Dances of death: macabre mirrors of an unequal society
Johan Pieter Mackenbach, Rolf Paul Dreier
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
International Journal of Public Health - December 2012, Volume 57, Issue 6
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00038-012-0381-x (open access)
Not just social inequality and death, but also art and religion:
'In the late Middle Ages and early Modern period, people in Europe seem to have been unaware of social inequalities in life expectancy, and even if they would have known that those with higher social positions could evade death a bit longer than the poor, they would probably not have cared. They were more interested in the afterlife, and for them the bitter inequalities during life on earth could, to some extent, be traded off against the equality of life in heaven.'
Melissa Raven
Research Fellow
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From: Equity, Health & Human Development [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)
Sent: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 12:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EQ] Social inequality and death
Dances of death: macabre mirrors of an unequal society
Johan Pieter Mackenbach, Rolf Paul Dreier
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC,Rotterdam, The Netherlands
International Journal of Public Health - December 2012, Volume 57, Issue 6
Website: http://bit.ly/Y2zGHb
"...Between 1400 and 1800, Dances of Death were a popular art form depicting a metaphorical encounter between Death and representatives of a stratified human society. We review the thematic development of Dances of Death and study the development of social critique.
Methods
We first assembled a full catalogue of all Dances of Death created between 1400 and 1800. We then analyzed patterns of spatiotemporal diffusion and made an in-depth hermeneutic study of the combined texts and images of a carefully selected set of 20 Dances of Death, comparing four distinct periods (1425-1525, 1525-1600, 1600-1650, and 1650-1800).
Results
We identified more than 500 Dances of Death. It was only in its first stage of development, coinciding with the Pre-Reformation (1425-1525), that social critique was very prominent. This was represented in four forms: explicit references to social (in) equality, to failures of the authorities, and to emancipated farmers, and a general social realism. In later phases social critique largely disappeared and was replaced by religious themes.
Conclusions
Dances of Death provide historical context to current analyses and debates of social inequalities in health. They remind us of the stubbornness of these inequalities, which despite progress in material well-being are still very much with us today.."
KMC/2012/SDE
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