CONN 430 | The Politics of Living and Dying

What does it mean to live and die well, and who determines when life begins or ends? The class will discuss and theorize these questions through several case studies including reproductive justice and abortion, the right to die, mass incarceration, and climate change and non-human life. The class explores theoretical concepts such as slow death, vulnerability, value, autonomy, choice, dignity and quality of life to understand the deeply political nature of life and death. It examines how economic logics govern the lives and deaths of humans and non-humans with attention to race, gender, species, ability, and sexuality. The class approaches these topics using perspectives from many different fields such as religious studies, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, critical race studies, and feminist and queer theory. Students will work on a specific project throughout the semester. Previous examples of topics have included Buddhism and animal life, Hart Island in NYC, the death penalty, and the history of Eugenics.