ANTHROP 799 / Death: Rituals and Meanings in Cross-Cultural Context

3 unit(s)

(cross-listed as RELIG ST 785)

This course surveys cultural constructions of death, dying and bereavement in a variety of contemporary social contexts. A key focus of the course involves the significance ascribed to death through funerary rituals and afterlife beliefs. Drawing upon theoretical perspectives from anthropology, sociology and religious studies, the course considers death as a social process, a rite of passage, and an occasion for the creation and/or contestation of social and individual meanings.