death in the digital age - school of humanities · medical humanities katie thornton is a cemetery...
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DEATH IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A Fulbright - National Geographic Digital Storytelling Project
SoH Interdisciplinary Research ClusterMEDICAL HUMANITIES
Katie Thornton is a cemetery historian, writer, and radio journalist from the US. She is one of five recipients of the 2018-2019 Fulbright - National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, and is spending this year in England and Singapore to explore how and where we remember the dead at a time when the sustainability of cemeteries has been called into question--our world is increasingly urban, urban land is increasingly limited, our cities are diverse in cultures and desires, and we now have countless ways to digitally document and preserve our memories of the dead. Katie uses writing and audio to tell stories at the intersections of land use, human memory, and technology. Her multimedia project “Death in the Digital Age” will culminate in a podcast series about the past, present, and future of death and memorial spaces.
In this talk, Katie will share findings from her current research, show examples of her audio and photographic work from around England, and discuss forthcoming Death in the Digital Age stories and podcasts. She will also discuss the ways UK and Singaporean cemeteries have been variably adapted to meet the needs of a multicultural/multi-religious community, preserved for posterity, or, at times, discarded entirely
D E T A I L SDate: 16 April 2019 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 - 5:30 pm Refreshments to follow
Venue: HSS Seminar Room 4 (HSS-B1-09)
Contact: Graham Matthews [email protected]
Register:
This event is organised by the Medical Humanities research cluster at the School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University. For more information, please email [email protected]
www.tinyurl.com/mh-katiethornton
Katie Thornton is a US-based media-maker and cemetery historian. As a Fulbright - National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellow she is travelling to the United Kingdom and Singapore to produce “Death in the Digital Age,” a podcast and multimedia project exploring the changing role of cemeteries and memorial spaces in an increasingly urbanized, digitized world. She uses writing, visuals and social media to share the stories of individuals working at the intersection of land use, public memory and technology. Thornton’s culminating podcast series will be released in late 2019/early 2020. Her project is on Instagram at @itskatiethornton. Thornton’s current and forthcoming works have been/will be shared through outlets including the BBC, National Public Radio (USA), National Geographic, and Atlas Obscura.
KATIE THORNTON