Matters
of Life and Death
weekly
schedule.
Week 9 (Oct. 18-22)
The
right way to grieve: modern Western attitudes and practices around death.
To be discussed: Is there an “American” attitude toward death?
What evidence do we have for a culture’s attitudes? What historical
developments explain our modern attitudes toward death? What cultural factors
influence our modern practices around death?
Assignments:
Response essay on Kübler-Ross (due Mon., Oct. 18 by 11:59 PM)
Response
essay on The
Seventh Seal (due Mon., Oct. 18 by 11:59 PM)
Activity: Popular/scholarly comparison.
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)
Skills & Information:
To read for week 10:
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)
Assignments for week 10:
Course Log entry #3 (due Oct. 27)
Analytic essay on Mitford, “What the Public Wants” (due Mon., Oct. 25 by 11:59 PM)
Analytic essay on Ariès, "Forbidden Death" (due Mon., Oct. 25 by 11:59 PM)