HW 55 - Culminating Project - Care of the Dead

Transform your understanding from interviews, speakers, class discussion, books, independent research, and film into an active project that meaningfully contributes to our collective social practices.

Choice 1: Organize a personal experience around this topic and write a narrative/make a film of your experience. Post it on your blog - ideally with uploads of photos and/or video. If you make a film it needs to be less than 5 minutes long and well-edited and include at least a paragraph or two of written analysis. Possibilities - attend a funeral, be present for an embalming, write up your family members' death plans, etc.

Choice 2: Create an advocacy campaign, either alone or working with an existing group (or one you form), that creates change in dominant social practices around the care of the dead.

• Identify your desired change
• stakeholders in that issue
• means of communicating persuasive ideas/stories/information
• do the change effort
• and evaluate using at least 2 follow-up surveys or interviews

Post a short summary of your work and its effects on your blog (2-3 paragraphs, ideally with uploads of flyers, photos, letters, etc.).

Choice 3: Write a 2-5 page essay that assembles powerful evidence to analyze a particular aspect of the dominant social practices around the care of the dead. Post it on your blog with an MLA works cited section. Some possibilities - Natural Burial around NYC, Relevant State & Local Regulations around Home Funerals in NYC, Pricing Death Care in NYC, Theological Perspectives on Resurrection versus Spirits in the Sky, Are Dead Bodies Dangerous?, etc.

Due Monday May 16 at 7pm.