Death, Burial, Vampires

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will explore death from an anthropological perspective. We will discuss mortuary ritual (including non-normative funerary treatment), the science of decomposition, spirituality and concepts of the soul and afterlife in cross-cultural perspective, and how these intersect with folkloric beliefs of vampires, zombies, and other revenants. Through reading and discussion, we will explore how the idea of the "undead" reflects our enduring fascination with--and anxieties surrounding--our own mortality.