The History of Death

1.00 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores historical encounters with death and the beliefs, rituals, and artistic expressions humans have created to contend with mortality, from Egyptian pyramid-building and the Chinese terra-cotta army to the philosophical reckonings sparked by the Black Death in Europe and the World Wars. Students explore topics such as religious, philosophical and occult concepts of the afterlife; burial practices and human sacrifice; responses to natural disasters; epidemics and the origins of public health; murder and concepts of crime; and memorialization.