, and has given invited lectures at the Gatty Lecture Series (Cornell), The Centre for the Study of Death and Society (University of Bath), The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (Harvard), and at the Council for Southeast Asia (Yale), among otherinvitations. Toulson is associate editor of the journal Anthropology and Humanism. How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Toulson, R. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 May 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.32143756   Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about? In this episode, hear Professor Beverley Clack on philosophyof religion, failure, loss, neoliberalism, thinking about death and not freaking out, women, gender and good public conversations about difficult topics  Who is Bev?  Beverley Clack is Visiting Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. She is funded by the Westminster College Oxford Trust to research and create projects which enable flourishing in and outside the Methodist Church. Beverley taught for many yearsat Oxford Brookes University, where she is Professor Emerita in the Philosophy of Religion at Oxford Brookes University.   Her publications include Feminism, Religion and Practical Reason (Cambridge 2021); How to be a Failure andStill Live Well (2020); Philosophy of Religion: A Critical Introduction, co-authored with Brian R Clack (3rd edition published in 2019); Freud on the Couch (2013); Sex and Death: A Reappraisal of Human Mortality (2002); and Misogyny in the Western Philosophical Tradition (1999). She is currently working on How to Think about Death (And Not Freak Out) for Bloomsbury. How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Clack, B. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 April 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.31916916  What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

Cole Imperi on grief, thanatology, shadow loss, and non-clinical tools in support of those experiencing loss and grief. What's the episode about? In this episode, hear Cole Imperi on grief, thanatology, shadow loss, and non-clinical tools in support of those experiencing loss and grief.Who is Cole? Cole Imperi is a thanatologist, award-winning author, and researcher whose work focuses on the use of non-clinical tools in support of those experiencing loss and grief. Cole is the Founder of the School of American Thanatology, which has students in more than 30 countries, where she both teaches andconducts research under the school’s ThanaLab. Through her development of Shadowloss Theory and her pioneering work with the field of Thanabotany, Cole’s work seeks to bridge the gaps left by the decline in non-clinical, community-led bereavement support. As a leading expert in the field of thanatology, Cole hasgiven multiple TEDx Talks on Shadowloss and resiliency, appeared on the Netflix series The Future of…, and served as an expert for WNYC’s Radiolab, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Ologies, MoMA, and more. Cole’s is the author of A Guide to Grief, for teens and tweens, and a book about grief for adults called Grief is the Way Home being published by Penguin in 2027. Cole has diverse experience from working in and aroundloss and grief since 2008 where she worked as a chaplain-thanatologist in one of America’s 25 largest jails, mortuary college professor, crematory operator, hospice volunteer, grief support group leader for children as young as 3 to adults, death companion, served on the board of a green burial startup, and as Board President of a historic cemetery and arboretum. She traveled the US and Canada for 5 years training funeral directors and embalmers, and co-founded a deathcare startup. She currently consults on bereavement programming for organizations, and publishes the popular column Grief or Madness. Cole was the recipient of the Curtis Gates Lloyd Fellowship through the Lloyd Library and Museum, is a California MasterGardener, and a California Master Food Preserver. She works as a horticulturalist one morning a week specifically for a Hummingbird Garden, which gives her a break from life behind a computer screen. She is based in Los Angeles. The Book Promo: Decolonising Death Studies You can find the book promoted in the introduction here. How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Imperi, C. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 March 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.31440127    What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about?  In this episode, hear Nina Vaswani on young men and grief during in imprisonment, childhood bereavement, masculinities and grief, trauma informed practice, comics for education and research, disenfranchised grief, grieving a death you have caused, and public health responses to grief  Who is Nina?  Nina is Senior Research Fellow at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, University of Strathclyde.  Her key research interests are the experience and impact of loss, bereavement and trauma in young people and how these experiences interface and shape contact with the justicesystem.  Of particular interest is the overrepresentation of young men in justice-settings, and how their exposure to loss, bereavement and trauma might shape their developing masculinities identities, behaviours and outcomes. As a result, she is also interested in institutional and organisational responses to trauma, and the realities of trauma-informed approaches in practice.  Nina was also the PI on Men Minds, a coproduced research project exploring masculinities and mental health with marginalised young men. Resources   When People Die   Men Minds comic, whichopens with a story of bereavement in prison   The prevalence study isopen access and is available here. How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Vaswani, N. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 2 January 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.31224109

What's the episode about?  In this episode, hear Joshua Hurtardo Hurtardo on postmortal futures, future studies, de-growth, immortality imaginaries, future collective death, Westworld, and promoting your work in 2026   Who is Joshua? Joshua Hurtado Hurtado is a Mexican interdisciplinary researcher, currently finalising his PhD research at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He studied International Relations for his Bachelor’s degree at the Tecnológico de Monterrey university,in Mexico. He obtained his first Master’s degree in International Relations as well, specialising in Ideology and Discourse analysis, from the University of Essex, in the United Kingdom. He did a second Master’s degree at the University of Turku, in Finland, this time in Futures Studies. After that, he began hisPhD research at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences.   He uses his expertise in several disciplines and fields of study to conduct theoretical and empirical research on the topics of death and immortality, as well as on the topics of degrowth and sustainability more generally. Scholars in the DeathStudies field will find his articles ‘Towards a postmortalsociety of virtualised ancestors? The Virtual Deceased Person and the preservation of the social bond’, ‘Envisioning postmortalfutures: six archetypes on future societal approaches to seeking immortality’, and ‘Exploited in immortality: Techno-capitalism and immortality imaginaries in the twenty-firstcentury’ published in the journal Mortality, his article ‘Fight, or flee, the future: Affect in contrasting responses against future collective death’ published in the journal Journal of Sociology, and his book chapters ‘Westworld, Morality, and Digital Afterlives’ in the edited collection Depicting the Afterlife in Contemporary Film and Media: Morality, Religion and Death byAngelique Nairn, and ‘Death, Relationality, and Resistance against Necropolitical Violence in Latin America’ in the upcoming edited book Decolonising Death Studies by Panagiotis Pentaris, Stacey Pitsillides and Hajar Ghorbani.   In addition to his academic trajectory, he has also worked at the Ministry of Social Development at the local level in Nuevo León, Mexico, in the roles of policy analyst and later chief of research. He has taught courses at the Undergraduate level at Tecnológico de Monterrey, in Mexico, on Business Models andEntrepreneurship (despite his insistent anti-capitalist critiques) and at the Master’s level at the University of Helsinki, on Organizations and EconomicDegrowth.   In his spare time, he enjoys reading, watching films and TV series, and playing with Luna, his family’s dog. You can contact him via the following email addresses: [email protected] (personal), and [email protected] (institutional, as of January 2026). You can find him at BlueSky at @joshuahh.bsky.social How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Hurtado Hurtado, J. (2026) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 2 January 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com,DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30987202What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts!Got a question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about?   In this episode, hear Professor Douglas Davies on thedevelopment of death studies, ‘words against death’, the ‘dividual’, religion, ‘sacred secrets’, the ‘opacity of the self’ and the ‘curated everything’, keeping a dream diaries since 1979, the over-optimism of posthumanism, wealth inequality, & the privilege of intellectuals as ‘people who think’. Who is Douglas?   This introduction to Douglas Davies was written by DrGeorgina Robinson, who awarded Douglas with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Death, dying and Disposal Conference in Utrecht, the Netherlands.   Douglas Davies is a name known to all who work in theinterdisciplinary field of Death Studies. From early career scholars, fresh in the field, through to senior colleagues who have themselves deeply influenced the field, the stories that people tell of their experiences of Douglas are always warm and encouraging, yet unique to the individual: the time and careDouglas gives to all who encounter him is a true testament of his character.   As a founding member of ASDS and editorial board member ofMortality Douglas has always offered a home to Death Studies scholars, having hosted numerous Death Studies events, including the International Conference onthe Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal and the inaugural International Symposium of the Death Online Research Network (DORS#1), as well as events for funerary professionals, including numerous Summer Schools of theNational Association of Funeral Directors.   Alongside these external events, Douglas has also welcomedcountless students, researchers, and professional colleagues to Durham during his time as Director of Durham University’s Centre for Death and Life Studies through visiting professorships, library scholarships to work in the Archivesof the Cremation Society of Great Britain, alongside conferences hosted by the Centre. What is unique about Douglas is that despite his countless works whichhave deeply influenced scholarly thinking within the field, more often than not, it is a conversation or engagement with him that sticks with Death Studies scholars: his kindness and encouraging nature are second-to-none.   Nevertheless, the significant impact that his countlessworks have had – both academically and practically, with his work impacting policy changes and the funeral sector itself – must not be understated (e.g., Mors Britannica, 2015; Death, Ritual and Belief, 3 editions 1997, 2002, 2017;Natural Burial, 2012; A Brief History of Death, 2005; Theology of Death, 2008). Significantly, 2025 marks 50 years of Douglas's career in academia: how fitting that the association he was formative in establishing would award him with thehonour of Lifetime Achievement Award this year.   How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?   To cite this episode, you can use the following citation: Davies, D. (2025) Interview on The Death StudiesPodcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 December 2025.Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30752183   What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about?   In this episode, hear Dr Jessica Young on assisteddying, the New Zealand End of Life Choice Bill, culturally responsive research, end of life care and decision making, and sociological approaches. Who is Jessica? Dr Jessica Young is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland, and an adjunct senior lecturer in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology. She is a sociologist specialising in death, dying andassisted dying. She completed her PhD in 2020 at the University of Otago and received a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship from the Cancer Society of New Zealand. Since the End of Life Choice Bill was introduced in NewZealand, Dr Young has been building a programme of research to investigate multiple facets of assisted dying.  She leads and contributes to several projects on assisteddying, most recently ‘Exploring the early experiences of the assisted dying service in Aotearoa’, funded by the Health Research Council. Dr Young has led impactful research in end-of-life care, securing over $3 million in competitive funding.   She is the founder and co-chair of New Zealand’sAssisted Dying Research Network and was appointed by the Director-General of Health to the Support and Consultation for End of Life in NZ (SCENZ) Group (2021–2023). Her work has directly shaped national policy: 13 of her team’s recommendations were adopted in the Ministry of Health’s 2024 End of Life Choice Act Review. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, six editorials, and three book chapters.   To ensure her research goes beyond academia, she activelyengages with media. She is passionate about improving end-of-life experiences for patients, whānau/families and health practitioners. Committed to ethical, inclusive, and culturally responsive research, she seeks to involve tangatawhenua (indigenous people of NZ), stakeholders and communities.   You can find Jessica on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-young-7097a722/   The book introduced in the episode introduction is Death, Commemoration, and Cultural Meaning Past and PresentEdited by Robert Spinelli and Robyn S. Lacy.   How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use thefollowing citation: Young, J. (2025) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 November 2025. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30507878   What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Gota question? Get in touch.

What's the episode about? In this episode, get an overview of the 2025 Death, Dying and Disposal Conference held in Utrecht in the Netherlands   What was the conference about?  The below information was taken from the conference website. 'Death is political and performs the political. This is evident not only in death itself, but also in the dead (who can become political actors), their bodies, the process of dying (which is, amongst others, infrastructurally related to political discourse and inequalities), and bereavement (which can also become apolitical act). The political aspects of this theme extend beyond national or international political institutions (such as governments, state actors, multinational corporations, or political or religious alliances) to encompass everybody and everything that has to do with (the exercise of) power andmoralities, e.g., families, kin, neighbourhoods, friendship networks.   Our time together at DDD17 – as a short, but hopefully (partly)lasting DDD17 community – has come to a close. Over these past days, we’ve explored, listened, debated, and imagined — and we want to thank you for bringing such openness and curiosity to the theme of the Politics of Death. This may be the end of the conference, but we hope it is only the beginning of conversations on this theme. Let’s continue them in whatever ways we can — in our research, our writing, our teaching, our work, our communities. We hope you are leaving as inspired as we are. Thanks to everybody who made this conference what is has been. A conference is made by its participants – together we were a fantastic community.' How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists? To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:   Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. (2025) DDD17. The DeathStudies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1October 2025. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com,DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30256387   What next? Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Got a question? Get in touch.