Elephant Mourning

Many people seem to think that humans are the only animal capable of mourning the lose of a loved one. This appears to not be the case. Elephants have been studied for their cognitive abilities, dexterity, their memory, and for their emotional complexity, among other things.  

A lot of evidence has come out which shows that elephants have the capacity to mourn the death of their clan members. Not only do they show signs of bereavement, but in accordance to their prolific memories, they are also known to revisit the death site of former clan members, as well as following ritualistic practices when coming across the bones of their fellow members. National geographic has a short clip which shows several elephants finding the bones of their former matriarch. I have linked the video here. The loss of the matriarch is seen as especially traumatizing, as they hold the collective knowledge of the extended families territory.

Grieving Elephant

They show signs of mourning in a variety of ways. They have been observed staying at the body of the dead family member for several days, prodding or poking at the deceased elephant with their trunks, heads or feet or making audible cries or calls (of distress). Some will return to the site of death after the death, and have been known to return even in later years, stopping to pay their respects at the site to "pay homage" (citation). After a loved one dies, it has been observed that there can be a change in body language and personality for several days while they grieve, especially mothers when their baby dies. Calves have been known to die from grief after their mother dies.
(picture citation: http://camilaruz.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/elephant-grief.jpg)

In a recent case in Borneo, 10 pygmy elephants were found dead (likely poisoned) on a farmers field. They were found after being dead for close to three weeks. When authorities discovered the dead elephants, they also found a 3 month old calf "trying to use its trunk to nudge its mother awake". According to an article written the Digital Journal, elephants are "reportedly the only other mammals besides humans known to mourn their dead". They also attend to their sick and dying clan members.   
Poaching, environmental degradation, farming casualties, and environmental changes are taking a toll on elephants, not only in population sizes, but emotionally as well. Not only do they lose a member of their life long community but they also feel a communal, tragic loss with each death, be it from a natural death or at the hand of a human.

Elephants maintain friendships for life, and evidently after death as well.  

Sources:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/mammals-animals/elephants/elephant_african_mourning/

http://digitaljournal.com/article/342421

http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Senses/Grieving/grieving.html

Eternal Reefs, Sea Funerals

I was reading through Branwen's blog and came across her post about sea burials. I searched around the site she had posted and it actually looks pretty cool. Eternal Reefs was created after two college roommates realized the massive destruction of underwater habitats which was (and still is) prevalent off the Florida Keys coastline. Basically, Eternal Reefs objective is to create new host environment for aquatic life. They developed an environmentally friendly cement mixture which is mixed with cremation ashes and moulded into a "pearl" shaped base reef. Family members are then able to make designs, put hand prints, place shells, etc in the drying cement to leave a lasting mark for their deceased loved one. This is then placed in an assigned reef destination where it is left to stimulate reef growth. Family members are encouraged to take the 'Family Boat' to watch the placement, as well as take part in a reef ceremony for their bereaved. What I love about this form of 'burial' and, judging on peoples testimonies, other people love about this too, is that although a person(s) (or pet) has died, they are being placed in an extremely stimulating environment, which may concur with a persons afterlife beliefs, whatever they may be. I think its brilliant that they are creating habitats to encourage life, while including cremation remains; it's a nice life cycle if you ask me.

Surprisingly, this water burial is not that expensive. Of course, the remains have to have been cremated beforehand, so that has to be kept in mind, but compared to a grave plot and coffin, it isn't terrible. Prices range from $2,995 for the most modest 'Sea Oats Memorial Reef' area, to $6,995 for the larger 'Mariner Memorial Reef'. Many reefs are placed in American waters, but there is also options in Acapulco and Cancun, and it has also caught on in other places around the globe.
Hey, I've been saying for years that I want to be buried at sea. Apparently they frown upon throwing bodies into the ocean these days.. maybe this would be a good option for the future? Pretty cool. Plus, look how nice the reefs look once they are established!

Resomation- "Bio Cremation"

I just read Britney O's post on Resomation, which is a 'High Pressure Alkaline Hydrolysis' process which has the same outcome as a cremation, but is a different process entirely. In my opinion, I think this is a really innovative way to dispose of bodies, without the environmental damage that cremation causes. I read a short comparative paper which Britney had linked to her page, along with going through the Resomation website, and I think this is just so fascinating. "Bio Cremation" uses an alkaline hydrosis reaction to break down the body in a stainless steel chamber. It takes around 3-4 hours like a regular cremation does, and the finishing result is a sterile liquid solution and pristine white bones, jewellery, and any metals that were left in the body prior to the process. After this process bones are soft and are crushed up and returned to the family is the same manner as a cremation (they even encourage the use of silk or woollen containers instead of urns, but I'm sure that isn't set in stone if people would like to stick to the traditional urn). The process uses less energy and unlike a cremation, the machine does not need to be preheated. Several studies have shown that the CO2 released in this process is 1/4 of that released in a cremation. According the to paper, the liquid which is produced can be integrated in with other raw sewage with little difficulty. The process of bio-cremation was originally used for infected animals, again with little to no effects in water treatment. There is also a potential for using the liquid for making a soil nutrient used in green energy production, but it doesn't look as if this has been thoroughly tested yet. This seems to me like it could be a viable alternative to cremation, I've read several blog posts saying that people are uneasy about the bones not being in powder form when they are removed from the Resomation chamber, but in my opinion, I think that as long as people don't have to watch the bones be removed and powdered, it really is quite similar to cremation, although apparently the bones are a thinner powder and are pearly white when they are bio cremated. I suppose it really depends on how people feel about the disposal method of their loved ones. What aspects are the key factors when they decide how their body will be laid to rest. I think this is an extremely intriguing advancement and I really hope that it catches on more in the future!
(These pictures can all be linked to the Resomation website.)

"Executed today"

While writing a paper for one of my classes, I came across a resource that I instantly thought would do just fine for a blog post!.. A blog entitled "Execution Today". I really am shocked to see how many blogs there are out there, especially about death. So much information about death. http://www.executedtoday.com/ This site has a sophisticated database which allows you to either click on a calendar, or click the "random execution" button. Clicking on either of these will bring you to a page of someone executed in the past on that day.I spent some time clicking the "random" button, lord knows I love a good Russian Roulette game. The basic format of the site: Each page gives a title of the specific execution, and the name. Then goes on to give a brief back story to why they are being executed, perhaps the court case if there was one, and then the death sentence and aftermath. Some a lengthy, and some give a brief encounter, depending on how much information is circulating for that given case. Often there are pictures or videos, something to make the screen look more enticing. Below the specific case, there are links to other executions on that day in history, as well as a section for "possibly related executions" which you can also explore. An interesting thing about this site is that as a blog, you can of course leave comments or post on the page. You can also find "recent executions". Oddly enough, you can also find advertisements for links to "10 executions that defined the '90s'", or the 60's, etc. http://www.executedtoday.com/2012/01/02/10-executions-that-defined-the-1990s/ It's odd to think that you can pinpoint the "top" executions. Who gets to decide that? Is it based on how "cruel" they were? How "graphic"? If they were "political"? It seems that there is a mix. This site is SO interesting. It fits in so nicely with my love of history and historic tragedy. I spent about an hour looking through the pages.. I was planning on glancing through for only a few minutes, but I got so engrossed. I read things from across the globe and read about executions as far back as the 1400s, although I doubt that the fun stops there! I learned about the last female execution in South Africa, I learned about the execution of Nazi doctors executed after their Nuremberg Trail ended, and on and on. SO fascinating! I encourage everyone to take a look! Such fun history!! Send me links if you find something particularly "intriguing".

Monument Analysis

Over the past few weeks myself and two group members had been working on a "monument analysis" assignment which entailed doing some field work at a cemetery in Victoria. Since I LOVE cemeteries, and my group members didn't really have a strong opinion either way, I got to pick which cemetery we would use for our study. I chose the Jewish cemetery, which just happens to be my favourite cemetery in the city! It's quaint and quiet, and even though it has been in use for over 150 years, you can still walk from one end to the other in a minute. It holds a lot of history that most people wouldn't know about, and, of course, it contains my favourite headstone tucked away in the back corner which reads "Old and Grey and Full of Sleep". So simple, so brilliant.

Anyway, for this assignment we had to come up with research questions, related in some capacity to the cemetery and monuments within it, and through investigation and data assessment we were supposed to try and make preliminary conclusions for those questions. Our assignment focused on the obelisk and column shaped monuments in the cemetery, of which there were twelve in total. We asked two questions, one about the time period the monuments were popular in, and one about the number of individuals represented by a single monument. The most interesting thing for me was that based on only preliminary research we were able to come to some conclusions, which I was doubtful that we would be able to do. It turns out that there was a specific time period that was associated with our group of monuments. I was able to find published articles which backed up our findings, which I though was awesome, because it made me feel like we had actually done a proper analysis for our assignment. Our second question which related to the amount of people buried in connection to a single monument was intriguing because although we were able to come to a definitive conclusion yet again (!!), it is also possible, that if the dataset we had been working with hadn't have been so small, our conclusion may not have been so easily reached. We were able to come to the conclusion that the monuments were more characteristic of group "units" buried rather than these monuments being for single individuals, however, in my opinion these figures could be coincidences based on a handful of different factors, such as family members dying in overseas battles, or on the mainland where they could have been buried along the Gold Rush trade routes, as many Vancouver Island Jewish families in the second half of the 19th century were shop owners in mining areas (Yes, these dates go back to the West Coast Gold rush! (Cool, no?!).

But I digress,

I found the outcome of the last question to be fascinating, because it really showed that you really can't make general conclusions when it comes to research. And, yes, of course I knew that before, but it is just interesting to think that if I hadn't thought about our conclusion critically, it may have been possible to try and make a blanket statement about either other monuments in the cemetery, or even other cemeteries in the city or further! It showed me in a sense that it is important to look into the background research of studies I read or am interested in so that I don't make the mistake of making generalizations or misjudgments on future research I may be involved in. This project was definitely a good field work experience for me because it forced me to think critically and dig deeper into things (even if we only did a small amount of research), in order to make sure you are presenting the most accurate information possible. As for as school work goes, I really enjoyed that project.


Here is a picture of my FAVOURITE headstone ever.It's in the southeast corner of the cemetery near the fence! I always visit him when I go! It's exactly the type of gravestone I'd expect for myself if I do indeed end up with one.








Here is the URL to our Google map of the cemetery, if anyone is interested!

 

Cremation Tattoos

Hello again, So, I was originally going to talk about something else, but then I came across this video, and decided this would be more interesting to talk about. Video So, what this video is (for those of you who would rather read instead, here it is link ), is a new clip (from 2011) talking about the growing popularity in the US (and I assume Canada, as well) of getting tattoos with cremation ashes in them in order to literally carry a part of the commemorated loved one with you forever. This means that a small percentage of ash is mixed in with the ink, and administered into the blood stream with the dye. Despite the health adviser's cynicism in the clip, she agrees that it can be a safe process if done properly, and if there are no following complications. I wanted to check to see if this actually was a blossoming thing here in North America, and I found a few blogs where people seem to be all over it! 1 2 From what I gather, it can be totally safe as long as the ashes are sterile (one way is through the use of a "cremulator"). If they are incinerated properly (hot enough to burn off any lingering diseases or pathogens, etc) then they can be used without serious health risks. The risks that remain are the same as those with any tattoo: rejection by the body to the foreign substance, which can result in complications in the healing process. The blogs I looked at mentioned cremated pets as frequently as humans. As far as the blogs have concluded, people have, and continue to get pets ink on them as well. Some states have restrictions on this kind of procedure, but many states will allow it, as long as the process is done in a safe, sterile matter. It can be hard, judging again, from the blogs, to find a tattoo artist who will do this kind of procedure, but they can be found!! What do you think, are you going to be getting your beloved pet tattooed IN to you forever?

Jewish Cemetery Google Map

Hello!

Kelsey, Steve and I created a Google map of the Victoria, B.C. Jewish cemetery. Check it out!



View Jewish Cemetery Assignment in a larger map

Grave goods

Grave goods..

What goodies would I take with me to my grave? This is a hard one I suppose since I don't really have any hobbies. Or talents to show for. I guess I couldn't bring a piece of sports equipment or an instrument or a chefs hat, or a microphone or.. well you get the point. My talents are slim. But I suppose the things I do love, I love a lot. Unfortunately, the 'things' I love the most are still actively breathing (thankfully), so I think I'll have to be symbolic, if not to be morbid.
Well, anyone I'm close with would most likely give you similar answers to the ones I put out here, perhaps in the next blog post I'll ask a roommate or a family member.

What would I bring?...

I suppose each thing should implicate what we'd like to share with those digging up my grave, although the things I'm bringing will not all last the testament of time, as well, some may not be so straight forward, but nothing in archaeology is straight forward, so why not join the bandwagon?

1. I'd bring my brothers. ...Or at least a photo of us, they are my best friends and my older brothers and I love them to death (...literally)
2. I'd need a cat with me.. but since I'm not yet a crazy cat lady, (although perhaps I would be by this point..) I guess I could bring something that expresses my crazy cat lady tenancies, such as my bedazzled cat sweater, instead of forcing a cat into a grave with me. or one of my cat cups.. I have mugs with cats on them that I am very fond of (although I don't have any pictures of them.. .. how cool is my sweater?

3. Earrings. I must have earrings. I don't wear very much jewellery, but I fell naked without earrings. I'd insist upon my wire earrings with the green/brown stones. My brother bought them for me in Nicaragua (my favourite place that I have travelled to) and they just remind me of such fun times when we travelled around the country.. oh, how I love to travel. All of my friends could recognize my earrings instantly, what better to have in my grave then something so personal?
4. A deck of cards.. or two. I LOVE to play cards. I could play for hours and hours and hours and be perfectly content. I'll pretty much play until my opponent begs me to stop. Also a great way to pass the time while travelling.
5. A map of the earth. I love maps. I love knowing where things are. I like maps. I have them all over my walls. I also love atlases.. perhaps one of those would be better.. perhaps an atlas would be best. there are more maps within an atlas.. although I could rap myself in a large map of the world and be all comfy and warm.
6. Mittens! I have horrific circulations and I ALWAYS have mittens with me. How could I break pattern when I'm stuck in the damp ground for eternity. I will definitely need mittens!!

Well, I suppose this blog makes me seem a little bit more crazy than sentimental.. but, that's just who I am, I suppose. I will try and ask my friends what they think would suit me. Hopefully with similar, or more interesting results!

Until next time!

Body Disposal Methods

So, as I started getting ideas for this week's blog, the first thing that I typed into google was "disposal methods for dead bodies".. I quickly added "in different cultures" as the sinking sensation set in that the internet is watching me, and would inevitably assume that I am trying to 'dispose of a dead body' in the most effective way possible. Yeesh...

I just read through the post of another 'blogger's blog. Who knew so many people wrote blogs for fun?.. This blog basically covered the question I was proposing to answer. Based on Erin's suggestion I am looking at cross cultural body disposal methods. Before I get to that, I suppose it doesn't hurt to mention that for years I have always thought about the predicament of what to do with the cumbersome thing that is my body once I've kicked the bucket. As mentioned at length in my post last week, traditionally, if I were to follow Jewish tradition I would be buried in a Jewish cemetery, in a box, in the ground. Which is all good and well, although, my real predicament is that I have a huge problem with cemeteries. Oddly, I LOVE cemeteries. I enjoy the history and the beauty and the morbidity of a concentrated site of decayed and decaying bodies underfoot. What could be better? In all seriousness though, I really do love cemeteries, but, the problem lies in that I DO NOT want to be buried in one. I think they are a horrible use of space and I don't agree with the process and necessary social status that seem to go along with them. I can appreciate the irony of stating that on a blog for an archaeology of death class, I really can. I am fascinated by cemeteries, and the historic significance and processes yet I'm troubled by the practices that take place before a person is dropped in the ground and left there, to hopefully sit still for a while. My problem is more so with the price that we (North Americans(?)) put on funerary processes these days. It is SO expensive to get rid of your dead these days. Thousands of dollars are spent on the plot, and the suit, and the chemicals used to 'pickle' a body for an open casket, and the headstone, the funeral service.. and on and on. It just seems like a formidable process for a dead person. Don't get me wrong, I respect the dead, and the loss that people are faced with, but burying a person should not come with such costs. It seems unfair that most of society wouldn't be able to give an equal burial to their loved ones because of the burdensome fees that go along with them. Cremation, although a cheaper alternative, can still cost on average (according the the posted blog) $5000 in the United states, compared to $8500 for a regular cemetery burial. By God!

Ironically, I've been pretty set on the idea of a fisherman's burial (I hear the logistics of this are not in my favour nowadays), although I am TERRIFIED of the ocean, and as you know, I love cemeteries, but don't want to be buried in one. So strange. I am definitely open to suggestions for other burial ideas!

Some of my favourites, luckily also found on that blog include the Viking burial, as well as being eaten by wild animals (I for sure would be open to that). I also thing the ideas of "plastination", where they remove your bodily fluids and replace them with plastic, to be intriguing-- although not for my own body. I feel like I would come out more scary than sincere. My feelings are similar for taxidermy, the idea seems nonsensical and goofy to me, but I think it should be an option. We so readily stuff all of the other animals in our kingdom, may as well follow suite.
I am a huge fan as well of sky burials practised in some N.A. indigenous groups, as well as in parts of Asia, to name a few.
The idea of cannibalism, both endo- and exo- strike me as particularly clever as well, if I could handle being eaten by vultures or wild pigs, I'm sure I'd feel alright with humans doing the same.. as long as I was not killed for the express purpose of someones eating pleasure.
I love the option that Erin linked in her blog prompt found here. Decomposing mushrooms seems like a stellar idea, and cleansing as well! Although it seems a little more complicated that I anticipated. I am all for natural decomposition (as she is trying to provide). Birds, bugs, fungi, carnivores.. hopefully by the time I die I can donate my good organs and be disposed of in as ecologically friendly way possible.. I suppose while abiding federal restrictions.. 
Here's to hoping!!!

Photo of one of the last stages of a Tibetan sky burial. This is super cool. If you have the stomach to see a bunch of graphic photos, here is a pretty cool site here. It is also the link for this picture. 

Jewish Funerals

Alright, well I was just reading up on endocannibalism, in the spirit of our upcoming group assignments when I figured I'd take a look at a few blogs to get my writing juices going. The first one I came across, Peter Raskovsky's blog, sent me in an entire different direction than I intended to go in this week. But, there is always time for endocannibalism to follow, yes?

So, Peter's blog post described his experience at a Jewish Funeral, his impressions and his feelings after attending his wife's relatives traditional service, of course in much more detail and passion than I am relaying here. His heartfelt entry got me thinking..

I'm Jewish. I've been to a lot of funerals in my day (shocking as I am only a youngin', but I suppose everyone dies at one point or another, and there are so many Bubbies and Zaydes in Calgary. Gevalt..) What his post made me realize as he made several comments between the similarities and differences between other funerals he had been to with these new (for him) Jewish customs, I stopped and realized how us Jews do do things quite differently, although I never really give that much thought..

I think in this post I'm going to lay out the basics of Jewish funerary customs. As with everything else in Jewish traditions, someones death is never an isolated event. For the week following a persons death, there is a constant array of traditions and reminders and services and processes that have to be followed according to Jewish customs and traditions. (I consulted the Jewish Federation of  North America to make sure I wasn't too rusty on my traditions!

Leading up to the burial:
Bodies are supposed to be buried hastily, as soon as possible within the first seven days, although burials are not to be done on Shabbat (Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown) or on Jewish holidays. Funerals are never open casket and cremations are not acceptable in Jewish traditions. It's also not kosher to be buried in a Jewish cemetery with tattoos. Of course, the Holocaust resurfaced huge taboos about both cremation and tattoos. --Although restrictions aren't so staunch anymore as there are more reform and secular congregations. Traditionally, the deceased is dressed in simple a white garb to negate the idea of "status". Between the time when a person dies and the time the person is buried, Jewish law dictates that they should not be left unattended. A person "shemira" (the guardian), either a family member, friend or community member is to be present to guard the dead and honour them until after they are left in their final resting place.

At the actual funeral it is customary for mourners to fill in the graves themselves. Starting with the family members throwing handfuls of dirt into the grave, followed by the other mourners and eventually the grave is filled in with shovels by the mourners. The Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) is the most sombre Jewish prayer. This is recited and the service concludes.

Of course, as us Jews are wont to do, all of our gatherings; happy or sad, involves food.. and lots of it. For seven nights people "sit Shiva", the traditional mourning period; usually at the bereaved family's home. In lieu of flowers, people bring food, which is both served to those who have come to pay their respects, as well as food cooked for the family members.After the seven days of mourning are over, family members may choose to visit synagogue say the Kaddish once or twice a day for up to a year when the full symbolic mourning period ends.

Around the 6 month mark, the head stone or marker is put on the grave with an 'unvailing' service at the cemetery. Once this is done, pebbles are generally place on/ left on the grave in order to pay respect to that person. Generally, a rock is added every time you visit the grave. (When I have time, I like to walk around cemeteries and look at names and dates. I like to leave stones on the old graves when it seems that no one has visited them in a while!)

I guess I never really realized until thinking about it how many rules and traditions there are in the Jewish funerary processes. Keep in mind, what I described only scratches the surface of the process that is gone through for the deceased. It's a rather complicated process for a dead person, if you ask me.. but, who am I to poo-poo tradition?!

Speaking of traditions, here is the Victoria Jewish Cemetery circa 1900, just so so pretty there!

(Fun fact, the Victoria Jewish Cemetery is the oldest cemetery still in use today in Western Canada!)

If anyone has other funerary traditions from their communities that they would like to share with me, please do! 

Well, I'm slightly confused about this http://brian-mountainman.blogspot.ca/2010/11/sacred-stones-and-madagascar.html blog and response, but I will give a  go at a response of my own.
In his blog post, Brian John critiques the analogy and thoughts of a Malagasy Anthropologist Ramilisonina. Now, again, correct me if I'm wrong, but the issue brought up by Brian John is the analogy created by Ramilisonina between prehistoric stone and wood formations found in Southern England (Bluestonehenge, and Woodhenge) and rock monuments created for the deceased in Madagascar. I believe that John has an issue with the assumptions and the forced parallels that he feels Ramilisonina has made. In my opinion, I would have to err on the side of caution, and agree that it is far fetched to make analogies as Ramilisonina has done. However, it is only an analogy, and he is not stating that there is deep-rooted relationship between the ritualistic practices of the two areas. He has not suggested that the two areas must have come in contact at some point, with one taking a practice from one or the others. The "Father of Anthropology"Claude Levi Strauss looked at the cross-cultural similarities that show up throughout various cultures, who realistically had never come into contact either physically or through diffusion. In archaeology people are forced sometimes to make suggestions and inferences in order to make logical conclusions which can be backed by scientific evidence. The problem, as we all should know is that a lot of archaeology can only be inferred upon to a certain extent due to the lack of historical information on those people. Sometimes all we can do is pull ideas from other peoples habits and cultures in order to try and make sense of things we may not necessarily understand. In the case of Stonehenge, we don't know for sure why such elaborate structures were made, it could basically be for any of an infinite amount of reasons, although some may be more logical than others-- but again, we can't assume that they are 100% correct.
I think it is illogical to create an analogy between the two sites being dealt with here, but again, I can understand why it has been done. Archaeology thrives of theories that need to either be disproved or proved, which means that until something is definitively proved, it may be easy to find 'evidence' to back a theory. I recognize that this is a little bit of a tangent in a different direction from the original analogy question being asked here, but I figured it may be fun to play devils advocate for a moment as everyone seemed to have picked the same side on these blogs. I think it's logical that since Ramilisonina and MPP have been working in these two areas which have a similar undertone to them, it could eventually lead to them having an opinion that there are certain similarities across these cultures.
One more thing, something that really got to me in the interview was the definitive language used; for example: Stonehenge "was a sacred place where people came to make contact with the creator gods and the spirits of their ancestors." As far as I've heard, that hasn't been concluded. It states that that is 'in his opinion' but still, something that people should be cautious and conscious of.    
Right, okay, this ended up making less sense than I wanted to. Apologies, apologies.    

Hello! My name is Jenny and I am in my third year. I am an Anthropology major and a history minor. I am interested in this course because I am fascinated by the idea of wars and conflict and death from both an anthropological and historical point of view. I was never the kid that read Harry Potter, but rather, was submerged in autobiographies of the the Holocaust and other wartime stories from Vietnam, etc. The affects, both during and after wars and natural disasters, on people have always peaked my interest as well. For my history minor, I have focused on war history, which of course encompasses the tragedy of bi-standard casualties and front line casualties -- thus are the realities of war. I am also strangely overly fascinated with cemeteries, and have spent more time than I would like to admit wandering around in them looking at headstones and reading peoples inscriptions.
As of now I have no clue what post-undergrad life looks like for me, but I imagine it will involve grad school, as both fields I've chosen to study seem to require grad school these days in order to pursue them. I spent the year after high school travelling, and of course, now can't get enough of it and take off whenever I have a chance --hopefully I can get in some more time before I commit to another degree.
What I would like to get out of this course is a more widespread and complex understanding of different death/burial/memorial and remembrance practices preformed around the world and over the course of history.