Death and Dying
1. What factors have contributed to changes in death customs from the nineteenth to the twentieth century?
Trace the changing causes of death in 1900 through today, paying particular attention to the effects of the “epidemiologic transition.”
Explain the ways in which language and humor can be used to distance people from the reality of death.
Identify three kinds of “death talk” and explain the function of each using specific examples.
How do television portrayals of violent death reflect the “mean world” syndrome, e.g., terrorist attacks in public places or depictions of other violent crimes?
What effects do these portrayals have on our feelings of safety and security in our own places of shopping and residence?
What reasons can you come up with for studying death and dying, using both the discussion in the text and your personal life experience?
2. In your own words, describe the four major characteristics of a mature concept of death? Why is each of these important to a “mature” understanding of death?
Explain Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development in terms of the issues most relevant to children at different times in their lives.
Describe Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development and explain how each stage relates to a particular way of understanding death.
Give some examples of how early experiences with death can shape an individual’s later view of death.
Evaluate death education for children and suggest at least three ways of introducing children to the topic of death.
Discuss how subcultural differences in death customs can be comforting or anxiety producing.
3. Compare four different mythological explanations of how death came to be.
Develop a brief historical summary based on Ariès’ work concerning the ways death has been viewed for the past thousand years or so in the Western world.
Compare the views of death in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries with those of today.
Explain the meanings of the LoDagaa death ceremonies including the practices surrounding mourning restraints and the mourning companion. Compare the LoDagaa rituals with European or North American rituals.
Analyze the apparent ambivalence of Mexican attitudes toward death as revealed in customs surrounding the Day of the Dead. What does humor reveal about Mexican attitudes toward death during the holiday?
Compare Chinese and Japanese traditions and celebrations designed to show respect and care for dead relatives.
4. Contrast traditional methods of defining death with newer definitions.
Identify Robert Veatch’s four approaches to defining and determining death. Which do you find most helpful and least helpful? Explain your response.
Design your own proposal for defining and determining death, pointing out its strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to state who should be involved in making a determination of death.
Compare and contrast the Uniform Determination of Death Act proposed by the President’s Commission with earlier proposals for determining death. Do you think the Commission’s proposal is an improvement? Why or why not?
Construct two arguments, one in favor of organ transplantation in treating end-stage organ failure and the other against.
Why is a clear and widely accepted definition of death and process for determining death important for organ transplantation? How does the ability to transplant organs complicate our understanding of “death”?
Each set of questions need to be a half of page.
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