First, a course update, and a special offer:

I want to emphasize the special offer I mention in the video: This week only, I am declaring amnesty on blog posts and comments; if you’re behind on those, you can post them this week and I won’t count them as being late. (Note: this is a one-time offer!)

About this week

(Have you watched the video above? It’s important. If not, please do so first.)

This week we’re going to be stretching the definition of “sacred” by looking at how different cultures have handled the disposition of the dead. As you’ll see, the disposition of the dead is an engineering problem. We’ll explore this idea by looking at three case studies: the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum that holds the tomb of a king and his favorite wife; the catacombs below the city of Paris; and the removal of cemeteries from San Francisco.

While this week’s readings and viewing do not necessarily address these sites and interments as sacred spaces or sacred acts, they do get at larger questions of—again!—habits, beliefs, and values, and how these are reflected in decisions about engineering. This week, “engineering” doesn’t apply to just large structures (though the Taj Mahal certainly is one), but also to the larger landscape. In Paris, that meant repurposing quarries for burial. In San Francisco, it meant prioritizing the living over the dead in a re-envisioning and reengineering of the city that began in the late nineteenth century.