HIST 583 - The History of Death and Dying: [subtitle]

Credit(s): 4
Lecture: 4
Non-Lecture: 0

Everyone dies, but dying too has a history-a history that reflects and recreates culture. Although death is universal, the way in which it is thought of, experienced, and dealt with, varies in time and place. And precisely because death is universal, constant, and intimate, death offers an ideal foothold from which to view history in motion. This course will introduce some of the innovative ways in which recent scholarship has breathed new life into the subject of death and dying and transformed conventional views of history and history writing. It showcases, in particular, the methodologies and tools that researchers have developed to transcend Eurocentric paradigms, access the interior lives of ordinary people, and combine the exceptional with the everyday. Depending on the instructor’s areas of expertise, the course may gravitate toward certain time periods, geographical areas, and subthemes. Not on a Regular Basis