Description:
| Aims: This is an optional unit that will build on the compulsory unit, Funeral Ritual and Ceremony in that it expands the focus to a global level. This unit aims to:
* Provide students with knowledge and understanding of the main variations in funeral, memorial and final disposal practices worldwide.
* Provide students with anthropological and sociological explanations for these variations.
* Enable students to reflect on changes in funeral rites and ceremonies globally.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit students will have be able to:
* Understand variations in funeral, memorialisation and disposal practices globally
* Reflect on the usefulness of theory to funeral practice and its implications for changing ritual and ceremony in the UK.
* Reflect on the nature of global funeral rites and identify some of the major religious and spiritual belief systems that account for their variation.
Skills:
* To think creatively and analytically;
* To evaluate arguments and research;
* To reflect on research evidence as well as a variety of other information;
* To apply theory to practice;
* To synthesise information from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding;
* To relate Christianity and other religions and forms of spirituality to practice.
Content:
* Funeral rituals and ceremonies in cultural context;
* Anthropological theories of funeral rites and disposal practices;
* Diversity in disposal rituals and ceremonies;
* Diversity in memorial rituals and ceremonies;
* Significance of religious and spiritual beliefs in funeral practice and ceremonies;
* Case studies: India, Greece, Japan, Australian Aboriginal practices.
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