"A work whose clarity, interdisciplinary expertise and originality is among the best and most provocative among works in the continental style in recent times," writes the Los Angeles Review of Books, for example.

Three things recur in the reviews: the book's interdisciplinary and cross-border contribution, the political relevance and the language – beautiful prose, poetic and well written, read some reviews.

- I put together a puzzle of different disciplines in a way that has not been done before. No one has previously taken this big of a grip on this subject, says Hans Ruin, the book's author and philosophy professor at Södertörn University.

Metacritical thanatology is his own description of the subject. That is, a kind of examination of our relationship with the dead. This is where the political comes in. Since the seventies, there has been a discussion based on postcolonial theory about human remains in museums and medical institutions. It began in the United States with demands from the indigenous population for the return of remains and has only recently gained momentum here as well.

It has become increasingly important to look at science and its handling of the dead.

- Archeology has not wanted to think about its role as scientific grave robbers. Then the metacritical perspective is needed, says Hans Ruin.

The book is also about how we in our culture try to maintain a relationship with our ancestors. We do this in many different ways: via museums and other institutions and not least in writing.

Being with the dead is his Ruin's contribution to the large RJ research program Time, memory, representation at Södertörn University, which ran from 2010 to 2016. Twenty-five researchers from thirteen different subject areas and five universities participated. The program was led by Hans Ruin.

- I wouldn't have been able to write the book if I hadn't had those colleagues around me. I dared to do it because I worked together with memory researchers, archaeologists and many others. It shows what can be done with interdisciplinarity, he says.

In 2022, Being with the dead has also been awarded with a newly instituted international prize for best historical theory book. Behind the award are two historical societies: International commission for the history and theory of historiography and International network for theory of history.

Being with the Dead: Burial, Ancestral Politics, and the Roots of Historical Consciousness. Ruin, Hans. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 2018

TEXT: Michael Nyhaga