Anthropology

Death, Dying and the Corpse

Module code: L6307AID
Level 6
30 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Workshop
Assessment modes: Not yet finalised

This module will introduce students to different ways of thinking about death, dying and dead bodies, by introducing students to a range of different epistemological and ontological understandings of the dead and their treatment. Exploring cross-cultural understanding and real world examples, it will ask critical questions such as: when does death occur? Is death the end of life? What is a corpse? How do different societies care for the dead? How can relations to the dead illuminate understandings of social worlds, politics, economics, and religion? How does technology, art, and media, affect understandings and relations to the dead? What is the role of violence in understanding death and the dead? What is a good death? The overall aim of the module is to broaden students understanding and awareness of different approaches to death and dying, and to question essentialised positions related to these. Understanding how people relate to death and the dead in different contexts also evokes questions of the body, self, and other, illuminating issues such as, what makes mass killing possible? What does inquity in identification projects tell us about inequality and discrimination? How does treatment of the dead illuminate political and social realities for the living? This therefore helps explore what it means to be human today. The teaching will include lectures, seminars, fieldtrips, interactive sessions, and audiovisual engagement. The assessment will be a project, with open format depending on the students’ interest and desires. This will be developed throughout the course, and handed in in week 11.

Module learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate understanding of death studies in international perspective
  • Compare different understandings of death and dying using appropriate theoretical and conceptual tools
  • Apply cross cultural understanding on death and the dead to communicate a comprehensive understanding of the variety of death practices, and their wider relation to social worlds
  • Understand and communicate in-depth case studies on death, dying, and/or dead bodies