Matters of Life and Death
assignment schedule.

 

On this page you will the due dates for reading, writing, and other assignments for the course. Major due dates are highlighted first. The week-by-week due dates for the entire term follow.

You should also read the page about online discussion participation. There aren't official due dates for participation (it's ongoing), but you are still required to do it!

You can also follow links to the assignment descriptions page (which includes helpful tips) and the weekly schedule of assignments and activities.


Major Due Dates


There are no due dates listed in the syllabus for the analytic essays and response essays. Your due dates for these assignments will depend on which essays you sign up for.

Everyone's first analytic essay will come due between September 13 and October 4.
Everyone's second analytic essay will come due between October 11 and October 25.
Everyone's third analytic essay will come due between November 1 and December 6.

Everyone's first response essay will come due between September 20 and October 18.
Everyone's second response essay will come due between November 1 and December 6.

You are responsible for keeping track of your actual due dates!
Click here for Analytic Essay schedule.
Click here for Response Essay schedule.

Research Presentation (week of November 15)
Click here for presentation schedule.

Research Report: due Wednesday, November 17.

Course Log entries:
Course Log entry #1 due Friday, September 17.
Course Log entry #2 due Wednesday, September 29.
Course Log entry #3 due Wednesday, October 27.
Course Log entry #4 due Wednesday, November 10.

Reports on MUSE and non-MUSE events: all three must be handed in by December 6.

FINAL EXAM: Friday, December 17, 9:45 AM-12:00 noon.



Week 2 (Aug. 30, Sept. 1)

In-class writing assignment (in the computer lab): Is death good for you, bad for you, or nothing to you? Explain your answer. (Mon. Aug 30)

Reading Assignment: Nagel, “The Absurd” (CR) (due by class time Wed. Sept. 1)


Week 3 (Sept. 8)

Assignment: Take notes on the second half of The Death of Ivan Ilyich (turn in on Sept. 13)

Reading Assignment: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, pp. 35-91. (due by class time Wed. Sept 8)


Week 4 (Sept. 13, 15)

Assignments: Course Log entry #1 (due Sept. 17)

Reading Assignment: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, pp. 92-end. (due by class time Mon. Sept 13)
Ariès, “Tamed Death”, pp. 7-14 (CR) (due by class time Mon.. Sept 13)

Week 5 (Sept. 20, 22)

Assignment: Visit instructor’s office hours (or make an appointment).

Reading Assignment: Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, III.26-95, 135-176, 323-336, 418-475, 622-632, 795-1094. (CR) (due by class time Mon. Sept 20)

Week 6 (Sept. 27, 29)

Assignment: Course Log entry #2 (due Sept. 29)

Reading Assignment: Schopenhauer, “On the Suffering of the World”, pp. 41-50 (CR).
“On the Vanity of Existence”, pp. 51-54 (CR) (due by class time Mon. Sept 27)

Schopenhauer, “On Affirmation and Denial of the Will to Live”, pp. 61-65 (CR).
“On the Indestructibility of Our Essential Being …”, pp. 66-76 (CR).
Kramer, “Tibetan Attitudes Toward Death”, pp. 70-79 (CR) (due by class time Wed. Sept 29)

Week 7 (Oct. 4,6)

Viewing Assignment: The Seventh Seal (due Oct. 4)

Reading Assignment: Kübler-Ross, “On the Fear of Death”, pp. 15-23 (CR).
“Attitudes Toward Death and Dying”, pp. 25-49 (CR) (due by class time Wed. Oct. 6)

Week 8 (Oct. 11, 13) Library research

Assignments: Formulate a question (or set of questions) you hope to answer in your research; develop a list of keywords for your literature search.

Complete the online SJSU Plagiarism Tutorial (http://tutorials.sjlibrary.org/plagiarism/index.htm)

Week 9 (Oct. 18, 20)

Reading Assignment: Mitford, “The American Way of Death”, pp. 14-19 (CR).
Mitford, “What the Public Wants”, pp. 123-137 (CR).
Ariès, "Forbidden Death", pp. 84-107 (CR).(due by class time Mon. Oct 18)


Week 10 (Oct. 25, 27)

Assignment: Course Log entry #3 (due Oct. 27)

Reading Assignment: Conklin, “ ‘Thus are our bodies, thus was our custom’: mortuary cannibalism in an Amazonian society”, pp. 75-101 (CR). (due by class time Mon. Oct 25)

Week 11 (Nov. 1, 3)

Reading Assignment: Lock, “Displacing Suffering: The Reconstruction of Death in North America and Japan”, pp. 207-244 (CR).
Callahan, “Death and the Research Imperative”, pp. 654-656 (CR).
Greenberg, “As Good as Dead”, pp. 36-41 (CR). (due by class time Mon. Nov 1)

Week 12 (Nov. 8, 10)

Assignment: Course Log entry #4 (due Nov. 10)

Reading Assignment: Callahan, “Living with the Mortal Self”, pp. 120-155 (CR).
Behar, “Death and Memory: From Santa María del Monte to Miami Beach”, pp. 34-89 (CR).
(due by class time Mon. Nov 10)


Week 13 (Nov. 15, 17)
Research presentations

Assignment: Prepare a one-page handout for your classmates.
Research report (due by class time Wed.Nov. 17)

Week 14 (Nov. 22, 24)

Reading Assignment: Edson, Wit (due by class time Mon. Nov 22)

Week 15 (Nov. 29, Dec. 1)

Viewing Assignment: Harold and Maude (due Nov. 29)

Reading Assignment: Heilbrun, “Preface”, pp. 1-10 (CR). “On Mortality”, pp. 205-215 (CR).
Grigoriadis, “A Death of One’s Own” (CR).(due by class time Wed. Dec 1)

Week 16 (Dec. 6, 8)

Last day to turn in reports on MUSE and non-MUSE activities: Mon., Dec. 6.

FINAL EXAM: Friday, December 17, 9:45 AM - 12:00 noon


Greensheet

Assignments

Course assignments and activities by week

Course grade breakdown

WebCT assignments and activities

MUSE workshops

 

course home course information beyond the course course blog instructor information student links events