ENG 3623, American Folklore (Spring 2007)

TR 9:30-10:45 AM (Wilson 330)

Dr. Richard Burns

Phone: 972-2164 email: rburns@astate.edu

Office Hours: 11-12 AM, 2-3 PM (or by appointment)

Textbooks

Jan Harold Brunvand. The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. (=Baby Train)

Fett, Sharla M. Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Bobby Ann Mason. In Country. New York: Harper & Row, 1986

Américo Paredes. With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad & Its Hero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996 [1958]. (=With His Pistol)

Barry Lee Pearson. Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2005.

Schedule

(subject to modification)

Jan. 9- Introductory Remarks

11- American Folklore (or folklore in America?)/ Who are the folk? Read the definitions of folklore that appear at the following websites: http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm/ant144/folkdef.htm, then familiarize yourself with the following additional websites: http://www.loc.gov/folklife/aboutafc.html, http://www.folklife.si.edu/, and http://www.snopes.com/info/faq.asp. Finally, read the American Folklore Society’s definition of folklore: http://www.afsnet.org/aboutfolklore/aboutFL.cfm

16- Studying the folklore of folk groups in America. Read Stephanie A. Hall’s “Papa Boas's Children or The Road to the Center of Folklore: A Folk History” http://www.temple.edu/isllc/newfolk/boas.html

18- The Folklore of Age-Based Groups and Urban Legends: Sex and Scandal. Baby Train, pp. 11-64.

23- Horrors, Crime, and Punishment. Baby Train, pp. 65-154

25- Occupational Groups and Legends. Baby Train, pp. 155-193.

30- Legends in America from Around the World. Baby Train, pp. 95-251.

Feb.1- Animal and Academic Legends. Baby Train, pp. 253-324.

6- Personal Interviews and Vietnam Veteran Folklore. In Country, pp. 3-80. Interview essay due.

8- In Country, pp. 81-163.

13- In Country, pp. 163-245.

15- Vietnam Veteran Folklore.

20- Exam #1

22- Blues Stories: Living the Blues. Jook Right On, pp. xi-53.

27- Learning the Blues. Jook Right On, pp. 55-122.

Mar.1- Working the Blues, Jook Right On pp. 123-187. Folk group essay due.

6- Visions of Health in the Slave Community. Working Cures, pp. 1-35.

8- Spirit and Power/ Sacred Plants. Working Cures, pp. 1-83.

13- Conjuring Community. Working Cures pp. 84-108.

15- Doctoring Women/ Danger and Distrust. Working Cures, pp. 111-168.

March 19-24: SPRING BREAK

27- Fooling the Master. Working Cures, pp. 169-200.

29- Delta Blues Symposium (more on this later).

Apr. 3- Exam #2

5- Mexican-American Folklore: The Ballad Tradition and the Corrido.

10- Mexican-American Folklore and Border Conflict. "With His Pistol in His Hand,” Part One.

12- Mexican-American Folklore and Border Conflict. With His Pistol in His Hand," Part Two. Video: "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez."

17- Video (cont’d): "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez." Field collection due.

19- Review.

30- FINAL EXAM (Tuesday, 8-10 AM)

Requirements

1. Three examinations (20 February, 3 April, 30 April): Each exam will involve both objective and essay components and will require a knowledge of material presented in the readings and in class presentations. The final may include a comprehensive component. Each exam will count 20% of your final grade.

2. Interview Essay (due 6 February). Write a 2-3 page typewritten paper based on an interview as you collect an urban legend from a member of a folk group. The paper will count 10% of your final grade.

3. Folk Group Essay (due 1 March). Write a 3-4 page, typewritten essay in which you discuss at least two folk groups to which you belong (or have belonged). You should show how each of your groups meets the minimal requirements for a "group" in the sociological sense, and you must describe at least three examples of folklore specific to each group. This paper will count 10% of your final grade.

4. Field Collection (due 17 April). Interview at least five members of a folk group with the purpose of collecting information about some aspect of the group's folklore. I will provide you with thorough instructions regarding this project in early March. It will be necessary to contact me either via e-mail or during my office hours to discuss/select your topic. Note that if I do not approve of your topic by 13 March, I will not accept it. The project will count 20% of your final grade.

5. Attendance. Regular attendance is important; consequently, I keep a record of attendance. Your final average will be affected negatively by excessive absences. If you miss more than four classes without verified, justifiable excuses (illness, serious family emergency, university business, inclement weather [commuter students only]), I will lower your final average one letter grade.

6. Make-Up Work; Late Papers. Make-up examinations will not be given without a valid, verifiable excuse (illness, serious family emergency, university business, inclement weather [commuter students only]). A make-up examination must be taken within one week of a student's return to class. Papers are due no later than 4:00 PM on the prescribed dates in the English department office (Wilson 313).Do not place papers under my door; the custodian will throw them away. Late papers will lose one letter grade. I will not accept papers more than ten days late.