UWC5035 - Birth, Marriage, Death: The Life cycle in Historical and Anthropological Perspective 2024/25 Fall

All societies mark the important the life changes of birth, adulthood, marriage, old age, and death. Such passages affect not only the individual involved, but also others who are related to them by birth and marriage as well as though wider community networks. Historical sources are a rich record of the life passages of people in the past; anthropological approaches applied to historical sources and present societies can illuminate these materials in a broader context. Comparing cross-cultural examples with historical sources provides a wide range of variations in the ways different societies define and conceptualize personhood, kinship, gender and transitions in personal status. Such examples also apply to topics like spirituality and religious beliefs of the society at large. The classes will be organized in pairs and follow the chronological sequence of the human life cycle: birth, childhood and adolescence, marriage, old age and retirement, and finally, death and remembrance. The first session of the pairs will discuss the views of anthropology through examples selected from societies worldwide, the second will analyze written, visual and archaeological sources and artworks connected to the major turning points and stages of human life. The course will be complemented by an introductory session and a visit to the WeltMuseum Wien,

The goals of the course

The goal of this course, co-taught by a cultural anthropologist and a historian, is to familiarize students with basic concepts and methodology of social and cultural history, social anthropology, and demography through the examination of the expressions of the human life cycle. A further aim is to develop familiarity with special types of historical sources relevant to the issues discussed and to make students aware of the broader cultural contexts of and attitudes to the stages and turning points of human life. The course is organized as a series of seminars with faculty and student presentations and discussions based on the presentations and the readings of secondary literature.