Bringing the Law of the Dead to Life: Dr. Tanya Marsh on Teaching Through Podcasting

This October, we’re spotlighting the innovative work of Dr. Tanya Marsh, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Wake Forest University. Dr. Marsh brings a fascinating and often overlooked area of legal study to life, funeral and cemetery law, through her podcast Death, et seq.. Blending her expertise in real estate law with a deep curiosity about genealogy and cultural practice, Dr. Marsh explores the complex legal, ethical, and social frameworks surrounding how we care for and remember the dead.

In our conversation, Dr. Marsh shared insights about her inspiration for the podcast, her approach to teaching through digital media, and how podcasting can transform the way students and the public engage with academic content.

1. Funeral and cemetery law seems like a niche area of law. Is there a moment such as a particular case, reading, or personal experience that drew you into this field?

It’s a very niche area of the law! There wasn’t a particular moment or case.  My interest developed fairly organically. My background is commercial real estate law and I have dabbled in genealogy since I was in high school, so my entry point was the law of cemeteries. As I tried to learn that law, I quickly discovered that there was nobody else doing scholarly work in this area and that it was endlessly fascinating.  

2. Why did you decide to launch Death, et seq. — what goals or audience needs did you hope to address? Why is a podcast the best fit for the release of your content as opposed to another format?

My fundamental interest is expanding understanding about the laws governing the status, treatment and disposition of human remains to three key audiences: (1) the general public, (2) those involved in the funeral/cemetery industries, and (3) policy makers. None of these folks read scholarly legal publications, so I knew I needed to create a new channel of communication to them. I think podcasts are easy for people to digest, and they’re very flexible in that you can incorporate guests, etc

3. What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating and producing your podcast?

I’ve created websites and blogs before (in the early days of the Internet, like 25 years ago), so creating a podcast turned out to be a pretty natural evolution of that process. The software seemed tricky at first, but I think I was surprised by how quickly I was able to pick up the basics. I would not say that my production values are “professional” but the medium is very forgiving and even my amateurish efforts sound generally acceptable! 

4.Can you describe an “aha moment”, a breakthrough in concept, audience connection, or technical production that shaped how you run Death, et seq. now?

I think the biggest “aha” moment for me was the realization that there are no rules. I don’t need to keep eps to the same exact length, or have breaks at particular points, etc.  I don’t have sponsors or commercials, and I don’t answer to anybody, so it’s really just whatever topics I think are interesting!  It’s great freedom.

5.Do you have any workflow tips or best practices (for scripting, editing, promotion, guest management) that others starting podcasting might benefit from? 

I really only script the intro and outro, and then let the conversation flow naturally. I try to minimize the need for editing, but recording the host audio and the guest audio on two separate tracks definitely makes the sound cleaner and makes editing easier. I think conducting pre-interviews of guests is really helpful to make the conversation flow more efficiently and cut down on the need for editing.  Basically, I think having a plan but also having the flexibility to change the plan if needed is key!

6. Do you have your students create podcasts? What skills would you hope they would obtain from podcast creation? 

This semester in Funeral and Cemetery Law, the students are writing podcast episodes. I’ve tried this before, but we didn’t record all of the episodes. This semester I’m planning to record all of them. I am not having them do anything with respect to recording, editing, etc., just proposing a topic, researching the topic, and preparing a script and show notes. Basically I’m asking them to do the same kind of research that they’d do for a research paper, but just showing them there is another way to convey that information.  Since most papers they write for school tend to fall into a black hole (i.e. they’re read by the instructor and then never seen again), I’ve seen more enthusiasm by students when they know there is an actual audience for their work.

7. Do you recommend this as a digital assignment for other faculty? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely.  Again, I think that the students are generally very enthusiastic about this kind of assignment and they invest in it beyond how they’d invest in a research paper. It is particularly great for law students because I’m essentially asking them to translate legal concepts for a lay audience, which is a skill they’ll need for their careers, but this kind of assignment would work for any level student in any program.

Through Death, et seq., Dr. Marsh exemplifies how technology can extend the reach of scholarship far beyond the classroom, turning complex legal questions into meaningful public dialogue. Her work demonstrates the power of podcasts not only as an educational tool but as a bridge between academic research and everyday understanding.

Faculty and students interested in learning more about podcast creation can contact Brianna Healey, healeyb@wfu.edu.