Death: A Beginner’s Guide will be held at Grenfell Campus Sept. 22-24.
This initiative, which is being organized by the humanities and psychology programs at Grenfell, will bring together a number of artists, professionals, scholars and community members in an interdisciplinary conference. The conference will explore cultural and artistic portrayals of death, thoughts about grief and mortality, and the health, business, and legal implications of death in Western society.
“All members of the community are welcome to attend any sessions that may be of interest,” said Dr. David Peddle, head of the Division of Arts and professor of humanities.
The conference will include an evening of entertainment at the GCSU Backlot student pub on Thursday, a Friday afternoon session of presentations followed by a reception in Ferriss Hodgett Library, and a full day of panel discussions and presentations on Saturday. Lunch will be provided on Saturday. A full program follows this release.
“We hope to provide a wide range of theoretical and practical discussion of this profound subject,” said Dr. Jennifer Buckle of Grenfell’s psychology program.
The conference is supported by the Grenfell Campus Research Office.
For more information on the conference, contact David Peddle at dpeddle@grenfell.mun.ca or Jennifer Buckle at jlbuckle@grenfell.mun.ca.
Death: A Beginner’s Guide
Sept. 22-24, 2011
A Joint Presentation of Grenfell Campus’ Humanities and Psychology Programs
Thursday, Sept. 22 – GCSU BACKLOT
8-10 p.m. OPEN MIC NIGHT Songs, poetry, skits around the theme of death
Friday, Sept. 23 – FERRISS HODGETT LIBRARY
4:30-6 p.m. Representing Death
- Maggie Atkinson, Jewelry and Death Culture: Heirlooms, Symbolism, and Metaphor
- Barb Hunt, Eating Lace: Art as a Mourning Ritual
- David Morrish, Sleeping Beauties: 19th Century Post Mortem Portraits of Children
6-7:30 p.m. Reception
Saturday, Sept. 24 - FC 2014
10-11 a.m. Reflections on Death I
- Ken Jacobsen, "Then have I reason to be fond of grief": Grief, Remembrance, and Transformation in Shakespeare
- Jennifer Buckle, Parenting and Grieving: Rebuilding a Shattered Assumptive World after the Death of a Child
11-11:30 a.m. Nutrition break (provided)
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Reflections on Death II
- Bernard Wills, Plato’s Argument for Immortality
- Ivan Emke, The Art of Dying in the Age of the Marketplace
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Panel Exploring Professional Perspectives on Death
- Jill Brown, lawyer
- Mervyn Dean, physician
- Sister Donna Kelly, director of parish life, Our Lady Star of the Sea
- Janet Peckford, social worker