Course Description
The discipline of folklore, its aims, methods, and subject matter. The major genres of verbal folklore--folk speech, proverbs, riddles, rhymes, legends, folktales, ballads, and folksong--along with folk customs, festivals, and material culture.
Athena Title
Introduction to Folklore
Prerequisite
ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1103 or ENGL 1050H or ENGL 1060H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, a student should be able to recognize what constitutes folklore (including identifying specific genres), to explain basic theories of transmission and function, to discuss how folklore functions in the students' own lives and in others' lives, to appreciate how a community expresses and perpetuates its values through folklore, and to think about folklore in its full socio- historic context. This is a writing-intensive class; students should expect to write at least twenty pages over the course of the semester.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The topics will consist of primary materials in both oral and printed forms and secondary writings to be read outside of class and discussed in class, examined individually and comparatively with consideration of their function, genre identification, and socio-historic context. Writing assignments for Introduction to Folklore typically include a journal kept every week, four short papers (2-5 pages) which involve collecting and analyzing examples of a genre of folklore (proverb, joke, legend, personal experience narrative), and two longer papers (7-30 pages)--one a self- collection project and the other a field collection project. A possible series of topics and assignments might resemble this: Recognition of Folklore: Readings in Jan H. Brunvand, Study of American Folklore; Readings in Elliott Oring, Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction Proverbs and Riddles: F.A. de Caro, "Riddles and Proverbs" Jokes: Robert Cochran, "'What Courage!': Romanian 'Our Leader' Jokes" Legends: Jack Santino, "Occupational Ghostlore" Personal Experience Narratives: Barbara Allen, "Personal Experience Narratives: Use and Meaning in Interaction" Foodways: C. Paige Gutierrez, "The Social and Symbolic Uses of Ethnic/Regional Foodways" Festivals and Celebrations: Robert Jerome Smith, "Festivals and Celebrations" Belief: Anders Salomonsson, "Milk and Folk Belief: with Examples from Sweden" Folktales: Carl Lindahl, Swapping Stories