AMSTD 591
SEMINAR:
DEATH IN AMERICA
American Studies Program, PennStateHarrisburg
Summer I, May 15-June 21 2006,
MW 6-9:10 p.m.,E265 Olmsted
Schedule No. 676693
Simon Bronner, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of American Studies & Folklore
Office Location:
W356 OlmstedBuilding
Mailing Address:
American Studies Program
PennStateHarrisburg
777 West Harrisburg Pike
Middletown, PA17057-4898
Phone and Email Contact Information:
717-948-6039 (office)
717-948-6201 (staff)
717-948-6724 (fax)
Office Hours: 3-5 p.m., M, W, and by appointment
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AMSTD 591 DEATH IN AMERICA, PROF. S. BRONNER, SUMMER 2006, PENN STATE HARRISBURG
Description
Content and Structure: This course covers death as a prominent theme of American culture and as an idea in American consciousness.The two roles of death as theme and idea are interrelated. The former emphasizes expressions in art, craft, custom, and narrative responding to death while the latter underscores the distinctiveness of ways that Americans generally think about death compared to other national societies and the variety of beliefs that reflect the diversity of cultures within the United States. After a general conceptual overview of death in relation to life, the course proceeds to outline historically discourses of death as a background to the explorations of cultural expressions, divided into (1) material culture, (2) folk culture, and (3) popular culture. In each section, students will assess the social and psychological significance of cultural expressions through symbolic and rhetorical analysis. A central focus of the class is the inquiry of the symbolization of death in American material, oral, and social cultural expressions as a distinctive response to American conditions and an enactment of a relation to life.
Objectives:By the end of the class, students will have (1) gained tools of cultural analysis on the theme of death (e.g., gravestone documentation, narrative collection, and rhetorical analysis of media), (2) comprehendedmajor American issues of death historically and culturally (e.g., modernization and individualism of death, memorialization and parody of death, sanctity of the body and the concept of hallowed ground, symbolic human-animal relationships), (3) articulated major approaches, sources, and scholarship on death as a topic of inquiry in American Studies, and (4) produced written and oral presentations involving scholarly identification and interpretation of cultural expressions on the theme of death.
Instructional Technology: The course utilizes an “Angel” web site at cms.psu.edufor classroom resources and submission by students of their required work.If you’re accessing Angel from home, a broadband connection is highly recommended.
Required Texts
Meyer, RichardE.Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. Logan: UtahStateUniversity Press, 1992. ISBN: 0874211603.
Narváez, Peter. Of Corpse: Death and Humor in Folklore and Popular Culture. Logan: UtahStateUniversity Press, 1993. ISBN: 0874215595
Thursby, Jacqueline S. Funeral Festivals in America: Rituals for the Living. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. ISBN: 0813123801
Supplementary Texts and Links
(on Angel unless otherwise indicated):
Bronner, Simon J. “Elaborating Tradition: A Pennsylvania-German Folk Artist Ministers to His Community.” In Creativity and Tradition in Folklore: New Directions, ed. Simon J. Bronner, 277-326. Logan: UtahStateUniversity Press, 1992. [distributed by handout]
______. “Inventing and Invoking Tradition in Holocaust Memorials” New Directions in Folklore 4, no. 2 (October 2000).
______. “Contesting Tradition: The Deep Play and Protest of Pigeon Shoots." Journal of American Folklore 118 (2005): 409-452
Budra, Paul Vincent. "American Justice and the First-Person Shooter." Canadian Review of American Studies 34 (2004): 1-12.
Clover, Carol J. "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film." Representations, 20 (1987), 187-228.
Deetz, James, and Edwin Dethlefsen. “Death's Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Trees: Experimental Archaeology in Colonial Cemeteries.”American Antiquity31 (1966): 502-510.
Ellis, Bill. "The Devil Worshippers at the Prom: Rumor-Panic as Therapeutic Magic." Western Folklore 49 (1990): 27-49.
Grider, Sylvia. “Spontaneous Shrines: A Modern Response to Tragedy and Disaster (Preliminary Observations Regarding the Spontaneous Shrines Following the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001).” New Directions in Folklore (5 October 2001).
Home Box Office, “Six Feet Under.” Official website. Accessed May 10, 2006.
Johnson, Merri Lisa "From Relationship Autopsy to Romantic Utopia: The Missing Discourse of Egalitarian Marriage on HBO's Six Feet Under." Discourse 26 (2004): 18-40.
Jones, Louis C. “The Ghosts of New York: An Analytical Study.”Journal of American Folklore 57 (1944): 237-254.
Jorgensen, Danny, and Scott E. Russell. “American Neopaganism: The Participants’ Social Identities.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 38 (1999): 325-38.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. “Kodak Moments, Flashbulb Memories: Reflections on 9/11.”
TDR: The Drama Review 47 (2003): 11-48
Pet’s Rest Virtual Tour. Website. Accessed May 10, 2006.
Santino, Jack. “Performance Commemoratives, the Personal, and the Public: Spontaneous Shrines, Emergent Ritual, and the Field of Folklore.”Journal of American Folklore 117 (2004): 363-372.
Tucker, Elizabeth. “Ghosts in Mirrors: Reflections of the Self.”Journal of American Folklore 118 (2005): 186-203.
White, Dennis L. “The Poetics of Horror: More than Meets the Eye.” Cinema Journal 10 (1971): 1-18.
Wikipedia, “Six Feet Under.” Accessed May 10, 2006.
Course Requirements:
Grading is determined by evaluating the student’s demonstration of scholarship and communication skills in written and oral presentations. To gain professional experience in written identification and interpretation of material, oral, and media expressions of death as part of American cultural studies, students will be required to submit:
(1) cemetery survey forms for gravemarkers of three different types or eras by June 7 (see Angel under Lessons tab, “syllabus and class information” folder), worth 35 percent of final grade. The form will be available on Angel and students will fill in the information from field collected data. Submit electronically in Drop Box on Angel.
(2)an ethnographic or media textual analysis by June 21 (see Angel under Lessons tab, “syllabus and class information folder), worth 50 percent of final grade. The ethnographic analysis can focus on an enactment of a custom (e.g., Memorial Day ceremony or funeral) or performance of oral narrative (e.g., joke, personal experience). The textual analysis can focus on pivotal movie, television show, or video game. The analysis will follow a template of questions, which should be answered with a minimum of 7 pages of text. Submit electronically in Drop Box on Angel.
For demonstration of oral presentation skills, students will be assigned a chapter of Cemeteries and Gravemarkers to evaluate for its (a) problem statement or question, (b) evidence, (c) interpretation, and (d) implication. The 5-7 minute presentations are scheduled for May 31and June 5 are worth 15 percent of the final grade. Submit outline electronically in Drop Box on Angel.
Students are required to submit work by the deadlines posted. Late work will be penalized by a drop in grade, unless excused by arrangement with instructor. In the case of extenuating circumstances or a request for a deferred grade,students should consult the instructor in advance of the deadline.
Individual assignments are given a number on a 100 point system, and the final gradeshall be reported by the following letters: A, A-, B, B+, B-, C+, C, D, or F.
Regular attendance and constructive, informed participation in class discussions by students are important to the effectiveness of the class. If the student cannot attend classes, he or she should report problems to the instructor and arrange to make up the work. Participation by students in class should not be disruptive or offensive to other class members.See university policies on attendance for more information (Senate Policy 42-27, and note the summary of policies on attendance, academic integrity, academic freedom, and access at the end of this syllabus.
Course Schedule
1. Monday, May 15
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE
DEATH AS AN AMERICAN STUDIES TOPIC
–The first session will conceptually cover the significance of death as theme and idea in American Studies and pragmatically, the requirements of the course and the course web site. The second part of the session will cover the scholarly challenge of death: unlike other subjects that can be remembered or observed, death is known in recollections of others rather than by participants. I will give an overview of American Studies scholarship on death, particularly in relation to issues of violence, religion, and memorialization. We will discuss controversies over the definition of death in America and their role in American thought and worldview.
2. Wednesday, May 17
DEATH IN LIFE, Part 1 (historical and cultural context for death)
–In this session, I give the historical and cultural context for death. First, I discuss the way that death has been historically significant in various pivotal debates in America and its comparison to developments in other societies: critique of Puritan heritage during the eighteenth century, photography of death during the Civil War and spiritualism during the nineteenth century, and during the twentieth century, euthanasia, teenage suicide, capital punishment, televising death during the Vietnam era, animal rights, and terrorism. From these examples, can we draw a national attitude toward death? Culturally, we examine death as the “end of life,” and its consequent symbolical use throughout the American life span and yearly cycle (e.g., marriage, midlife crisis, Halloween, New Year). I provide some theoretical concepts proposed to interpret the cultural context of death: structuralism(rites of passage), performance, psychoanalysis, and socioanalysis.
READING:
Thursby, Funeral Festivals, pp. 1-58.
Bronner, “Contesting Tradition,” (on Angel, Readings Folder)
3. Monday, May 22
DEATH IN LIFE, Part 2(funerary customs, beliefs, and festivals)
--Continuing the discussion of the role of death in relation to life, we look at funerary customs, beliefs, and narratives among different cultures in the United States. We examine the idea of ceremonializing death through festival and the cultural process of mourning. Historically, we look at the development of the funeral industry and how it has shaped the American way of death.
READING:
Thursby,Funeral Festivals in America, pp. 59-141.
4. Wednesday, May 24
DEATH IN MATERIAL CULTURE, Part 1 (early American heritage)
–N.B.: Meet at 6 p.m., graveyard of Saint Peter’s Kierch(Lutheran church built in 1767), Union and High Streets, in Middletown.
--We will meet first at a Lutheran graveyard featuring eighteenth and early nineteenth century gravestones to get an on-site introduction to gravestone and cemetery research and conservation. Then we will return to the classroom and get an introduction to interpretative strategies for “reading” gravestones and cemeteries, including perspectives of structuralism, seriation, cultural landscape, individualism, and modernization.
READING:
Meyer,Cemeteries and Gravemarkers, ix-6
Bronner, “Elaborating Tradition” (handout)
Deetz and Dethlefsen, “Death’s Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Trees” (on Angel, Readings Folder)
N.B. NO CLASS FOR MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCE, MAY 29
5. Wednesday, May 31
DEATH IN MATERIAL CULTURE, Part 2 (industrialization, modernization, and ethnicity)
--N.B. Meet at 6 p.m.: Middletown Cemetery, Spring Street off of Wharton Avenue, in Middletown.
--In this session, students will give presentations on chapters of Cemeteries and Gravemarkers outlining the research and interpretative strategies used. At the conclusion of the presentations we will discuss whether conclusions could be made about the cultural landscape of death in America.
READING:
Meyer, Cemeteries and Gravemarkers, 11-328.
6. Monday, June 5
DEATH IN MATERIAL CULTURE, Part 3 (21st century memorials and spontaneous shrines)
– We will continue discussion of the variety of cemeteries and gravemarkers in America, and bring the discussion into the contemporary period with discussion of several developments: humorous and individualized gravemarkers, pet cemeteries, spontaneous shrines, and memorials for tragedies.
READING:
Meyer, “Pardon Me for Not Standing,” in Of Corpse, ed. Peter Narvaez, 140-68.
Bronner, “Inventing and Invoking Tradition in Holocaust Memorials” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Santino, Jack. “Spontaneous Shrines, Emergent Rituals” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Grider, Sylvia. “Spontaneous Shrines: A Modern Response to Tragedy and Danger” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Pet’s Rest Virtual Tour (On Angel, Readings Folder)
N.B. Submit Outlines of Oral Presentations in Drop Box on Angel (Syllabus and Class Information)
7. Wednesday, June 7
DEATH IN FOLK CULTURE, Part 1 (Narrative)
–In this session we discuss the narration of death in story and song, with particular attention to the question of why people joke about a serious subject like death. Related to death humor is the belief, and sometimes play, with ghosts and angels. We talk about American ghostlore and what it says about American belief and worldview.
N.B. Gravemarker Survey Forms Due
READING:
Narvaez, Of Corpse, 1-82
Jones, “Ghosts of New York” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Tucker, “Ghosts in Mirrors” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
8. Monday, June 12
DEATH IN FOLK CULTURE, Part 2 (Customs, Holidays, and Social Identities)
–In this session, we discuss the role of holidays and festivities revolving around death in ethnic and national culture. We examine, for instance, the American fascination with Halloween, and comparisons with the Mexican “Day of the Dead.” While these celebrations are of ancient vintage, we also examine the use of death images in Memorial Day, and recent “mid-life crisis” celebrations, which emerged in the United States during the twentieth century, and the neo-pagan movement.
READING:
Narvaez, Of Corpse, 171-238, 263-93.
Ellis, “Devil Worshippers at the Prom,” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Jorgensen and Russell, “American Neo-Paganism” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
9. Wednesday, June 14
DEATH IN POPULAR CULTURE, Part 1 (Media Representations of Death in American Comedy and Horror Films)
–We make the transition from our previous discussion of participatory entertainment of festivals and holidays to the spectatorial activities of popular culture, particularly in movies. We analyze the rhetorical and symbolic use of death in comedy and horror films by looking at popular films such as Weekend at Bernie’s and Dawn of the Dead.
Narvaez, Of Corpse, 294-310
White, “Poetics of Horror Film” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Clover, “Gender in the Slasher Film” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
10. Monday, June 19
DEATH IN POPULAR CULTURE, Part 2 (Violence and Death on the Tube)
–Television is a special case within popular culture because of its intrusion into the home and the discourse that consequently arises about its effect on children and families. The question of the effect of violence, and the image of death, is particularly heated in this discourse. We examine the issues involved for American Studies by examining the representation of death in pivotal shows such as Six Feet Under and popular video games.
READING:
Wikipedia article on “Six Feet Under” (Link On Angel, Readings Folder)
Home Box Office Official Website for “Six Feet Under” (Link on Angel, Readings Folder)
Johnson, “From Relationship Autopsy to Romantic Utopia” (On Angel, Readings Folder)
Budra, “American Justice and the First-Person Shooter” (on Angel, Readings Folder)
11. Wednesday, June 21
THE FUTURE OF DEATH
--In this concluding session, we use what we have learned about the history and culture of death to consider future trends. We look at the death-related rhetoric of “mass destruction,” “terror,” “apocalypse,” “9/11,” and the “right to die.”We discuss the effect of the Internet on the image of death and the challenges of exhibiting and interpreting death in public heritage. We examine cybermemorials, death sites, and obituaries in “digital culture.” We raise the question of whether we are breaking away from past traditions and outlooks in the cyber age or if continuities are apparent in post-modern worldview.
–READING:
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “Kodak Moments, Flashbulb Memories” (on Angel, Readings Folder)
Ethnographic or Media Analysis Due
N.B. Schedule Subject to Change
Policy Statements:
Academic Integrity, Academic Freedom, Attendance, Cancellations (Weather and Instructor’s), Confidentiality, Disability Services and Accessibility
Academic Freedom
According to PennState policy HR64, “The faculty member is expected to train students to think for themselves, and to provide them access to those materials which they need if they are to think intelligently. Hence, in giving instruction upon controversial matters the faculty member is expected to be of a fair and judicial mind, and to set forth justly, without supersession or innuendo, the divergent opinions of other investigators.” See
Academic Integrity
According to PennState policy, Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an education objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. The instructor can fail a student for major infractions. For more information, see
Attendance
A student should attend every class for which the student is scheduled and should be held responsible for all work covered in the course. A student whose irregular attendance causes him or her, in the judgment of the instructor, to become deficient scholastically, may run the risk of receiving a failing grade or receiving a lower grade than the student might have secured had the student been in regular attendance. Participation by students in class should not be disruptive or offensive to other class members. See
Cancellations Due to Weather and Instructor Unavailability
When the Chancellor makes the decision to close the Harrisburg campus or delay the start of classes, the regional media will be notified at least two hours prior to the standard 8:00 a.m. reporting time for staff and before the start of the earliest scheduled class. The college will make its announcement in the following ways:
1. The college's web page at will carry a message regarding the status of classes.
2. The university's email system will also be used to notify email subscribers about the weather emergency.
3. An announcement will be placed on the college's AUDIX telephone system at the 948-6000 and 948-6029 numbers.
4. MEDIA OUTLETS OFFERING WEATHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
.RADIO / TELEVISIONWHP-AM (580) / WHP-TV 21
KISS-FM (99.3) / WLYH-TV 15
WRBT-FM (94.9) / WTMP-TV [FOX 43]
WHYL-AM (960) / WHTM-TV 27
WQXA-AM (1250) / WGAL-TV 8
WQXA-FM (105.7)
WCAT-FM (106.7)
WRKZ-FM (102.3)
WNNK-FM (104)
WITF-FM (89.5)
WLAN-AM (1390)
WLAN-FM (96.9)
WSBA-AM (910)
WARM-FM (103)
WRVV-FM (97.3)
For more information, see the weather policy web page at
In the event that the instructor is unable to hold class other than for reasons of weather, he will attempt to notify students by email in advance.
Confidentiality
The rights of students to confidentiality is of concern to your instructor and to the University. According to PennState policy AD-11, “The Pennsylvania State University collects and retains data and information about students for designated periods of time for the expressed purpose of facilitating the student's educational development. The University recognizes the privacy rights of individuals in exerting control over what information about themselves may be disclosed and, at the same time, attempts to balance that right with the institution's need for information relevant to the fulfillment of its educational missions. Student educational records are defined as records, files, documents, and other materials that contain information directly related to a student and are maintained by The Pennsylvania State University or by a person acting for the University pursuant to University, college, campus, or departmental policy. Exclusions include: