CLTR220 Introduction to Folklore Studies
Department of Language & Literature: Culture
- I. Course Number and Title
- CLTR220 Introduction to Folklore Studies
- II. Number of Credits
- 3 credits
- III. Number of Instructional Minutes
- 2250
- IV. Prerequisites
- Writing Placement Test score of 6 or COMP107 (C or better) or COMP108 (C or better) or permission of the Department of Language and Literature
- Corequisites
- None
- V. Other Pertinent Information
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This course meets the General Education requirement in Arts/Humanities.
This course meets the General Education requirement in Critical Thinking.
This course meets the General Education requirement in Diversity. - VI. Catalog Course Description
- This course explores how folklorists and others study traditional, everyday, and "unofficial" world cultural expressions, covering various genres of verbal art, performance, material culture, and belief. Considering pattern and variation, students collect and analyze folklore with respect to its diverse cultural contexts, applying theory to real-life examples and creating interpretations.
- VII. Required Course Content and Direction
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Course Learning Goals
Students will:
- Describe the concerns and development of folkloristics as a discipline, and compare/contrast folkloristics with at least one other discipline that studies folklore as a subject.
- Discuss and apply the following key concepts: culture; tradition and variation; text, texture, and context; performance; folk group; vernacular; folklore and folklife; public sector and applied folklore.
- Identify and describe in detail at least one example of folklore from each of four basic categories of folk genres (verbal arts, material culture, performance, and belief). [Arts/Humanities]
- Analyze and interpret a cultural expression by applying theoretical concepts important to that genre. [Arts/Humanities]
- For one cultural expression from each of two different folk groups, analyze the relationship between each expression and its folk group (e.g. function, identity, expression of values, inequity). [Diversity]
- Conduct folkloristic research of a particular cultural expression by using multiple methods and source types, including ethnographic fieldwork (interview, observation, participant observation), to support an argument, interpretation, or analysis. [Critical Thinking]
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Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities
NOTE: the course includes the following topics, but not necessarily in this order.
- Folklore disciplinary history and interdisciplinarity
- Folkloristics-including relationship to popular antiquities and 18th-19th century nationalism
- Historic preservation ("intangible heritage") and history
- Cultural anthropology
- Area studies
- Other fields and disciplines such as American studies, literary studies, communication studies, education, ethnology, and ethnomusicology
- Key concepts including, but not limited the following: culture, tradition, variation, text, texture, and context; performance; folk group; vernacular; fieldwork; folklore and folklife; public sector folklore; applied folklore
- Folk groups in the United States and other areas in the world, including folk groups united by ethnicity, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, occupation, ability, and interest groups.
- Folk genres including multiple examples within each of the following four general types: narrative (e.g. myths, folktales, legends, personal experience narratives, jokes), material culture (e.g. crafts, costume, bodylore and adornment, graffiti, foodways), performance (e.g. music, dance, games, drama, ritual, ceremony, celebration, rites of passage), and belief (e.g. ideas, symbols, and practices related to religion, luck, charms, healthways, the supernatural).
- Research Methods
- Original research-collection, observation, participant observation, interviewing
- Unpublished sources-archives, collectanea, material objects
- Published research-popular press, scholarship
- Research ethics
- Concepts supporting analysis and interpretation, such as identity, social inequity, nationalism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and cultural sustainability
- Careers related to folklore-academic, applied, and public sector
- Folklore disciplinary history and interdisciplinarity
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Assessment Methods for Course Learning Goals
Assessments must include an analytical written research project that synthesizes fieldwork and at least one published source, with appropriate citation. Assessments may also include short written assignments, mapping or other graphic assignments, oral or electronic presentations, creative assignments with written reflections, service learning, reflections on fieldwork, and quizzes/tests/exams. -
Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Student:
Course material must include theoretical concepts and frameworks to support analysis and interpretation, not just folklore collections. See course syllabus for specific texts.
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Pres. Approval 06/24/2019