The Politics of Death: The Living, the Dead, and the State
HIST 318
Fall 2021
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENVS 318, REES 318 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
This course will explore the intersections between the living, the dead, and the state, focusing on the ways that death and the dead body raise particular questions and problems for different kinds of political regimes. The course will examine the collisions between the state and the dead, both symbolic and material, by investigating spaces where the state and death intersect in revealing ways: cemeteries, cremation, monuments, rituals, and religious institutions and cultures. The course will also follow, borrowing anthropologist Katherine Verdery's term, "the political lives of dead bodies," the ways in which states mobilize dead bodies to reconfigure the political order. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(HIST-MN)(HIST)(REES-MN)(REES-Social Sci) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Less than 50% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Ernst Kantorowicz, THE KING'S TWO BODIES: A STUDY IN MEDIEVAL POLITICAL THEOLOGY
Thomas Laqueur, THE WORK OF THE DEAD: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF MORTAL REMAINS
Adriana Petryna, LIFE EXPOSED: BIOLOGICAL CITIZENS AFTER CHERNOBYL
Katherine Verdery, THE POLITICAL LIVES OF DEAD BODIES: REBURIAL AND POSTSOCIALIST CHANGE
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Examinations and Assignments:
Short papers; Research Prospectus |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Smolkin,Victoria Times: ..T.... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: OLIN327B; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 1 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 4 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 4 |
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