Assisted Dying: An Ethnographic Murder Mystery on Florida's Gold Coast

Serena Nanda · Joan Gregg

Μαΐ 2011 · Rowman Altamira

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Assisted Dying is an ethnographically-based murder mystery that uses the unexplained deaths of elderly people on Florida's Gold Coast as a way of examining American cultural values. Diversity, immigration and the American Dream, aging, retirement, death, and dying are just some of the issues that are illuminated. Cultural anthropologist Julie Norman is drawn deeper into the mystery when her aunt becomes the latest victim. Julie's ethnographic methodology and cultural perspectives, her previous involvement in a murder case recounted in The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder, along with the insights of Detective Mike Cardella and the Miami police department, all help to solve the mystery. Assisted Dying engages students as a supplementary text to apply concepts from the social sciences, literature, and communications to issues of current interest in the United States and beyond. The novel is part of a popular movement toward using alternative and creative forms to convey academic information and concepts in the classroom. To further this aim, the social and cultural content of each chapter is extended in a bibliographic essay and discussion questions. This book will be welcomed in courses on cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, sociology, gerontology, American studies, psychology, gender, ethnic studies, and other social sciences.

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Serena Nanda is professor emeritus of anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Joan Gregg is professor emeritus of English literature at New York City Technical College, CUNY. Their first collaborative murder mystery, The Gift of a Bride, was published by AltaMira Press in 2009.