ANTH 322 A: Comparative Study of Death

Overview

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience—one that is often met with fear, uncertainty, and profound emotion. It touches every life, yet remains cloaked in mystery. In this course, we approach death not only as a biological endpoint but as a deeply cultural and social phenomenon. By reflecting on death, we open space to more fully understand life—its meanings, its values, and its connections.

Together, we will explore how different societies understand and respond to death, mourning, and remembrance. Drawing from anthropology, history, literature, and the interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences, we will examine how death reveals the structures of power, identity, and resistance. We will also consider how practices around death intersect with broader themes of biopolitics and decolonization, inviting us to think critically and compassionately about the world we live in.

This asynchronous course invites thoughtful engagement, respectful dialogue, and a willingness to sit with difficult questions—recognizing that in doing so, we may find deeper insight into what it means to live.

Trigger Warning:

In this class we learn about self-harm, violence & necroviolence, blood, trauma (including intergenerational trauma and abuse), grief, and possible more situations that may affect you.

Please practice self-care before, during, and after reading or reviewing these materials.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Recognize death and dying as a complex and urgent process present within our multi-ethnic societies.
2. Examine the impact of colonialism on contemporary framings of death and dying.
3. Interpret personal attitudes about and experiences with death, grief, and cultural differences.
4. Substantiate an argument with social theories of death and dying.

Class Format and Structure

The structure of this self-paces course will remain consistent week to week. Each Monday, students will gain access to a weekly module on Canvas that includes:

• • An introductory presentation by the instructor outlining the major theme of the week.
  • Lecture materials (e.g., narrated slides, video clips, or readings) that highlight the main arguments and contributions of the assigned texts.

Students are expected to engage actively with the materials through a variety of learning activities. These may include:

• • Responding to prompts and reflection questions.
  • Creating digital collages.
  • Analyzing scenarios presented in documentaries or videos.
  • Participating in collaborative discussion boards or shared documents.

Each module will also include one field (applied) activity, designed to connect course concepts with real-world contexts. Instructions and submission guidelines for these activities will be provided in the weekly module.

Each week, students will analyze case studies or current events that illustrate key concepts from the readings. A handout or worksheet will be provided in the module to guide this analysis. Completed work should be uploaded to Canvas at by the end of the week. Because this is a self-paced course, deadlines are a reference and a way to keep up with the work. Hard deadlines will be indicated.

There is no midterm in the class, and the final exam is a non-traditional assignment. Instead of timed tests, students will write a reflection essays that encourage deeper engagement with course themes and materials.

Snakes facing one another (detail), Coatlicue, c. 1500, Mexica (Aztec), found on the SE edge of the Plaza mayor/Zocalo in Mexico City, basalt, 257 cm high (National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)