This course explores selected religious rituals and practices associated with death and mourning, with particular attention to the human body as a locus of sacrality and dread, redemption and contamination, and the repository of individual and collective memory. We will consider historical as well as contemporary responses to death in differing socio-cultural contexts and religious traditions, thus, issues of race, class, and gender will be woven throughout our discussions. Students are required to choose an area for individual research.