Course Description
One or more folk groups, folklore genres, or topics concerning folklore.
Athena Title
Folklore Studies
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The course objectives will necessarily change with the topic of the course. In general, students will learn to recognize what constitutes folklore and to identify the genres or cultural forms specific to the course topic. Students will learn to examine people’s informal and unofficial aesthetic presentations of their world view. By the end of the course, they should be able to discuss oral, customary, and/or material culture traditions in connection with other aspects of expressive culture and in their distinctive socio-cultural contexts.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The topics will focus on a culture area, a genre, or on the links between folklore and a particular cultural phenomenon. Students will read secondary literature and collect primary data, both of which will be discussed in class. Periodically during the semester, students will perform a number of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers. A possible series of topics and assignments might include: Folk Narrative (folktales, jokes, personal experience narratives, legends) Women and Folklore (folktales, legends, beliefs, health, rites of passage) Jewish folklore (festivals, rites of passage, folktales, legends)
Syllabus