Course Description

This topic is the perfect subject for a humanities class: death is something everyone cares about, it can be studied from many different perspectives, and admits no “correct” answer to the questions people ask about it. This course combines texts from mythology, literature, religious traditions, philosophy, literature, personal memoir, and intellectual history to discover the ways different cultures have thought about death. This will not be a psychology class about the stages of death and dying. Though there are several books, the amount of reading is manageable; it is imperative that you complete the reading before the class meeting for which it is assigned. By the end of the course, successful students will be able to

• Analyze and compare the interpretations of death provided by both Asian and Western religious traditions;

• Analyze and compare evolving cultural understandings of death in western culture;

• Analyze and interpret how art, literature, and music address the problem of death in a broader aesthetic context;

• Appraise contemporary understandings of death in a broader cultural and historical perspective.

Prerequisite & Workload

While there is no prerequisite for this course, all formal requirements of this section require good reading and writing skills, and eligibility for English 1A would be a distinct advantage—having completed English 1A would be better still. As you will see, there is a fair amount of reading for this course. College courses assume that the student will spend two hours outside of class for each hour in class—thus students should expect to spend 7 hours preparing for class each week. I have organized the reading and writing requirements of the course so that you should be able to remain within these boundaries.

Format

Though there are a number of topics on which I will provide background information that will help you make sense of the texts, death is also a subject with which almost every person in the class will have some experience. Hence I assume that we will also spend a significant amount of time discussing the reading and our reactions to them in light of experience. The readings will prompt a variety of kinds of responses: emotional, spiritual, intellectual. Some of the texts may discuss difficult subjects (genocide, human extinction); you should try to think through your reactions to what we read and be prepared to describe the complexity of the effect of these books on you.

Quizzes

We will begin each week with a quiz whose intent is to “encourage” you to keep up with the reading, so it is important that you come on time. The quizzes will ask questions about broad themes from the week’s reading. Each quiz will pose two short answer questions, both of which will be graded 0, 1, or 2, with the total aver¬aged. You must average one point per quiz to pass the class. There will be no make-ups for quizzes; if you can’t help missing a quiz and wish to make it up, I will have you write something in lieu (for a point) of up to two quizzes if you inform me ahead of time (via email or voicemail if necessary). The two students with the highest quiz total at the end of the semester earn an “A” in the class without needing to write the final essay, provided they have met all earlier course requirements. I may drop students who miss any two consecutive quizzes. Leaving before the end of class may result in your not receiving credit for that day’s quiz.

Essays

Students will write four 5-page interpretive essays. The first essay, on Gilgamesh, will be due September 21. The second essay, on religious attitudes toward death, will be due October 19. The third essay, on attitudes toward death in western culture, will be due November 16. The final essay, on Rwanda and/or AIDS will be due on December 14. Each essays is worth 100 points, for a total of 400 points. End of term grades are assigned as follows: ≥ 90%, A; ≥ 80% B; ≥ 70% C; ≥ 60% D; < 60% F. I anticipate providing more guidance on topics, but what follows will give you a preliminary idea of the kinds of topics you'll be writing about. Plagiarism (cheating) on any course requirement is grounds for failing the course. You must submit the first essay to remain in the class thereafter.

essays should be five (or more) numbered pages, typed (double-space), spell-checked, proofread. If you use quotations you must cite them properly (I am not fussy about which academic convention you use). Failure to number pages, cite quotes, or spell-check will result in the reduction of your grade by 3 points each. Cheating on any course requirement is grounds for your failing the course.

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finally, students with documented disabilities that might impact on their performance in this course should speak with me or contact Disabled Student Services at 222-8060.