Episode description

With Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Souls Day being marked in different countries around the world - Shahidha Bari's guests discuss the belief in ghosts and the search for meaning in mysticism. They are:

Dr Chris Harding is a cultural historian of Japan, India and East-West connections and is based at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of The Japanese and Japan Story.

Dr Hetta Howes is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at City, University of London and Deputy Programme Director for the BA in English. She is a BBC Radio 3 and 4 New Generation Thinker and the author of a new book “Poet Mystic Widow Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women.”

Simon Critchley is a philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA. His latest book is On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy.

Dr Iriving Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum and has published The First Ghosts: A rich history of ancient ghosts and ghost stories

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson