HIST349

Description

Course Description: How have humans historically cared for the dead? And why do the dead matter? This course explores the history of death and the afterlives of the dead in funerary practices, memorials, and ritual mourning. Reading works in the field of Death Studies, students will explore the evolution of burial from churchyard to cemetery and explore religious and non-religious ceremonies for the dead. The course includes the development of corporate, industrial internment in the United States, and with finish with environmentalist approaches within the alternative death movement. Veering into the afterlives of the dead, the course explores activism and legal cases regarding the remains of indigenous and enslaved Africans in the United States and colonized peoples in American and European museums. Significant time will be spent on memorials for groups victimized by mass violence and genocide and the treatment of the marginal trans and queer dead. We will explore the use of human remains in genocide memorials and reliquaries and the forensic challenges of identifying human remains at the 9/11 Ground Zero site. Evaluation will be based on reading summaries and an iterative final research project.