On the open savannas of East Africa, a flock of vulturine guinea fowl looks almost unreal. Bodies are patterned with crisp black and white lines. Chests and backs glow a deep, cobalt blue. Against the ...

Wherever it takes place, whoever’s life has ended, a funeral is a kind of collective memory bank. No two memories of the deceased, spoken or unspoken, work the same way. But a person’s life, and its ...