Folklore and Mythology

Course code: HSS 310/HUM 510

Semester and year: Spring 2024

Day and time: Mondays 08:15-11:00 Room 3.10

Instructor: Joanna Srholec-Skórzewska, Ph.D.

Instructor contact: joanna.skorzewska@aauni.edu

Consultation hours: by appointment

1.   Course Description

Folklore — the oral traditions of a people — informs the arts, politics, and many other areas of human endeavor. Its study is truly interdisciplinary, involving anthropology, history, literature, music, sociology, and the arts. This course will introduce students to a wide range of oral, customary and material folklore genres, and to folkloristics, the study of folklore.

2.   Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

•     Understand the definitions, categories and subcategories of folklore.
•     Identify and classify an example of folklore using the terminology and classifications of folklore study (also called “folkloristics”).
•     Use the various indices and scholarly journals in the field of folklore study.
•     Critically examine popular conceptions regarding folklore and folklore study’s own assumptions during its long history.
•     Engage in focused discussion of folklore and folklore scholarship.
•     Make connections between folklore and other fields, including ethnic and nationalism studies.
•     Use a variety of scholarly research sources, including primary materials collected by folklorists, to formulate a thesis and support it in a folklore research paper.

3.   Reading Material

Required Materials

There is no textbook. All required reading, viewing, and listening assignments are on the NEO course site in “Resources” or “Lessons” and listed below. They include items from classic folklore collections, folklore indices, scholarly studies of folklore, and documentary audio/video. Additional required graduate student readings are included here, and also listed separately in the course calendar for each date.

All:

•     The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Avaialble on Crane, Gregory F. (ed.). “Perseus Collection Greek and Roman Materials.” Perseus Project, 2014.
•     “Hymn To Demeter” (Homeric Hymn 2) URL: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:2
•     “Hymn To Aphrodite” (Homeric Hymn 5). URL: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg005.perseus-eng1:5
•     “Hervararkviða – The Waking of Agantýr.” Tr. Lee M. Hollander (1936). Voluspa.org. http://www.voluspa.org/hervararkvida.htm
•     “Voluspá – The Prophecy of the Seeress.” Tr. Henry Adams Bellows (1936). Voluspa.org. http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa.htm
•     “The Race Between Toad and Donkey.” In Abrahams, Roger. Afro-American Folktales. N.Y.: Pantheon, 1985.
•     Armistead, Samuel G. and Silverman, Joseph H. “The Judeo-Spanish Ballad Tradition.” Oral Tradition, 2:2-3 (1987): 633-44
•     Ashliman, D.L. “Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts.” University of Pittsburgh. 1996-2014. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html. “Hansel and Gretel”, “Rumpelstiltskin”, “Cinderella” (multiple versions); “The Hand From the Grave.”
•     Bogoras, Waldemar. Tales of Yugakhir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia. Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Natural History Vol. XX, Part I. New York: Trustees of the Museum of Natural History, 1918. Chapter III: “Kolyma Tales: Raven Tale,” 45-48.
•     Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction. New York: Norton, 1998 (1968).
•     Child, Francis James. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1904 (1884). Internet Library Open Archive. URL: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13499113M/English_and_Scottish_popular_ballads
•     Dorson, Richard, Buying the Wind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972, pp. 190-ff., “The Crying Stair Well.”
•     Dundes, Alan. Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety Western Folklore 57:2/3 (Spring/Summer 1998), 119-35.
•     Dundes, Alan., & Bronner, Simon. J. (2007). The meaning of folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Logan: Utah State University Press. “Madness in Method, Plus a Plea for Projective Inversion in Myth,” 343-51.
•     Erdoes, Richard and Ortiz, Alfonso. American Indian Myths and Legends. New York: Panthon, 1984. Selected tales.
•     Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa. Chapter 14, “Proverbs,” I-IV, 379-405. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2012.
•     Genesis, Books 1-3. In “A Hebrew-English Bible According to the Masoretic Text.” Mechom-Mamre. 2005. URL: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm.
•     Hesiod, Theogony, Book 1. In The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Theogony. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. Available at The Perseus Project. URL: http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1
•     Knapp, Mary and Herbert. One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children. Chapter 1, “The Folk Curriculum,” 1-16. New York: Norton, 1976.
•     León-Portilla, Miguel. Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico, Chapter 1, “Myths In Pre-Columbian Poetry.” 30-59. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
•     Mark, Joshua L. “Enuma Elish – The Babylonian Epic of Creation – Full Text.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2009-2021. URL: https://www.ancient.eu/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of-creation---fu/
•     Morford, Mark P.O., Robert J. Lenardon and Michael Sham. “Classical Mythology.” Oxford University Press USA. 2013. “Student Resources.” http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195397703/student/materials/
•     Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 1.S. Kline (tr.), Poetry In Translation.com. URL: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/klineasovid.php.
•     Propp, Vladimir. The Morphology of the Folktale. Tr. Laurence Scott. Austin: University of Texas Press: 1968 (1958).
•     Rand, Harry. “Who Was Rumpelstiltskin?” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 81 (2000): 943-62.
•     Taylor, Archer. “The Riddle.” California Folklore Quarterly 2:2 (Apr. 1943), 129-47.
•     Thompson, Stith. Tales of the North American Indians. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1929. Chapter I, “Mythological Stories,” VII: “Raven’s Adventures,” 19-24. Available at Internet Sacred Text Archive. URL: https://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/tnai/tnai00.htm.

Graduate:

•     Dundes, Alan and Georges, Robert A. “Toward A Structural Definition of the Riddle.” Journal of American Folklore 76:300 (Apr.-June, 1963), 111-118.
•     Dundes, Alan., & Bronner, Simon. J. (2007). The meaning of folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Logan: Utah State University Press. ”On Game Morphology: A study of the Structure of Non-Verbal Folklore.” 154-63.
•     Ellis, Larry. “Trickster: Shaman of the Liminal.”Studies in American Indian Literatures Series 2, 5:4 (Winter 1993), 58-68. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20736767
•     Girard, René, Violence and the Sacred. Tr. Patrick Gregory. London, New York: Continuum, 2005 (1988, 1977 Johns Hopkins University Press). Chapter 1, “Sacrifice, ” 1-40.
•     Janeček, Petr. “Bloody Mary or Krvavá Máří? Globalization and Czech Children’s Folklore.” Slovenský Národopis (Slovak Ethnology) 2, 221-243.
•     Lüthi, Max. The European Folktale: Form and Nature. Philadelphia: Institute for Study of Human Issues, 1982. Chapters 1-2: “One-Dimensionality”, “Depthlessness,” 1-23.
•     Rand, Harry. “Who Was Rumpelstiltskin?” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 81 (2000): 943-62.
•     Segal, Robert A. Theorizing About Myth. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. Chapter 6, “Jung On Mythology,”67-97.
•     Tangherlini, Timothy. “It Happened Not Far From Here: A Survey of Legend Theory and Characterization.” Western Folklore 49:4 (Oct. 1990), 371-390.
•     Taylor, Archer. “Problems in the Study of Proverbs.” The Journal of American Folklore 47:183 (Jan.-Mar. 1934), 1-21.
•     Zipes, Jack. “Spinning with Fate: Rumpelstiltskin and the Decline of Female Productivity.” Western Folklore 52:1 (Jan. 1993), 43-60.

Recommended Materials

I shall give handouts in some classes for additional recommended further reading on that lecture’s topic.

•     Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation, 2^nd Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952 (1941). Chapter I, “Enuma Elish,”1-61. https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/misc_genesis.pdf
•     Thompson, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1955-1958.
•     Uther, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith  Parts I-III, FFC 284, 285, 286. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (Academia Scientiarum Fennica). First printing 2004. Second printing 2011.

4.   Teaching methodology

I shall lecture and ask questions of individual students about the assignments and seek out questions from the class as I lecture. Also, you are expected to actively discuss the readings.

5.   Course Schedule

6.   Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action

7.   Detailed description of the assignments

Assignment 1: Midterm exam. The exam will consist of s series of short answers designed to test knowledge of key folklore terms as well as content of primary materials, and also 1-2 short essay questions designed to test ability to apply concepts to primary material.

 Assessment breakdown

Assignment 2: Research paper. Choose a significant folklore or mythology research topic, critically read and analyze both primary sources and scholarly secondary sources, develop a thesis regarding that folklore and explore it in depth in writing. You must use peer-reviewed scholarly secondary sources; exclusive use of popular Internet sources will get a C or lower. Make sure you have access to a library database. Minimum word count (excluding bibliography): undergraduates 2000 words; graduate students 3000 words.

 Assessment breakdown

Assignment 3. Final exam. Final exam: The final exam will consist of factual questions designed to test your mastery of the full semester’s material covered, plus 2-3 questions requiring 600-800 word essays each, designed to test ability to apply concepts to primary material.

Assessment breakdown

8.   General Requirements and School Policies

General requirements

All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules available in the Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work.

Electronic communication and submission

The university and instructors shall only use students’ university email address for communication. It is strongly recommended that any email communication between students and instructors take place in NEO LMS.

Each e-mail sent to an instructor that is about a new topic (meaning not a reply to an original email) shall have a new and clearly stated subject and shall have the course code in the subject, for example: “COM101-1 Mid-term Exam. Question”.

All electronic submissions are carried out through NEO LMS. No substantial pieces of writing (especially take home exams and essays) can be submitted outside of NEO LMS.

Attendance

Attendance, i.e., presence in class in real-time, at AAU courses is default mandatory; however, it is not graded as such (grades may be impacted by missed assignments or lack of participation). Still, students must attend at least two thirds of classes to complete the course. If they do not meet this condition and most of their absences are excused, they will be administratively withdrawn from the course. If they do not meet this condition and most of their absences are not excused, they will receive a grade of “FW” (Failure to Withdraw). Students may also be marked absent if they miss a significant part of a class (for example by arriving late or leaving early).

Absence excuse and make-up options

Should a student be absent from classes for relevant reasons (illness, serious family matters), and the student wishes to request that the absence be excused, the student should submit an Absence Excuse Request Form supplemented with documents providing reasons for the absence to the Dean of Students within one week of the absence. If possible, it is recommended the instructor be informed of the absence in advance. Should a student be absent during the add/drop period due to a change in registration this will be an excused absence if s/he submits an Absence Excuse Request Form along with the finalized add/drop form.

Students whose absence has been excused by the Dean of Students are entitled to make up assignments and exams provided their nature allows. Assignments missed due to unexcused absences which cannot be made up, may result in a decreased or failing grade as specified in the syllabus.

 Students are responsible for contacting their instructor within one week of the date the absence was excused to arrange for make-up options.

Late work: No late submissions will be accepted – please follow the deadlines.

Electronic devices

Electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops…) may be used only for class-related activities (taking notes, looking up related information, etc.). Any other use will result in the student’s participation grade being lowered, starting with the second warning.

Eating is not allowed during classes.

Cheating and disruptive behavior

If a student engages in disruptive or other conduct unsuitable for a classroom environment of an institution of learning, the instructor may require the student to withdraw from the room for the duration of the activity or for the day and shall report the behavior to the Dean.

Students engaging in behavior which is suggestive of cheating (e.g. whispering or passing notes) will, at a minimum, be warned. In the case of continued misbehavior the student will be expelled from the exam and the exam will be marked as failed.

Plagiarism and Academic Tutoring Center

Plagiarism obscures the authorship of a work or the degree of its originality. Students are expected to create and submit works of which they are the author. Plagiarism can apply to all works of authorship – verbal, audiovisual, visual, computer programs, etc. Examples are:

• Verbatim plagiarism: verbatim use of another’s work or part of it without proper acknowledgement of the source and designation as a verbatim quotation,

• Paraphrasing plagiarism: paraphrasing someone else’s work or part of it without proper acknowledgement of the source,

• Data plagiarism: use of other people’s data without proper acknowledgement of the source,

• False quotation: publishing a text that is not a verbatim quotation as a verbatim quotation,

• Fictious citation: quoting, paraphrasing, or referring to an incorrect or a non-existent work, 

• Inaccurate citation: citing sources in such a way that they cannot be found and verified,

• Ghostwriting: commissioning work from others and passing it off as one’s own,

• Patchwriting: using someone else’s work or works (albeit with proper acknowledgement of sources and proper attribution) to such an extent that the output contains almost no original contribution,

• Self-plagiarism: unacknowledged reuse of one’s own work (or part of it) that has been produced or submitted as part of another course of study or that has been published in the past,

• Collaborative plagiarism: delivering the result of collective collaboration as one’s own individual output.

At minimum, plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the assignment and shall be reported to the student’s Dean. A mitigating circumstance may be the case of novice students, and the benefit of the doubt may be given if it is reasonable to assume that the small-scale plagiarism was the result of ignorance rather than intent. An aggravating circumstance in plagiarism is an act intended to make the plagiarism more difficult to detect. Such conduct includes, for example, the additional modification of individual words or phrases, the creation of typos, the use of machine translation tools or the creation of synonymous text, etc. The Dean may initiate a disciplinary procedure pursuant to the Academic Codex. Intentional or repeated plagiarism always entail disciplinary hearing and may result in expulsion from AAU.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Tutoring Center

The use of artificial intelligence tools to search sources, to process, analyze and summarize

data, and to provide suggestions or feedback in order to improve content, structure, or

style, defined here as AI-assisted writing, is not in itself plagiarism. However, it is plagiarism if, as a result, it obscures the authorship of the work produced or the degree of

its originality (see the examples above).AAU acknowledges prudent and honest use of AI-assisted writing, that is, the use of AI for orientation, consultation, and practice is allowed. A work (text, image, video, sound, code, etc.) generated by artificial intelligence based on a mass of existing data, defined here as AI-generated work, is not considered a work of authorship. Therefore, if an AI-generated work (e.g. text) is part of the author’s work, it must be marked as AI-generated. Otherwise, it obscures the authorship and/or the degree of originality, and thus constitutes plagiarism. Unless explicitly permitted by the instructor, submission of AI-generated work is prohibited. If unsure about technical aspects of writing, and to improve their academic writing, students are encouraged to consult with the tutors of the AAU Academic Tutoring Center. For more information and/or to book a tutor, please contact the ATC at:http://atc.simplybook.me/sheduler/manage/event/1/.

Course accessibility and inclusion

Students with disabilities should contact the Dean of Students to discuss reasonable accommodations. Academic accommodations are not retroactive.

Students who will be absent from course activities due to religious holidays may seek reasonable accommodations by contacting the Dean of Students in writing within the first two weeks of the term. All requests must include specific dates for which the student requests accommodations.

9.   Grading Scale

* Decimals should be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Prepared by: Joanna Srholec-Skórzewska

Date: Dec. 14, 2023

Approved by: Ted Turnau

Date: Dec. 18, 2023