SF-1199 Death, Dying, & Grieving in America (settlement to 1870)
Death grabs our attention because it is inescapable, yet we rarely discuss it with others. What explains our cultural silence's reticence that our ancestors would not have approved? From the colonial period through the 1800s, diverse Americans were intimately involved with death and dying. Their communities shared ideas about the meanings of life and death, and they drew on these to ease the passing of family members, to memorialize the dead, and to soothe the bereaved. Together we will take an interdisciplinary approach to contextualizing and interpreting their ideas and death rites. Course materials include letters and diaries; poetry, fiction, and autobiographies; obituaries; the visual arts and music; and the material culture of death and memorialization.