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SOC 258
Sociololgy of Birth and Death
SOC 258 FA
Crosslistings: AMST254
Next Offered in 9899 FA
This course examines the human experience of birth and death
from various social, political, cultural, and religious
vantage points. Topics to be covered include Western and
Eastern attitudes toward birth and death; the Holocaust,
nuclear disaster, capital punishment and other deaths done
by human hands; the home birth and hospice movements in the
United States; AIDS, cancer and health activism. The course
identifies rituals created to mark birth and death and it
explores the ways both processes are uniquely individual and
profoundly social experiences.
MAJOR READINGS
Thich Nhat Hanh,1975, THE MIRACLE OF MINDFULNESS,
Boston: Beacon Press
Davis-Floyd, BIRTH AS AN AMERICAN RITE OF PASSAGE, Berkeley,
California: UCAL PRESS
Dorothy Allison, 1992, BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, New York:
Dutton
Etty Hillesum, 1981, AN INTERRUPTED LIFE, NY: Pocket Books
Richard Rubenstein, 1978, CUNNING OF HISTORY: THE HOLOCAUST
AND THE AMERICAN FUTURE, NY: Harper
Wilbert Rideau and Ron Wikberg, 1992, LIFE SENTENCES: RAGE
AND SURVIVAL BEHIND BARS, New York: Times
Audre Lorde, 1981, THE CANCER JOURNALS, CA: Spinsters Ink
May Sarton, 1978, A RECKONING, New York: Norton
Barbara Myerhoff, 1978, TO LIVE UNTIL WE SAY GOODBYE,
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ: Prentice Hall
Sogyal Rinpoche, 1993, THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING,
San Francisco: Harper Collins
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Eight two-page intellectual
reflection papers; one 20-25 page research paper;
self-evaluation; and course journal.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Active
participation in course.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting
or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the
first class, they will be dropped from the class list.
NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form
to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Lecture
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS SOC
Prerequisites:
None
Last Updated on MAR-10-1997
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459