Five UM-Dearborn faculty members will lecture on “Graveyards, Gravestones and Images of Death” in a five-week series of talks opening at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
All of the lectures will be presented in Room 1040 in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters Building on the UM-Dearborn campus, 4901 Evergreen Road. The lectures are free and open to members of the community.
Ron Stockton visits Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit with his 11-year-old granddaughter, Sarah Stockton, and UM-Dearborn student Shahad Atiya. Photo courtesy UM-Dearborn.
Stockton first became interested in the topic when he surveyed a graveyard in southern Illinois where his relatives have been buried since the mid-1800s. In the process, he discovered some historically significant trends in the population in the region, and wrote a scholarly article called “Death on the Frontier.”
“We offered this lecture series just once before, about five years ago,” says Ronald Stockton, professor of political science, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, who organized the series. “It was very popular with the public as well as with students.”
On Wednesday, Elaine Clark, professor of history, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, will speak on “Death and Dying in Pre-Modern Europe.” On May 19 Jacqueline Vansant, professor of German, Department of Language, Culture, and Communications, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, speaks on “The Vienna Way of Death.” On May 26 Randal Woodland, associate professor of composition and rhetoric, Department of Language, Culture, and Communications, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, speaks on “The New Orleans Way of Death.”
The series continues June 2 with Gerald Moran, professor of history, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, on “The Puritan Way of Death.” Stockton will speak June 9 on “Gravestones Around the World.”
Enrolled students can receive one credit hour for attending the lectures, completing readings and writing a paper for the course. Students also will participate in a tour of some local graveyards.
