The Anthropology of Death (P00666)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : SPS-P-SAAD

Is death a universal of the human condition or a culturally bound habit of thought? Focusing on a variety of ethnographic contexts, this course attempts to explore some of the ways in which death has been (re)presented in order to be resisted or embraced. This exploration revolves around the 'discourse' of anthropology as it appears in the changing theoretical attitudes towards the ethnography of death.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of Social and Political Studies), (School of Social and Political Studies, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students are expected to gain an advanced understanding of how anthropologists have approached the question of 'death' and construed the significance of mortuary rites. They should also be able to demonstrate some of the ways in which the comparative ethnography of death is connected to key theoretical debates on a number of important anthropological concepts (eg., ritual, personhood, exchange, etc.).