IHP Death & Dying

Dying to Know: Interdisciplinary Seminar on Death – syllabus
(IDST3500 / 4 credits)

This core interdisciplinary seminar takes the conversations of critical death studies and expands them across the globe. Students will learn about the rise of the death avoidant attitudes, the operations—and exploitations—of deathcare industries across cultural contexts, the forensic and social post-mortem processing of the dead body, and the revitalization movements that shape new ways of dying for the future. Students will engage with diverse texts/media that reflect, shape, and challenge attitudes toward death and dying. The course will also examine death within subcultures, including informal death practices, roadside memorials, memorial tattoos, and virtual in memoria. Counterbalancing these texts will be experiential learning opportunities to trace out deathways and acquire practical information about death, dying, and bereavement. Through these multipronged lines of inquiry, the course will equip students with the functional knowledge and skills to integrate end-of-life planning into their life and career plans.

Cross-cultural Perspectives on Death, Dying, and Bereavement – syllabus
(ANTH3000 / 4 credits)

Although death is universal, there is no universal experience of death and dying. Dissatisfaction with deathways at home has led many to imagine othered, better deaths elsewhere. This course demystifies “the elsewhere”. This course explores death, dying, and bereavement from the perspective of comparative cultural anthropology with an emphasis on beliefs, ontologies, funerary rites, and post-mortem practices. The course will broadly survey death and dying from different regional and cultural contexts accompanied by in–depth exploration of the attitudes, symbols, and practices of the host locations. Course content will also delve into death-related superstitions and alternate discourses. Topics will include the role of religion, philosophy, Indigenous knowledge, and historical events in determining the meaning of death. Through the process of learning anthropological perspectives in the context of death practices, the course will challenge imagined indigeneities and clarify how explorations of the unfamiliar may operate as a reflexive tool to show that a person’s own culture or worldview is one among many, rather than a norm through which difference is understood.

Sociology of Death: Deaths that Count and Lives that Matter – syllabus
(SOCI3000 / 4 credits)

Death comes to us all—but not equally. This course examines necropolitics and the inequalities of death across age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and social class. Deep dives into global, national, and local mortality rates and leading causes of death will provide insight into whose lives matter, prompting a closer examination of the policies that preserve life for the privileged few and perpetuate death for the marginalized masses. Along the way, we will learn from activists and educators who are advocating for equitable living conditions and life-affirming social change. We will also look at deaths that moved people into action.

Project Death: Community Engagement and Ethical Inquiry – syllabus
(ISIH3000 / 4 credits)

This course incorporates two modalities of project-based learning—community action and self-directed inquiry—to enhance students’ understanding of death and dying. Project Death is an uncommon opportunity for students to curate their own engagement with death through research, partnership, and creative or academic outputs. At each location, students will have opportunities to engage with local organizations and contribute to relevant community-initiated projects. Through their participation and guidance from host communities and partners, students will gain experience in respectful collaboration and intercultural communication as they gain insights into how local communities care for their dead, dying, and bereaved. Students will further apply what they have learned about ethical and appropriate engagement with host communities to their inquiry-based projects wherein they explore divergent responses to their research questions. Through these forms of project-based learning, students will develop a holistic and informed perspective on death and dying.