Syllabus and Reading List Spring 2018

Reader, pass on!—don’t waste your time

On bad biography and bitter rhyme;

For what I am, this crumbling clay insures

And what I was, is no Affair of yours!

---tombstone in New Jersey

ANTH 3385             

Death & Culture

Spring 2018
T/Th 12:30-2:20
F207

Professor Laurie Greene

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Office:                         C107

Phone/Voice mail:       6092146596 (cell-text in emergencies only please)

SOBL Office:              H210

Fax:                             (609) 748-5559

E Mail:                        laurie.greene@stockton.edu

Office Hours:              (T/Th) 10:30-12:20 or by Appointment Wednesdays

Blog Address:            deathandculture2018.blogspot.com

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

            This course will explore the variety of ways in which cultures view and respond to mortality. We will examine the many beliefs and rituals surrounding death and the afterlife, and discuss how debates about life and death have changed in the technological age. We will touch on a wide range of topics including infanticide, martyrdom, euthanasia, execution (death penalty), suicide, taboos surrounding the dead, organ donation, and living wills. We will also discuss the association or disassociation between the “spirit” and the “body”, and between “life” and “death”.

This course is based around DISCUSSION, and as such:

·      You are responsible for the preparation and stimulating presentation of the materials we read!

·      Class attendance is mandatory. Three unexcused absences (excused or otherwise) will result in your removal from class (W or F…you choose).

·      BLOG: You will be responsible to check on the course blog each week to prepare for class discussions and complete assignments. Know that if you are absent, you are still responsible for submitting work on the DUE DATES. Please make sure you check the blog syllabus and assignments for any changes if you are absent. 

·      Writing assignments and short projects will be assigned weekly. These should always be turned in TYPED, and ON TIME. No late work will be accepted. Take Note!!! 1 missing assignment, student can get a semester grade no greater than “B”, 2 missing assignments, student can get a semester grade no greater than “C”, 3 missing assignments, student can get a semester grade no greater than “D”…4 missing assignments results in an “F” for the semester…So hand in your stuff!

REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATION:

Assignments………………………………………….….70%

Final Exam……………………………………………....20%

Attendance/Participation…………..……………………10% (Mandatory)

TEXTS:

(1) Waugh, Evelyn. (1948) The Loved One. (New York: Back Bay Books).

(2) Lock, Margaret. (2001). Twice Dead. (Berkeley: University of

            California

(3) Metcalf, Peter and Richard Huntington. (1999) Celebrations of Death.

            (2^nd) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

(4) Ginsberg, Allen (1960). Kaddish and Other Poems.(San Francisco:

City Lights Books). (LINK)

EXCERPTS INCLUDING...(most are linked on this syllabus)

(1) Mitford, Jessica.(1998) The American Way of Death: Revisited.

            (New York: Vintage Books). (see links below)

(2) Mims, Cedric (1998). When We Die. (New York: St. Martin’s

            Griffin). Illegal Xerox  (I'll hand this out)

(3) Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. (1989) “Death Without Weeping”. Natural

            History. (see link below)

(4) Del Guerico, Gino. (1986) “The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead

            Harvard Magazine. (see link below)

(5) Barber, Paul. (1990) “The Real Vampire”. Natural History. (see link below)

SYLLABUS & READINGS:

I. Personal Experiences of Death (week#1: 1/16-1/18)

(1/16)   Introduction

·      MOVIE: In Her Own Time (1/18)

Readings:             “Grief and Mourning in a Cross-Cultural Perspective".2001 (LINK) 
                                      (1/18)

Due:  Assignment #1: Personal narrative---Your experience

            with death (1/18) Be prepared to share these in class

II. Death in American Culture: (week #2: 1/23-1/25) 

Readings:             Mitford, Jessica “The Undertaker's Racket”, in The

                                             Atlantic (LINK) (1/23)* (optional)

Mitford, Jessica "The American Way of Death, Revisited" (1/23)   
                Introduction-Chapter 3 "the funeral transaction" (LINK)

Metcalf & Huntington, Celebrations of Death. pp. 191-214. (1/25)

Due:  Assignment#2 Researching laws in NJ and “funeral cost & death societies” (1/25)

III. Studying Death: (week #3: 1/30-2/1)

Readings:              Waugh, The Loved One. 1948 (1/30)
                                  Metcalf & Huntington, Celebrations of Death. pages 1-42 (2/1)

Due: Assignment #3: Origins of Religion (2/1)

IV. Universals & Culture: (week #4: 2/6-2/8)    

Readings:              Metcalf & Huntington, Celebrations of Death. pages 43-78 (2/6)

V. Death As Transition: Rites of Passage (week #5: 2/13-2/15)

 (2/15)

Readings:              Metcalf & Huntington, Celebrations of Death. pp 79-132 (2/13)

Due: Assignment #4: Rites of Passage: Rituals Surrounding Death (2/15)

VI. “Special Death”: of Kings and Assassination (week #6: 2/20-2/22)

Readings:             Metcalf & Huntington, Celebrations of Death. pp 133-190 (2/20)

VII. Issues Defining Death (Week #7-10: 2/27-3/8)

Readings:              Margaret Mead on Warfare and Culture (LINK) and (LINK) (3/1)

Jones. "Killer Behavior, Violent Instinct" (Nature) (LINK) (3/1)
Is Violence Embedded in our DNA (link)

Suicide
Readings                  Munster and Broz."The Anthropology of Suicide"(LINK) (3/6)

Suicide Prevention Anthropology (LINK) (3/6)

Due:  Assignment #5: Liminal body dangerous (3/6)

Abortion

Readings:              Smith. “Buddhism & Abortion in Contemporary Japan” In:

                        Readings in Ritual Studies. 1996 (LINK) (3/8)

Morgan. “When Life Begins” In, Abortion Rights and Fetal

Personhood. 1989. (LINK) (3/8)

Due: Assignment#6: Living Will (3/8)

                SPRING BREAK March 10-March 18- NO CLASSES!
·      MOVIE: Citizen Ruth (LINK) AND ·      MOVIE: Harold & Maude (LINK)----------------------Watch over BREAK!  Class discussion on 3/20

Infanticide

Readings:              Schepper-Hughes. “Death Without Weeping”, In: Natural

                                             History. 1989 (LINK) (3/20)

Euthanasia

Readings:             Mawaria. "Physician Assisted Suicide (Euthenasia) An

                                             Anthropological Perspective" (LINK) (3/22)

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/euthanasia-voluntary/ Stanford University---ethics site (3/22)

Due: Assignment#7: Abortion (3/29)     
                                                                                           
                                  NO CLASS-Preceptorial Advising-  Tuesday, March 27th
N

Capitol Punishment/Human Sacrifice

Readings:              Purdum & Paredes. “Rituals of Death: essays on Cruel and

Unusual Punishment” Rituals of Death. 1989. (LINK) (3/29)

·      MOVIE: Dead Man Walking (3/29)

Genocide

Readings:                         "Anthropology & Genocide in the Third Reich" (LINK) (4/3)
                                             "Genocide and Anthropology" (LINK) (4/3)

GENOCIDES

1904 NAMIBIA
1915 ARMENIA
1932 UKRAINE
the HOLOCAUST
1975 CAMBODIA
1982 GUATEMALA
1994 RWANDA
1995 BOSNIA
Today: Darfur, Myamar, Syria

       VIII. Defining Life (weeks #11-14: 4/12-4/17)

·                 MOVIE: Dirty Pretty Things  (on blackboard)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.Preamble-77 (4/12)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.78-129 (4/12)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.130-166 (4/12)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.167-208 (4/17)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.209-262 (4/17)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.263-314 (4/17)

        Readings:       Twice Dead.pp.315-378 (4/17)

IX. Mourning/Grief   (week #15:4/19)

           Readings:                Ginsberg. Kaddish 1961. (4/19) (link)

  

                                                   NO CLASS 4/24  

Due: Assignment #10: Euphemism: language & culture (4/26)
             

X      . The Afterlife (week#16: 4/26)

Undead

           Readings:               Del Guerico, “The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead” 
In,                                          Harvard Magazine. 1986. (LINK) (4/26)

Barber. “The Real Vampire”, in Natural History 1990.

            (LINK) (4/26)

Bundazen, The Natural History of Vampires (LINK) (4/26)

·      MOVIE: Wandafuru Raifu [After Life] PART 1 and Part 2 (1998) watch through these links.

Final Exam  Tuesday, May 1, 12:30-2:20