History of Death

Study Course Description

Course Description Statuss:Approved

Course Description Version:6.00

Study Course Accepted:11.03.2024 14:15:23

Study Course Information
Course Code:		KSK_172		LQF level:		Level 7
Credit Points:		2.00		ECTS:		3.00
Branch of Science:		Sociology; Social Anthropology		Target Audience:		Psychology; Nursing Science; Sociology; Social Anthropology
Study Course Supervisor
Course Supervisor:		Anna Žabicka
Study Course Implementer
Structural Unit:		Faculty of Social Sciences
The Head of Structural Unit:
Contacts:		Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szfrsu[pnkts]lv
Study Course Planning
Full-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		6	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		12
Classes (count)		6	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		12
Total Contact Hours								24
Study course description
Preliminary Knowledge:
A background in classical and contemporary anthropological theories is desirable. Ability to read academic texts in English.
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.
Topic Layout (Full-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1	An introduction to the history of death. Life and Death in Anthropology.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
2	Death, rituals and society.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
3	Body and social identity.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
4	Death and politics.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
5	Mourning, Remembrance and Commemoration.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
6	Death in Medicine: Organ Transplantation.			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
Assessment
Unaided 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.
Assessment Criteria:
Active participation in class discussions. Six short reflections on the seminar texts. A practical assignment.
Final Examination (Full-Time):		Exam (Written)
Final Examination (Part-Time):
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:		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:		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.
Competencies:		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.
Bibliography
No.	Reference
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.