Rituals are central to our daily lives... sometimes without us even realising it. In this dialogue between anthropologist and linguist, Andrea Marcolongo and Philippe Charlier examine death rituals, from Haitian voodoo to ancient Greco-Roman myths, asking whether they serve the living or the "dead".

The speakers :

Philippe Charlier is a doctor, forensic scientist, archaeologist and anthropologist. Director of the Department of Research and Education at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac. He has led three scientific missions to Benin, Cameroon and Haiti. Specialising in the magical-religious rituals surrounding death, he is the author of around thirty books.

Andrea Marcolongo is a Hellenist and linguist, with a degree in Classics from the Università degli Studi in Milan. She has made a name for herself internationally with the bestsellers La langue géniale, 9 bonnes raisons d'aimer le grec (Les Belles Lettres 2018) and La Part du héros (Les Belles Lettres 2019). She continues to research and write about the ancient Greek world, and is also deeply committed to the sea, its culture, its "people" and its words.