Students Explore ‘Death and Ritual’ in Critical Studies Course
March 10, 2020
Students watched as Associate Professors Benjamin Olshin and Lowell Boston had a fencing match; the demonstration was just one part of Olshin’s popular Death and Ritual class. In the course, students learn about the way different cultures navigate death, including burial methods like mummification and even being frozen in ice. As part of the university’s Critical Studies program, Olshin’s course asks students to think critically about a topic they wouldn’t typically encounter in their major classes to form a foundation for their artwork.
“Is there a different spiritual world that we ascend to? Do we reincarnate and live many different lives? The questions were endless,” said Valerija Pabijanskas ’20 (Vocal Performance), one of the students in Olshin’s course. Pabijanskas explained that the course looked at not only elements directly related to dying, but also the way ideas about death informed cultural practices like martial arts. “Something that I really enjoyed was looking at the art of fencing,” she said, recalling Olshin and Boston’s demonstration, which showed students that the practice could be performance art in itself.
Though a topic like death might not seem directly applicable to visual arts, Mark G. Pryor ’21 (Animation) said, “[The coursework] gave me a lot of new insight into different cultures and ideas, which as a storyteller, I could apply to my own creative outlet.” Pryor was particularly interested in Chinese philosophies about death after taking Chinese Religion and Philosophy, another course taught by Olshin.
Because all students―regardless of major―take Critical Studies courses, students interact with each other across disciplines and engage with different perspectives. “Sometimes my cultural background became relevant to what we discussed in class,” said Emily Betts ’22 (Directing, Playwriting, & Production). “I would offer that knowledge and contribute to the conversation and everyone did the same. We were not only learning about the topic at hand but collectively we were all able to apply our own experiences to the subject and deepen our understanding.”
By examining how death was used in existing artwork, Death and Ritual students began to imagine how they could utilize the topics in their own projects. Pabijanskas said that they once watched Planet of the Apes as an example of work that utilized the topics in the course. “I remember some Dance students saying that they were creating a piece based on the topics that were being taught,” said Pabijanskas. “I could see myself [creating] a musical piece based on death and/or rituals one day,” she mused.
Pryor agreed that the exposure to new ideas the course would also inspire his work. “New philosophies, new understandings and new ways to approach problems are all keys to improving one’s artwork.”