Dr. Dan Mathewson
Office: Main 207
Phone Extension: 4560
Email: mathewsondb@wofford.edu
Office Hours: TBD
Wofford College, Spring 2008
TTh, 1:00-2:20
Main 206
Death is a central category in all the world’s religions. And necessarily so! Death is around us all the time. Whether unexpected and tragic death, such as occur in natural disasters or car accidents, or “natural” deaths in old age; whether the deaths of those close to us – family and friends – , or the deaths of those distant from us that we see in television broadcasts or read about on the internet; whether the stylized deaths of Hollywood blockbusters that entertain us, or the images of warfare’s disturbing deaths that we’d rather not see – whatever the variety of death, death is everywhere. In fact, death is even programmed into the very genetic makeup of human beings. To be human means to be living toward death.
But how to speak of death? How to understand it? How to get a hold of it? Make it reasonable and logical? These, in essence, are the driving questions of this course. We’re not so much going to provide definitive answers to these questions; rather, we’re going to explore how these questions are answered in our society, and in the religious systems of our world. Different cultures and religions answer these questions in different ways, and the answers they give often speak to the most important values that they hold. Throughout the semester we’ll look at some of these answers and some of these values. And we’ll also be challenged to do some serious selfexamination that can be interesting, scary, troubling, tiring, exciting, enlightening, confusing, funny, and/or painful.
The course is divided into basically three major parts. After a brief look at what we actually mean by “death,” we’ll take a closer look at death in our culture, including burial practices, funeral homes, death entertainment, and so forth. Then we’ll turn the lens to the world’s religions and see the complementary and competing ways they understand death. Finally, we’ll foreground the personal dimension of death: how do you understand death?
The class format will likely change from day-to-day. We might have some mini-lectures (maybe, but probably not…), we’ll have lots and lots of discussion, take field trips, watch movies, and do some writing (both in-class and out).
Kathleen Garces-Foley, Death and Religion in a Changing World
Robert Kastenbaum, On Our Way: The Final Passage Through Life and Death.
Lots and lots of other readings will be circulated in class.
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COURSEWORK AND GRADES
Class Attendance and Participation:
We will spend lots of class time discussing the readings, and the ideas that the readings spark.
You must, therefore, be prepared to discuss the readings assigned for each class session by submitting your readings questions (see below). An accumulation of absences from class will affect your grade adversely. You are permitted one unexcused absence. Each unexcused absence beyond this will result in a deduction of a single percent (out of a total of 10) from your attendance and participation grade.
Attendance and participation comprise 15% of your final grade.
Readings Grade
Much of the success of the course depends on your careful reading of, and reflection on, the assigned readings. Prior to each class session, therefore, you will formulate three well thoughtthrough and articulated questions that spring from the assigned readings for that day. The questions you formulate need to indicate to me that you have not only read all of the assigned readings, but that you have reflected on them. As such, these questions may not be trivial (e.g.,
"Why does the author keep using the word, “death?" or "What's the point of this reading?"), but must be carefully and intelligently constructed (e.g., "The author seems to be arguing that what religious people consider to be sacred space oftentimes becomes the source of dispute, which leads to violence. Can we take his argument one step farther and suggest that people's perception of sacred space inevitably will lead to violence? If so, what about "secular" sacred space
[national monuments, sports hall of fames, the homes of celebrities, etc.]").
Your questions may be about anything as long as they connect to the assigned readings. Potential topics for your questions (there are many more, of course):

Disagreements with the arguments of the assigned readings

Extension of the arguments of the assigned readings (as in the above example)
 Clarification (though you must show that you’ve struggled to understand the argument on your own)

Connection of the assigned readings with previous readings

Connection of the assigned readings with current world events
You will email your three questions to me before class. I will grade your questions on a 5-4-3 scale:

5 indicates well formulated questions that exhibit a high-level of reflection on the arguments of the assigned readings

4 indicates adequate questions that show you've read the assigned readings and have reflected adequately on them

3 indicates deficient questions that are poorly formulated and/or display a lack of time and effort devoted to the assigned readings.
If you fail to email me your questions on time you will receive a score of zero for that class's
Questions Assignment.
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Assigned-Readings Questions will comprise 20% of your final grade.
Reflection Papers :
A series of reflection papers will be due throughout the semester. In all of these papers you will develop an idea sparked by the readings or class discussion. There will be two types of papers.
1.
One type will be about topics that arise from the readings and class discussions. You may want to connect an argument from the readings to your own personal experience or to things you’ve learned in other classes; you may want to dispute the claims made by the readings; you may want to further develop a topic or point raised by you or someone else in class.
2.
The other type of reflection paper will be ones that follow, and reflect on, the special
“out-of-the-classroom” sessions that are planned during the semester. Before these special sessions I’ll give you more specific instructions for what I’m looking for in the papers, but they will be due the at the start of the following class session.
No extra research needs to be done for these papers, but they should be written as proper papers in terms of grammar, syntax, spelling, and style. They should be between 2.5 - 4 pages, double spaced, and they will be graded based on clarity of content and evidence of careful reflection.
These papers should be emailed to me as Word documents before the start of class on the day they are due. If you fail to email a paper you will receive no credit for that paper. If you email the paper late your grade will drop by a full letter grade for every day it is late (for example, a one-day late “A” quality paper will be given a “B”). Note: A 24-hour “day” begins when class begins. So, if your paper is due at the beginning of a 1:00 pm Tuesday class and you hand it in at
2:30 pm on Wednesday, it is two days late.
Your reflection papers will be worth 22.5% of your final grade.
Due Dates: Feb 19
Feb 28
Mar 13
Mar 25
Funeral Project:
May 8
This project will consist of two parts:
1.
Funeral Performance : Each of you will work in pairs and will develop an expertise in the death rites of one religion. Based on your research you will be responsible to stage a funeral during class time in which all of the class will participate. You are responsible for all texts, readings, prayers, chants, “props,” or anything else that may be needed in order to stage the funeral properly. You will function as the ritual experts (priest, Rabbi, minister, etc.) and you will lead the congregation (your classmates and me) as is appropriate. You will be responsible for contacting the class beforehand in order to recruit any class members for special ritual activities, to give instructions about general ritual actions that will be expected, to give directions about appropriate dress, or to inform the class of anything else you deem appropriate.
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To ensure that you are leaving yourself enough time to plan your funerals, I will ask each group to submit a progress report 9 days before the staging of its funeral. The report should list the times and dates you’ve met as a group, the research that you have done, and your plan for your funeral.
You will be graded based on how well you stage your funeral. Careful and creative preparation, as well as excellent execution, will result in a high grade.
Funeral Direction will be worth 10% of your final grade.
2.
Funeral Website : Each pair will be responsible for creating a website devoted to the death rites of its particular religion. The format, layout, design of the site is up to the pair, as is the site’s precise content. There are several components, however, that must be present: a.
Video of the funeral that the pair staged b.
Discussion of the diversity of funeral rites that exist within the religion c.
Discussion purposes and goals of the funeral rites d.
Discussion of the symbolism of the funeral rites and the meanings that are associated with these meanings
A fair amount of research, obviously, must be done in order to create a compelling website. The research on the websites, therefore, needs to be properly cited.
Websites are worth 10% of your final grade.
Show and Tell :
During the last week of classes we will have two Show & Tell days in which you will bring to class an object that helps you understand death. (This object may be a song, a quote, a novel, a movie, a picture, a symbol, or anything else.) You will present this object to the class and discuss how this object helps you understand death. Explicitly identify the “meaning” or value system in which this object (and you!) stand, and describe the benefits of the understanding of death that this system provides. Finally, discuss some of the drawbacks and potentially troublesome aspects of this system in terms of its understanding of death.
Show & Tell is worth 5% of your final grade.
Exam:
There will be one exam open-book final essay exam. You will be required to write an essay on a topic or theme that spans the course of our semester’s learning. I will reveal the topic or theme at the time of the exam. You will not have to study for this exam but must have a solid grasp on the course readings in order to complete the exam successfully.
The final will be worth 20% of your final grade.
Grading Breakdown:
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Attendance/ Participation
Readings Assignment
Reflection Papers
Funeral Direction
Funeral Website
Final Exam
15%
20%
22.5%
10%
12.5%
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Introduction
Feb 5
Feb 7
Course Introduction
What is Death?
Reading:

Kastenbaum 1-24

David Chidester, Patterns of Transcendence , 1-11
Feb 12 Death and Life, part 1
Reading:

Kastenbaum 25-42

Douglas Davies, Death, Ritual and Belief , 1-23
Feb 14 Death and Life, part 2
Reading:

Leo Tolstoy, Death and the Meaning of Life , 82-85

Kastenbaum 355-413

Douglas Davies, Death, Ritual and Belief, 145-54
Part 1: Death Rituals and the Corpse in American Culture
Feb 19 The Corpse and Death Denial
Reading:

Kastenbaum 138-75
 Phillippe Ariès, “Death Denied”

Ernest Becker, Denial of Death , 11-24

Michael Leming & George Dickinson, Understanding Dying, Death, &
Bereavement , 11-15
Due: Reflection Paper for material from Feb 5-14
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Feb 21 Disposal of the Dead Body
Reading:

Kastenbaum 262-310

Garces-Foley, 228-45
Feb 26 Field Trip: Visit to a Funeral Home (arrangements tba)
Reading: David Moller, Confronting Death , 79-105
Feb 28 Discussion of Field Trip
Mar 4
Mar 6
Reading: http://www.npr.org/programs/death/980310.death.html
; http://www.npr.org/programs/death/980203.death.html
Due: Funeral Home Reflection Paper
Good Death/Bad Death
Reading:

Robert Grimes, Deeply into the Bone , 221-27

Kastenbaum 93-137
 Mary Bradbury, “The Good Death?,” 59-63
 http://www.npr.org/programs/death/980125.death.html
Death Memorials
Reading:

Parker Pearson, The Archaeology of Death and Burial , 124-41
 Maya Lin, “Making the Memorial” (also browse http://www.nps.gov/archive/vive/memorial/memorial.htm
 Nancy Princenthal, “Absence Visible” (also browse http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/ )
Mar 11 Field Trip: Visit to a Cemetery (arrangements tba)
Reading:

Garces-Foley, 246-64
Mar 13 Discussion of Field Trip
Due: Cemetery Reflection Paper
Mar 18 The Media and Death
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Reading:

Garces-Foley, 265-82
 Michael C. Kearl, “Death in Popular Culture”
 Gary Laderman, “The Disney Way of Death”
Listening: http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=studio360/studio052805b.ra&start = (on
Disney and Death)
Mar 20 No Class –
Viewing of Die Hard , Kill Bill vol. 1 and The Barbarian Invasions (time[s] and place[s] tba)
Mar 25 Discussion of Movies
Reading:
 Geoffrey Gorer, “The Pornography of Death”
Due: Movies Reflection Paper
Part 2: Religion and Death
Mar 27
Apr 1 Spring Break
Apr 3
Apr 8
Spring Break
Islam and Death (Will & Hayes)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 147-77
Apr 10 Hinduism and Death (Dan & Josh)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 23-44
Apr 15 Christianity and Death (Collins & Mary Kate)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 93-121
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Apr 17 Buddhism and Death (Taylor & Amanda)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 69-92; http://www.npr.org/programs/death/980110.death.html
Apr 22 Native (North & South) Americans & Death (Wade & Jason)
Reading:

Garces-Foley, 3-22

Ronald Grimes, Deeply into the Bone , 273-82
Apr 24 Non-Religious Americans and Death (Becky & Matt)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 207-27
Apr 29 Judaism and Death (Ashley & Stephen)
Reading: Garces-Foley, 45-68
May 1 Santeria and Death (Blair & Chris)
Reading: TBA
Due: Funeral Webpages
Part 3: My Death
May 6
May 8
Show & Tell
Reading: David Chidester, Patterns of Transcendence, 242-50
Show & Tell
Due: Reflection paper on the topic of “My Death”
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