On Death and Dying: Current Controversies in Thanatology

'On Death and Dying' introduces students to this most pervasive yet under-examined aspect of social life. Students will be given the opportunity to explore death, dying and bereavement from a sociological point of view. We will explore the different and complex ways people attend to death through a guided programme that includes a study of the notion of sequestered death, the body in death, the social stratification of death, customary practices past and present including Aotearoa/New Zealand, death and medicine, good death/bad death, near death experiences, ghosts, euthanasia, suicide, the funeral profession, grief and mourning, memento mori, mass death, death and the media/popular culture.