Study Guide for American Folklore Exam #2

(Bring a blue book)

I. Define and write as much as you can on each of the following, and, except for proper names, provide examples for each:

castrated boy legend paterollers

forty acres and a mule Jim Crow laws

Amistad Topsy/Eva

night doctors diffusion

Troop Tropical Fantasy

Tuskegee Institute of Alabama Reebocks

AIDS jokes and legends price + risk > utility

Norplant designer clothing

II. Some of the following may require short answers while a few will be in essays you will choose to answer. Be prepared to write at least 150 words (3 paragraphs) in response to each.

Why did the earliest encounters Europeans had with Africans give rise to claims of cannibalism? What were some of the reasons for cannibalism accusations? Howe did such rumors function?

Identify at least five motifs that appear in the food contamination stories that Turner discusses.

Discuss the Atlanta Child Murders in terms of the conspiracy theories that emerged. What was so compelling about some of these theories and why did they enter black oral tradition

Identify and discuss three assassinations of famous people that Turner discusses and explain the differences and similarities in the conspiracy theories that surround them.

Identify and discuss at least three riots rumors in Turner’s book.

Why do so many rumors presume black men to be at greater risk from the contamination theories than black women?

According to Patricia Turner, what companies might find themselves the target of erroneous accusations in the future? Why?