Write a paper outlining how people’s beliefs about death and dying can be influenced by their religion.

Building on our work together in these first few weeks of the semester (e.g., Atran, Paul the Apostle), we want to continue to hone our self-reflective and critical perspectives on what constitutes fuzzy signifiers like “religion,” “death,” etc. One way we have started to approach this task is by looking at examples from what is often Write a paper outlining how people’s beliefs about death and dying can be influenced by their religion.called material culture (artifacts,archaeology. Another way is for us to look closely at practices.Tell me what comes to mind for this project when you picture an “ideal” funeral, burial, or other commemoration. How do you treat the body/corpse? Are there others there? What kinds of activities take place? What kind of imagery is invoked or displayed? What discourse is present about where the deceased is now or is going? Cite our sources to this point in the semester to engage the topic.

Each paper should be approximately 1-2 pp. long, double-spaced, 1-1.25 inch margins and in 12 point font. I recommend Times New Roman. It should be no less than 500 words in order to adequately address the readings and the ideas you pose. Quotations from the readings will not count toward this final word total. Be sure to put your name and the date at the top of your paper.
STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS
In general, you should view these response papers as short essays that must conform to the stylistic and academic rules of any other kind of formal writing. This includes avoiding spelling mistakes, improper grammar, SMS language (“textese”) and, most importantly, plagiarism. If you feel tempted to plagiarize, it is likely a sign that you have not read carefully enough or given yourself enough time to finish the assignment, in which case I recommend you come to talk to me about your approach to the material.
Be sure to cite your sources correctly. If you are quoting directly from a reading, please cite the source and page number parenthetically. For example:
In “Class,” Tim Whitmarsh states that “Daphnis and Chloe’s emphasis on education… fits into a wider strategy of exploring the relationship between city and country, between rich and poor.” (Whitmarsh 2008: 79).
You may also find it helpful to cite the source and page number from which you derive a general point about a reading or readings. For example:
Kathy Gaca clarifies that, in Plato’s judgment, men in sexual relationships with other men are not succumbing to eros speciously; rather, their bonds tend to produce metaphorical children such as poetry, philosophy and law. (Gaca 2003: 29-30).
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Ideally, your response papers will manage to engage all of the readings for a given class session; however, it is okay if you choose to focus in on one reading or aspect of an argument. My one caution with this approach is that, if your response paper raises a point that is somehow addressed or answered in another one of our readings that day (and, therefore, indicates that you wrote your paper before finishing all of the reading), you may find that you receive a lower “grade” (e.g., a Ö rather than a Ö+).

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