Description
This course looks at histories of death within a framework beyond modern constrictions of corporeal presence, labor, or debt. The shared and absolute phenomenon of death, is one that can potentially gather, separate, destroy, or inspire us. We will be studying cultural and natural practices that people and surrounding ecologies have used to transition through time and space. Included within these studies are themes of intermittence, ritual, ancestry, and return, within traditions such as Buddhism, Rastafarianism, and Carib “otherworlds.” Finally, the seemingly elusive firefly serves as the guiding light of the course, demonstrating their fundamental natural truth—that decline is not disappearance. The life and death-ways of the firefly, within literary and environmental discourse, will be interrogated as potential blueprint in reconsidering our relationship to death and transition. Methods for historical analysis will include primary documents, 20th century literature, poetry, sonic li