ENGLISH 3613: INTRODUCTION TO FOLKLORE


Fall 2007 TR 12:30-1:45PM, WILSON 303 
 Instructor: Richard Burns


Office: W213 
 Office Hours: TR 3:30-5:00 and by appointment

Phone: 972-2164 Web page: www.clt.astate.edu/rburns Email: rburns@astate.edu

Folklore consists of traditional products of everyday belief and practice (e.g., proverbs, games, stories, nicknames, jokes, etc.) that people employ in the course of everyday social interaction, especially people who live in small-scale communities or belong to tightly-knit groups. This course introduces students to a range of established methods of analyzing and interpreting folklore. There are two in-class exams (each consisting of two required essays) and three papers based on folklore research.

Required Text:

Martha C. Sims and Martine Stephens, Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2005.

Course Outline:

August 21-28: Introduction; Toward a Definition of Folklore
Reading: Living Folklore, xi-29; read online, “What is Folklore?” at http://www.afsnet.org/aboutfolklore/historyFLstudy.cfm

30: The History of Folklore Study

Readings: (On reserve at the Dean B. Ellis Library -- Read Part One of 100 Years of American Folklore Study)

September 4: Folk Groups
Reading: Living Folklore, 30-63.

6: Documenting Folklore; The Tape-Recorded Interview
Reading: Living Folklore, 202-224.

11: Discussion of “Family Folklore” (PROJECT #1) and methods of collecting folklore.

13: Traditions

Reading: Living Folklore, 64-93.

18: Folk Art Traditions

Reading: (To Be Announced)

20: Ritual

Reading: Living Folklore, 94-126.

25-27: The Performance of Folklore; Conversational Genres (PROJECT #1 DUE September 25).

Reading: Living Folklore, 127-173

October 2-4: More on Minor Genres; Legends, Myths, and Folktales

Readings: (To Be Announced)

9: Interpreting Folklore

Reading: Living Folklore, 174-201

11: Four Functions of Folklore. Discussion of PROJECT #2.

Reading: (Handout—article by William Bascom, “The Four Functions of Folklore”)

16: MID-TERM EXAMINATION

18: No class. Your instructor will be out of town; an alternative activity will be announced.

23: Material Folk Culture

Reading: Living Folklore, 266-272

25: Jokelore; Discussion of PROJECT #3 and Ethnopoetics.

Reading: (Handout: “Folk Medicine and the Intercultural Jest”)

30: Performance Genres: Music and Song

Reading: (To Be Announced)

November 1: Festival, Ritual and Celebration: Day of the Dead.

Reading: Living Folklore, 250-265.

6: Class discussion; Children’s Folklore. PROJECT #2 DUE

8: Case Studies in Folklore

Reading: Living Folklore, 225-249

13-15: The Concept of “Folklorist”

Reading: (On reserve at the Dean B. Ellis Library -- Read Part Four of 100 Years of American Folklore Study)

(November 19-24: Fall Break)

27: Class discussion; Other Folklore Genres. PROJECT #3 DUE

29: Review

FINAL EXAMINATION: Tuesday, 6 December (12:30 – 2:30 PM)

Requirements:

Instructions for projects 1, 2, and 3 will be distributed before you begin each project. Each project is due on the specified date at the beginning of class. Late submissions will lose one letter grade; submissions more than two weeks late will not be accepted.

1. "Family" Folklore Project. Describe in detail one customary observance in your family tradition (or that of another folk group to which you belong). Your description should include a chronological presentation of what occurred during a specific enactment of the observance (e.g., the 1996 family reunion), including any preparations that were necessary. You should carefully provide the setting (time and place), persons involved, and the traditional and unique aspects of the particular enactment you treat. The last point is particularly important, for you need to suggest through your description the dynamic between the forces of custom and tradition and of innovation. For this project, you may simply draw upon your own memory. But if you do interview someone else, that person should be clearly identified. The project should produce a five-page, typewritten paper, which is due on 25 September.

2. Functional Analysis of a Legend. Using a tape recorder, collect a legend. When you interview your source, find out as much about his or her use of the legend (how he or she learned it, its natural context, etc.) as possible. Then using William Bascom's model, analyze the functions possibly performed by the legend you have collected. The result of your project will be a three-page typewritten essay in which you develop your functional analysis and a verbatim transcript of the interview you conducted. You will submit the cassette on which you recorded the interview. Due 6 November.

3. Presentation of a Joke Performance. Using a tape recorder, collect a joke. Then interview the person about the natural context in which he or she would usually tell this joke and/or others like it. You should transcribe the joke so that not only what is said appears in print, but also some sense of how it is performed also appears. The result of your project will be this ethnopoetic transcription of the joke itself, a transcript of the interview with the joke-teller, and a two-page essay in which you describe your ethnopoetic method and features of the performance that do not appear in the text. You will also submit the cassette on which you recorded the interview. Due 27 November.

4. Examination. There will be two examinations: a mid-term on 16 October and a final on 6 December. Both will test objective knowledge of concepts as well as your ability to use those concepts when writing essays. Material will come from class presentations and from assigned readings even if the latter are not discussed in class. There may be comprehensive component on the final examination. The mid-term examination can be made up only with a verified, justifiable excuse (illness, serious family emergency, university business). You must initiate the make-up process, and the make-up must be taken within a week of your return to class. There will be no make-ups for the final examination.

5. Attendance Policy. This course does not fall under the university attendance policy, but regular attendance is important. Consequently, a record of attendance will be kept. And though the Student Handbook explicitly states that a student in an upper-level course cannot receive a failing grade solely on the basis of attendance, your final average will be affected negatively by excessive absences. If you miss four classes without verified, justifiable excuses (illness, serious family emergency, university business), your final average will be lowered one letter grade. Should illness or work schedule force you to miss an excessive number of classes, you should drop the course.

6. Grades. Each project and each examination will count one-fifth of your final grade. Failure to turn in a project or to take an examination will result in a zero for one-fifth of the final average.