Hi! My name is Heather Muir and I am a third year anthropology major at UVic. I have chosen to take this class for a number of reasons. I am taking it, as archaeology is a requirement for an anthropology degree, just getting that out of the way. I am also taking it because I have found from my scratching the surface in other classes and travels, that everything surrounding death is quite amazing.
Death seems to be part of the major aspects that make up our life, isn’t that irony for you. We do so many things to avoid death, or a certain kind of death, or to prepare for death, and the way in which humans are so protective of our dead in some cases is another thing the has peaked my interest. I have experienced studying other major aspects, pillars, of life in other anthropology classes, including extensive work in gender, sex, and sexuality, and after reading the Rus piece I am very curious how sex plays roles in funerary rites, as this is the first of my hearing about it. I am also big into art, travel, folklore and mythology and languages.
Another large interest with taking this class lies deeply in looking at mortuary monuments, art, and grave goods. When I was in Poland in 2008 for March of the Living, we went through many different cemeteries and the imagery, which later after looking up, I found, was connected with the ancient mythology of the area. I am very drawn into looking at the seam where rituals, types of inhumation, and other aspects of death connect with the mythology of the different cultures, and how it is expressed. Ethics is also another topic I am fascinated by as, since my museum work last summer it has come to light much more often, and I personally think ethics are an important aspect to contemporary anthropology.
This class seems like it is going to be so awesome, hope to learn and read some great stuff!
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