Spring 2000: ASC 183 Issues of Mortality in Cultural Context

(DEATH AND DYING)

Dr. Christian Perring	E-mail: cperring@bigfoot.com
Office Room: 330 A Racanelli Center	Class Room:
Office Hours: T 4.30-5.30 PM	Class Hours: T 530-810PM
Office Phone: 631-244-3349	Class Home Page: https://www.angelfire.com/ms/perring/asc183.html

Course Links

• Key Terms and Concepts from The Last Dance Chapters 1-14
• Links to Other Death and Dying Sites and Books

Books:
 

The Last Dance, Fifth Edition

Dying, Death, and Bereavement

For guidelines about my policies concerning written work, late work, make-ups, grading policy, and some terminology, see my guidelines page.

Resources.

• The two books assigned for this class are packed full of information. You should do the reading ahead of class – see the schedule below to find what the assigned readings are for each class. There will be regular tests on the information in the reading (especially from The Last Dance), and we will not have time to go over all that information in class. The books contain a great deal of information that will be useful for your presentations and research papers.
• You will need to know how to use the World Wide Web. You can access the web from both the Dowling College Library and the Computer Center. Let me know if you have difficulty with the Internet, so we can sort through any problems you face. You should check the class web page regularly, since I will update the information there often, and I will include links to relevant sites on the web as we go through the semester. Information from student presentations will also be put on the class web site.
• You should use the Dowling College Library to find books relevant to your presentation and research paper. You should plan ahead of time, so that if you need a book that the Library does not possess, it can be ordered through Inter Library Loan. The Library staff will be very helpful to you if you explain to them the kind of information you are seeking.
• The class web site contains links to relevant books listed at Amazon.com. Their listings provide some useful information, and sometimes their search engines are helpful. If you are so inclined, you can purchase the books listed (either through Amazon.com or any other book seller).
• Local communities and businesses. It may be very helpful for you to interview local people for your research, especially if you are working on an issue related to Long Island. For example, one of the Presentation Topics is on hospice care on Long Island. For this, it would be a very good idea to telephone around some local hospices and find someone willing to talk to you about their guiding philosophy, their charges, and maybe even to show you round a hospice so that you can report your experience to the class.
• Your own personal experience. You will probably have experience related to mortality, either through the death of a friend or family member, through your job or volunteer work, or through serious illness you have undergone. I encourage you to reflect on this experience and discuss its relevance to our studies with the class.

 

Grading

% of grade	Work
10%	Attendance: You are allowed to miss one class without excuse. For each extra class you miss without documented excuse, you lose 2%. This grade can go into the negative!
4%	Class participation. You should be an active member of class, doing the reading ahead of time, contributing to class discussions, and letting me know if you do not understand so I can explain ideas further.
6%	Journals. 6, approximately one every two weeks. These should be about 300-500 words, discussing your concerns about the class, ideas and questions that occur to you in class that you don’t have the opportunity to raise, personal reflections on the issues we discuss, or any other feedback relevant to the class. They can be handwritten, typed, or e-mailed to me.
10%	Presentation. 10-15 minute presentation on a topic relevant to the class, related to your paper topic. It is a good idea to use visual aids, such as videos, Powerpoint, or posters.  See the form that I use to evaluate your presentation. Your presentation can, and probably should, be related to your paper topic.    If you are comfortable doing your presentation with another person in the class, you can do a presentation together, getting the same grade.  Joint presentations should be 20-30 minutes: their write-ups should be 2000-3000 words.
10 %	Presentation Write-Up.  After giving your presentation, you also need to write it up and submit it to me on disk or by e-mail.  You need to submit it within a week of giving it.  It should be about 1000-1500 words.  Your write-up should include The main points of your presentation Important facts or statistics related to your presentation. A summary of the feedback you got on your presentation Your reaction and response to the feedback. A complete list of your sources of information (books, articles, web sites)
25%	5 Take Home Tests: Short answer and multiple choice
10%	Paper- Draft. (2000-2500 words, ~8-10 pages). Must include bibliography and detailed references.  Your paper can use information from your presentation, but it is essential that it go beyond a summary of information.  Your paper must discuss some aspect of the meaning of death in our society, so it must be reflective and thoughtful.
25%	Paper - Final version. (3000-4000 words, ~12-16 pages).   Must include bibliography and detailed references.

Week	Topic	Presentation	Work to be done	Reading
Feb 1	Introduction	Outline of course.	Personal Information Sheet to be completed, give preferences for focuses of course.
Feb 8	Grief and Preparing for Death		Listen to selections from The Disappearance on the This American Life website.  "Where Words Fail," November 5, 1999, Episode 144.  Real Audio	LD Ch 7 & 11; DDB 2
Feb 15	The Funeral Industry	Representative of Branch Funeral Home will talk to the class.	Test 1 given out	LD Ch 8; DDB 5, 27, 32
Feb 29	Organ Transplants and the Definition of Death	Organ Transplants and the Definition of Death: Visiting Speaker	Journal Due, Test 1 Due	LD Ch 5, pp 172-4, Ch 6, pp 211-220, Ch 9, pp 317-320; DDB 8
Mar 7	How We Think About Death	Michael Kozlowsky: Death in the Media	Test 2 due; Training on using Internet Resources	LD chs 1 & 3; DDB 2
Mar 14	Youth and Death: Psychotherapy	Kristine Gartner: Teenagers and Death Marriellen Mattei: Young Children and Death Kristy Sciortino: Grief Counselors	Journal due	LD Ch 10; DDB 9, 10, 31, 33
Mar 21	Science and the Afterlife; Death in Other Cultures	Patricia Arenas: Evidence for Life After Death Michael Capobianco: Egyptian Pyramids Dave Muse: Death and Mourning in Other Cultures	Test 3 due	LD Ch 2 & 14; DDB 15, 29
Mar 28	The Right to Refuse Life-Saving Treatment; Ending One's Own Life	Patrick Consalvas: Assisted Suicide in NY: Legal Issues Rebecca Goldstein: Dr Jack Kevorkian: Hero or Villain? Maureen Heller: Self-Help in Avoiding Suicide Karen Walters: Suicide Prevention: How to Help Others	Must finalize paper topic; Journal due	LD Ch 5, Ch 6, pp 191-211; DDB 4, 11, 14, 25
Apr 4	Suicide	Jean McGrath: Is Suicide Ever Rational? Tania Nagel: Hospitalizing the Suicidal: Legal and Ethical Issues Janeen Poska: Suicide Education in Schools and College Melissa Reynolds: Mass Suicide	Test 4 due; Journal due	LD Ch 9 pp 307-317, Ch 12; DDB 13, 17, 18, 26
Apr 11	Other Cultures; Cemeteries	John Kent: Death and Mourning in Japanese Culture Sabrina Stow: Cemeteries on Long Island Joanne Troyansky: Death and Mourning in Jewish Culture	Paper Draft Due	DDB 3, 30
Apr 18	Violence and the Death Penalty	Randy Russelewicz: The History of the Death Penalty	Journal due Drafts returned with suggestions for revision	LD Ch 13
May 2	End of Life Care	Noreen Ryan: Nursing Homes and Hospices	Test 5 due	LD Ch 4; DDB 16, 18, 20
May 9			Journal due Final paper due

Schedules and Information from Previous Classes of ASC 183