Students in Group Study courses are advised that this syllabus may vary in key details in each instance of the course. Always refer to the Moodle site for the most up-to-date details on texts, assignment structure, and grading.
Overview
Loss is an integral element of life itself. All of us have loved and lost, and have been required, in some fashion, to mourn those lost loves. Thus students will come to this course with an existing existential background upon which to draw. In this course, both death and non-death losses are regarded as potential sources of bereavement and identity change processes. As well, the readings and conversations will look at the historical, psychological, and sociological debates and theories regarding mourning and trauma, and do so from a variety of cultural perspectives.
The course invites students to explore a focused but broad number of topics, including but not limited to meaning-making (i.e., a developmental perspective on loss), continuing bonds, taboos and unfinished business in grief, identity maintenance and identity change, prolonged/complicated grief, Superhero grief (i.e., archetypal learnings about grief through fictional characters), disenfranchised grief, political and sociological dimensions of grief, gender and mourning, and the relevance of the body in experiencing and responding to loss and trauma.
An exploration of the developmental possibilities of loss or trauma are also highlighted; without minimizing difficulty, loss can be an impetus for meaning-oriented learning and transformation.
Outline
The topics and activities covered in MAIS 662 are divided across 15 weeks:
Weeks 1 & 2: Introductions and an Examination of the History of Grief Research and Theory
Week 3: Cultural Perspectives
Week 4: Trauma and Adversity in Mourning—Routes and Barriers to Meaning-Making
Week 5: Writing the Self in Bereavement and the Autoethnographic Voice
Week 6: Unfinished Business, Taboos, and Identity Maintenance in Grief and Mourning
Week 7: Book Review Assignment
Week 8: Formative Feedback and Break
Weeks 9–12: Group Work on Grief, Mourning, and/or Trauma
Weeks 13–15: Workshopping with Peers and Final Assignment
Learning outcomes
This course provides students with the opportunity to:
develop a clear understanding of the historical, theoretical, and practical debates in mourning, grief, and trauma studies,
demonstrate knowledge of a broad scope of topics from contemporary research and practice, including but not limited to constructivist approaches, and
recognize and articulate psychological and sociological dimensions of loss and trauma as historically and contextually located.
Evaluation
To receive credit for this course, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete the assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least 60 per cent. Students should be familiar with the Master of Arts—Interdisciplinary Studies grading system. Please note that it is students' responsibility to maintain their program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.
The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.
Activity
Weight
Participation in weekly online discussion
20%
Assignments in Weeks 1–6
20%
Book Review, Week 7
10%
Group Study, Weeks 9–12
10%
Final Paper, Week 15
40%
Total
100%
Materials
Lengelle, R. (2021). Writing the self in bereavement: A story of love, spousal loss, and resilience. Routledge. (eBook)
Stillion, J. M., & Attig, T. (Eds.). (2014). Death, dying, and bereavement: Contemporary perspectives, institutions, and practices. Springer Publishing Company. (eBook)
All additional course materials for MAIS 662 are available online through the course site, including a Course Information manual, a Study Guide, and online readings and audiovisual materials.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.