Veidlapa Nr. M-3 (8)
Study Course Description
History of Death
Course Code
KSK_172
Branch of Science
Social Anthropology; Sociology and social work
ECTS
3.00
Target Audience
Nursing Science; Psychology; Social Anthropology; Sociology
LQF
Level 7
Study Type And Form
Full-Time
Study Course Implementer
Course Supervisor
Anna Žabicka
Structure Unit Manager
Ieva Puzo
Structural Unit
Faculty of Social Sciences
Contacts
Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf@rsu.lv
About Study Course
Objective
The aim of the course is to provide knowledge and promote discussion on the social, cultural, historical, political, medical and ethical aspects of death in different cultural contexts.
Preliminary Knowledge
A background in classical and contemporary anthropological theories is desirable. Ability to read academic texts in English.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
1.Students become familiar with the multifaceted anthropology of death and understand the different discourses and aspects of how death and dying can be studied. Students recognise concepts such as death as ritual, social body, mourning, social death, etc.
Skills
1.Being able to explain the significance of death rituals in societies and the processes that shape and influence the changing traditions associated with death and mortality. Can describe the contexts and situations in which 'social death' may manifest itself and understand the categories through which social death research can be approached. Being able to engage in fruitful discussions with authors who write about it about the usefulness and strengths and weaknesses of the concept. Being able to read analytically high quality academic social science literature that comprehensively covers topics such as death and dying in their social, medical, political, historical contexts. Students are able to express verbally and in writing reasoned, exemplified perspectives on socio-cultural issues of death and dying.
Competences
1.Students are able to make competent judgements and discuss the complex historical and socio-cultural processes of death and dying. Students are competent to discuss issues related to death and dying within different discourses.
Assessment
Individual work
|
Title
|
% from total grade
|
Grade
|
|---|---|---|
|
1.
Individual work |
-
|
-
|
|
Reading and analysis of the literature assigned in the course.
Focused (700-1000 words) written reflections on the seminar texts - articles and books - (for the specified classes), to be submitted by the day of the seminar.
Practical assignment.
|
||
Examination
|
Title
|
% from total grade
|
Grade
|
|---|---|---|
|
1.
Examination |
-
|
-
|
|
Analytical report on the practical assignment.
|
||
|
2.
Examination |
-
|
-
|
|
Active participation in class discussions.
Six short reflections on the seminar texts.
A practical assignment.
|
||
Study Course Theme Plan
FULL-TIME
Part 1
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
An introduction to the history of death. Life and Death in Anthropology.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
An introduction to the history of death. Life and Death in Anthropology.
|
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death, rituals and society.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death, rituals and society.
|
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Body and social identity.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Body and social identity.
|
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death and politics.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death and politics.
|
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Mourning, Remembrance and Commemoration.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Mourning, Remembrance and Commemoration.
|
-
Lecture
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death in Medicine: Organ Transplantation.
|
-
Class/Seminar
|
Modality
|
Location
|
Contact hours
|
|---|---|---|
|
On site
|
Auditorium
|
2
|
Topics
|
Death in Medicine: Organ Transplantation.
|
Total ECTS (Creditpoints):
3.00
Contact hours:
24 Academic Hours
Final Examination:
Exam (Written)
Bibliography
Required Reading
1.
Ariès, P. (1983). “Conclusions” in The Hour of Our Death. Vintage". p. 603 – 614.
2.
Fabian, J. (1972). “How others die: Reflections on the Anthropology of Death”. Social Research. Vol. 39. Taylor & Francis. 49-61.
3.
Hertz, R. ([1907] 2016). A Contribution to the Study of the Collective Representation of Death. In: Hertz, Robert Death and the right hand. pp. 197-212.
4.
Scheper-Hughes, N. (2017). “Death Without Weeping.” In Robben, Antonius C G M. 2017. Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader. 2nd Edition. Wiley. pp. 179-193.
5.
Verdery, K. (1999). The political lives of dead bodies: Reburial and postsocialist change. Columbia University Press.
6.
Lock, M. (2001). Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death. Berkeley: University of California Press. American Medical Association, vol. 205, No 6, 1968 Aug. 5, 85-88.
Additional Reading
1.
Rosaldo, Renato. (2014). The Day of Shelly’s Death. The Poetry and Ethnography of Grief. Durham & London: Duke University Press.
2.
Barts, Rolāns. (2010). Sēru dienasgrāmata. 1977. gada 26. oktobris – 1979. gada 15. septembris. Rīga: Laikmetīgās mākslas centrs. (latviešu plūsmai)
3.
Atul, G. (2014). Being mortal: medicine and what matters in the end.
4.
Kalanithi, P. (2016). When breath becomes air. Random House.
5.
De León, J. (2015). The land of open graves: Living and dying on the migrant trail (Vol. 36). Univ of California Press.
6.
Watson, J. L. (1982). “On Flesh and Bones: the Management of Death Pollution in Cantonese Society” in Death and the Regeneration of Life., M. Bloch and J. Parry, eds. 155-187.
7.
Lawton, J. (1998). Contemporary hospice care: the sequestration of the unbounded body and ‘dirty dying’. Sociology of Health & Illness, 20(2), 121-143.