Border Afterlives begins with the undocumented individuals who die crossing the U.S.-Mexico border—deaths that are both preventable and politically produced.
Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic, participatory, and community-engaged research, author Gabriella Soto examines the postmortem journeys of these migrants through the fragmented infrastructure of medicolegal death investigation in the U.S. Southwest. She reveals how the state’s deterrence-based border policies not only generate death but also fail to provide adequate care for the dead. Soto argues that these deaths should be understood as structural homicides and that the forensic neglect they face is a form of ongoing violence.
Moving between the practical and the philosophical, Soto asks what it means to care for the dead and what society owes to those who die in its name. Through the lens of haunting, she explores how the dead continue to shape the living, not as objects of horror but as moral agents whose presence demands justice. Border Afterlives offers a border-scale comparative account of forensic practices, critiques the limits of “best practices” in under-resourced systems, and calls for a reimagining of forensic humanitarianism grounded in reciprocity and dignity, beyond human rights. This is a book that insists on remembering the dead.
Environments of power provides unique case studies of environmental inclusion and exclusion across the Americas, Africa, Japan, India, and the South-Pacific. Using more-than-human and Indigenist approaches, chapters focus on Indigenous environmental resistance, marginalisation across social and physical environments, ecology as art, and how local communities are caught up in and resist development and infrastructure projects. The book demonstrates how environments influence which bodies and other matter belong (or not) in certain places.
The mythologist Georges Dumézil and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade had a long-term correspondence and several of their letters have been published. They met during the Second World War, and when Eliade’s links to the Iron Guard meant he could not return to Communist Romania, Dumézil provided a lot of support to him. Eliade spent almost a decade in Paris before relocating to the University of Chicago. The story of that decade, and Dumézil’s support is something I hope to discuss in detail elsewhere. What is here are simply the documentary traces of which I am aware.
Eliade had good French and they corresponded in that language. Most of the published letters are in French, but a few letters have been translated into Romanian and the French remains unpublished. Many more have not been transcribed. Eliade seems to have kept more of Dumézil’s letters than Dumézil did of Eliade’s, though it’s possible there are others elsewhere in his archives – some letters were filed by year with Dumézil’s courses or book manuscripts instead of by correspondent. One postcard from Dumézil quoted by Florin Țurcanu in his biography of Eliade has not been found – his archival reference is to an old version of the Eliade archive, and the postcard is not in the new folders of correspondence from Dumézil.
The list below was made for my research use, but perhaps someone else will find it helpful. A few years are inferred from context. The published letters are in French unless otherwise noted. Many thanks to Alin Constantine for his help in locating some of these letters, especially in Romanian sources, and to the archivists of the Collège de France and Hanna Holborn Gray special collections, University of Chicago.
I’ll try to follow up with a listing of the Foucault-Dumézil letters in a future post.
Published Sources
Mircea Eliade, Europa Asia America… Corespondenta, ed. Mircea Handoca, Bucuresti: Humanitas, three volumes, 1999-2004. The volumes are divided as A-H; I-P; R-Z – Dumézil’s letters are in the supplementary part of the in the third.
Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, ed. Mircea Handoca, Bucuresti: Minerva, five volumes, 2006. The volumes are divided as A-E; F-J; K-P; R-S; Ș-V – Dumézil’s letters are in Volume I and V.
Florin Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil: «une amitié dans la liberté»”, Historia Religionum: An International Journal 5, 2013, 109-33.
Archival Abbreviations
DMZ Fonds Georges Dumézil, Collège de France
ME Mircea Eliade papers, Hanna Holborn Gray special collections, University of Chicago
Letters
Eliade to Dumézil, 4 January 1947 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 534-35]
Eliade to Dumézil, 24 January 1947, with five pages of comments on Mitra-Varuna [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]
Eliade to Dumézil, 2 April 1951 [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]
Eliade and others to Dumézil, 25 Aug 1951 [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 2 March 1952 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol I, 265-66]
Dumézil to Eliade, 17 March 1952 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol I, 266; in ME, box 81, folder 26]
Eliade to Dumézil, 5 April 1957 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 124-25; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 536-38; in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 9 May 1958 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 125-26]
Eliade to Dumézil, 10 December 1958 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 126-27; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 538-40; in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 30 December 1958 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 21 April 1959 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 26 April 1959 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 15 January 1961 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 127-28; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil 25 March 1962 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 17 June 1965 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 9 December 1966 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 128-29; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 540-41; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 12 February 1967 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 338-39; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 28 June 1967 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 129; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 20 November 1967 [in ME, box 81, folder 26]
Dumézil to Eliade, 7 April 1968 [draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Eliade to Dumézil, 8 July 1968 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 130; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 541-42; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 13 July 1968 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 7 December 1968 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 130-31; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 27 December 1968 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 542-43; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Eliade to Dumézil, 19 January 1969 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 22 January 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 5 March 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 2 May 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Eliade to Dumézil, 19 May 1969 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 131; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 22 May 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 339-40; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 24 May 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 340-41; in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 4 June 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 341; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil 6 June 1969 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 13 June 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft 13 June and 14 June in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 30 June 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 12 July 1969 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 543-44; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 15 July 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 341-42; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 22 July 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 24 Dec 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 21 March 1970 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 131-32; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, Christmas 1970 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 342-43; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 5 February 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 6 March 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 9 [March 1971, from Los Angeles] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 29 March [1971, from Los Angeles] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 17 April 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 16 June 1971 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 30 April 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 343-44; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 17 June 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 344; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 24 June 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 28 July 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 344-45; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 15 December 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 18 May 1973 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 16 December 1973 [quoted in Florin Ţurcanu, Mircea Eliade: Le prisonnier de l’histoire, Paris: Éditions de la Découverte, 2003,351.]
Dumézil to Eliade, 4 January 1975 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 28 December 1975 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Eliade to Dumézil, 5 June 1977 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]
Dumézil to Eliade, 25 December 1977 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 23 April 1978 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, New Year, 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 345-47; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 1 October 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 347-48; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 29 December 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 348; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 2 March 1982 [in ME, box 81, folder 26]
Dumézil to Eliade, 1 April 1982 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 132; in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Undated Letters
Dumézil to Eliade, 20 August [no year] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 23 September [no year] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]
Dumézil to Eliade, 31 March [no year: 1971?] [in ME, box 94, folder 7]
Although more of a research resource than a history, this is the 81st post of a weekly series, posted every Sunday throughout 2025, and continuing into a second year. The posts are short essays with indications of further reading and sources. They are not as formal as something I’d try to publish more conventionally, but are hopefully worthwhile as short sketches of histories and ideas. They are usually tangential to my main writing focus, a home for spare parts, asides, dead-ends and possible futures. I hope there is some interest in them. They are provisional and suggestions are welcome. A few, usually shorter, pieces in a similar style have been posted mid-week. I’m not sure I’ll keep to a weekly rhythm throughout 2026, but there will be at least a few more pieces.
The full chronological list of ‘Sunday histories’ is here, with a thematic ordering here.
The second volume in Lucien Sève’s Thinking with Marx Today series explores Marx’s revolution in anthropology. Instead of abstract “man,” Marx argued that there is an ensemble of societal relations that underpins social formations of various kinds as well as a variety of forms of individuality. Sève deftly analyzes the philosophical preconditions and the fundamental concepts of this anthropology. This is followed by critiques of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and contemporary primatology coupled with borrowings from Freud, Politzer, Vygotsky, and contemporary literature on biography. The book’s aim, then, is nothing less than to outline a science of human individuality.
For centuries, many of the world’s most influential thinkers routinely relied on helpers who performed tasks such as taking dictation, correcting, indexing, composing, and endless copying. In the Scholar’s Workshop introduces readers to these unsung scribes, assistants, and collaborators, showing how the scholarly enterprise is rarely as solitary as we tend to think.
Ann Blair traces how the learned have relied on helpers since antiquity, discussing how and when these amanuenses became visible in manuscript and occasionally in print and explaining why they were uniquely positioned to shape the posthumous legacy of their principal. Taking an in-depth look at the later Renaissance, she reconstructs the private lives and academic pursuits of leading figures from the period such as the renowned humanist Erasmus, the reformer Martin Bucer, and Paris professors Adrien Turnèbe and Petrus Ramus. Blair paints multifaceted portraits of the servants, students, and family members who assisted in their work, drawing on sources ranging from scholarly texts in both draft and published forms to correspondence, annotations, biographical accounts, and household rules. Turning to the modern age, she identifies new kinds of digital amanuenses with the rise of chatbots and other powerful software tools.
Panoramic in scope, In the Scholar’s Workshop challenges conventional views about authorship and attribution while affirming the enduring importance of collaboration in scholarly work today.
We live in an era when trading our information for access can feel harmless or inevitable – yet from targeted advertising to mass surveillance, data shapes the course of our lives. How did it gain the power it now holds over us?
Long before writing existed, at the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia, rulers pressed marks into clay to keep track of land, people and grain. To rule, they had to keep count. It is no accident, then, that the first written name in human history was neither a god nor a king, but an accountant. As ships and navigation expanded our horizons, a new age of European empires took control of more than 80 per cent of the world’s surface, using colonial censuses, maps and ledgers to decide who belonged, who owed, and who could be sacrificed. Today, a handful of private brokers increasingly define what we see and what is real.
Taking readers from ancient cave markings and knotted strings to the algorithmic state, Dartmouth professor Roopika Risam reveals how data has always been the seed of power: a technology of control that has shaped civilizations and upheld empires. Provocative, humane and sweeping in scope, Data Empire challenges us to decide whether we will allow a new set of data empires to hardwire inequality into the next century, or fight for systems that work for the benefit of all.
A detailed foray into the material and spatial realities of cloud computing
Since the 1990s, technologists have promoted a vision of the “cloud” as a shapeless and intangible entity. Grounding the Cloud peers through this hazy façade to reveal the earthly material foundations of global computing and data extraction. Tracing the historical and technological development of the cloud computing paradigm, Ali Fard exposes an ever-evolving project in which ideologies, economic models, and marketing images collude to shape our shared urban environments.
Demonstrating how technology’s spatial footprint now stretches to nearly every corner of the globe, Grounding the Cloud analyzes the often-hidden infrastructures that facilitate platform capitalism—from the mines extracting rare earth minerals in remote regions to the vast global network of fiber-optic cables at the bottom of the oceans to the nondescript data centers that sit on the peripheries of major urban areas. Meanwhile, with compelling examples of smart-city initiatives and corporate campuses, Fard shows how the future of urbanism is deeply intertwined with the growing economies of data extraction.
Breaking down the myth of a clean and efficient tech urbanism, this book makes visible the complex material geographies and geopolitics that undergird today’s most powerful and omnipresent corporations. A timely critique of the growing agency of tech platforms in determining the future of urban space, Grounding the Cloud offers an essential framework for understanding the shifting relationship between technology and urbanization.
I’m slow to notice this one, but looks interesting. My own Shakespearean Territories discusses related issues.
This book analyses three Shakespearean plays that particularly deal with abusive forms of banishment: King Richard II, Coriolanus, and King Lear. In these plays, the abuses of power are triggered by fearless speeches that question the legitimacy of power and are misinterpreted as breaches of allegiance; in these plays, both the bold speech of the fearless speaker and the performative sentence of the banisher trigger the relentless dynamics of what Deleuze and Guattari termed ‘deterritorialisation’. This book approaches the central question of the abusive denial of territory from various angles: linguistic, legal and ethical, physical and psychological. Various strategies of resistance are explored: illegal return, which takes the form of a frontal counterattack employing a ‘war machine’; ruse and the experience of internal(ised) exile; and mental escape, which nonetheless may lead to madness, exhaustion or heartbreak.
Mathieu Quet, Koichi Kameda, Jessica Pourraz and Yves-Marie Rault-Chodankar eds. Technoscientific Globalisation from Below – Mattering Press, September 2025 (print and open access)
Thanks to dmf for the link.
Across eleven varied and lively chapters, Technoscientific Globalisation from Below provides fresh perspectives on how global asymmetries in wealth and resources stimulate technological innovation across the Global South. Readers with an interest in STS, globalisation and development studies will be inspired by these essays that demonstrate how the imaginative reappropriation of technologies to suit local conditions is challenging the assumed hegemony of big tech.
There are too many to try to be comprehensive, but here are a few of the tributes and reposts of older material celebrating the life and career of the remarkable historian Carlo Ginzburg (1939-2026), some added since I first posted this list. Thanks to Marco Bresciani and John Raimo for some of the additional links:
