Saturday, February 20, 2021

Lawyer and Faculty of Law doctoral student (SJD) Michaël Lessard with Audrey Deveault, a graduate of literary studies from the University of Quebec in Montreal, have published Mourir au 21e siècle : entre corporalités et technologies (Éditions Yvon Blais).

The book, available in French, discusses how in 21st century, new technologies are blurring the line between life and death. Digital technology offers the deceased the specter of a presence on social networks. Archiving metadata also creates digital fossils of the person. Medicine helps preserve the body after death. These new realities affect our relationship with mourning, memory and dignity. Do we have to tame death again?

This book reflects on the impact of these transformations on our relationship with death. It will captivate anyone interested in law, medicine, literary studies, bioethics, anthropology, art history, visual studies and philosophy who wishes to explore the theme of death in contemporary times.

Lessard's research focuses on bioethics, family law, animal rights, linguistic sexism, and the treatment of victims of sexual violence. He previously co-authored the Non-sexist Grammar of the French language and co-edited the Critical Dictionary of Linguistic Sexism.

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