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WEEK ONE: Introductions to the Folk and to Folklore
4/2: morning – What is Folklore and Who Are the Folk? Slavs? Celts?
4/2: afternoon – seminars
4/3: morning – Film and discussion: Hidden Memory
4/3: afternoon – Authenticity, Folklore, and Fakelore (Sean)
4/4: morning – Folklore in the Service of the State: Stalinist Soviet Union, and the Sharing of Folklore Findings
Assignments for this week: Read “Who Are the Folk?” pp. 1-19, and “The Number Three in American Culture,” pp.134-159 in Interpreting Folklore by Alan Dundes. For Wednesday, locate, write down, and bring with you ten items of folklore: a proverb, a song, a family expression. . . . We will discuss these in class.
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WEEK TWO: Foundational Knowledge
4/9: morning – Chthonic Forces and Animism (Pat and Sean)
4/9: afternoon – Seminars
4/10: morning – The Slavic World (Pat)
4/10: afternoon – The Celtic World (Sean)
4/11: morning – Layers of Religious Belief (Pat and Sean), and Ritual Bread
Assignments for this week: “Thinking Ahead,” pp. 69-85, in Interpreting Folklore by Alan Dundes. On Moodle: “Spirits of the House and Farmstead,” pp. 51-63, and “Spirits of the Forest, Waters and Fields,” pp. 64-82, from Russian Folk Belief, by Linda Ivanits. In addition, read “Why We Became Religious” and “The Evolution of the Spirit World” (Marvin Harris), pp.15-18, from Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion; and “The Well of Her Memory” (Patricia Monaghan), pp. 137-166, from The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog.
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WEEK THREE: Slavic Folklore (Pat)
4/16: morning – Slavic Epic Performance
4/16: afternoon – Seminars
4/17: morning – Film and discussion: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
4/17: afternoon – Slavic Folklore
4/18: morning – Folk Customs and Beliefs
Assignments for this week on Moodle: Russian epic songs (“Volkh Vseslavyevich”; “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber”; “Alyosha Popovich, His Squire Yekim, and Tugarin”; “Sadko”) from An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics, trans. by James Bailey and Tatyana Ivanova; Ukrainian epic songs: “Duma about Marusia from Bohuslav”; “Duma about the Flight of Three Brothers from the city of Azov” from Ukrainian Dumy, trans. by George Tarnawsky and Patricia Kilina; South Slavic epic songs (“The Tsar and the Girl”; “The Building of Skadar”; “The Fall of the Serbian Empire”; “The Kosovo Maiden”; “Marko Kraljavić Drinks Wine at Ramadan”; “A Maiden Outwits Marko”; “The Wife of Hasan Aga [Hasanaginica]” from Songs of the Serbian People: From the Collections of Vuk Karadžić, trans. and ed. by Milne Holton and Vasa D. Mihailovich). Also on Moodle: “The Ballad of ‘The Walled-Up Wife’” [Alan Dundes, pp. 185-204] from The Walled-Up Wife: A Casebook, ed. by Alan Dundes).
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WEEK FOUR: Celtic Folklore (Sean)
4/23: morning – Celtic Epic Performance (The Táin)
4/23: afternoon – Seminars
4/24: morning – Film and discussion: The Secret of Roan Inish
4/ 24: afternoon – The Bard, Patronage, and Power
4/25: morning – Folk Customs and Beliefs
Assignments for this week: “Texture, Text, and Context,” pp. 20-32, in Interpreting Folklore by Alan Dundes. Also, on Moodle read selected passages from The Táin (pronounced “tawn”). Note: your first four-page essay – on traditional belief systems in Slavic or Celtic culture – is due on Friday of this week by 5 p.m., April 27, by e-mail to your seminar faculty.
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WEEK FIVE: Mary Across Cultures
4/30: morning – Mary in Slavic and Celtic Cultures (Pat and Sean)
4/ 30: afternoon – Seminars
5/1: morning – The Beginning of Summer and the Celtic Calendar (Sean)
5/1: afternoon – Potluck (finish by 1 pm); Celtic and Slavic Foodways
5/2: morning – Pysanky Workshop (Pat)
Assignments for this week on Moodle: “Stovelore in Russian Folklife,” (Snejana Tempest) pp.1-14; “Food in the Rus’ Primary Chronicle,” (Horace Lunt), pp.15-30, both from Food in Russian History and Culture, ed. by Musya Glants and Joyce Toomre. Also, read “Outcast from Life’s Feast: Food and Hunger in Ireland,” (Hasia Diner) pp. 84-113, from Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration. Note: your proposal and bibliography for your final paper is due this Friday at 5 p.m., May 5, by e-mail to your seminar faculty.
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WEEK SIX: Folk Tales: the Bright Side
5/7: morning – Tale Types and Archetypes
5/7: afternoon – Seminars: bring the six folktales for this week
5/8: morning – Women and Water
5/8: afternoon – Baba Yaga and the Cailleach
5/9: morning – Poster Workshops
About the Poster Workshops: The class will divide into two groups, one attending the workshop from 9:30-11:00; the other attending from 11-12:30. Both will take place in Library 2617, the room on the far corner of the Computer Center.
Assignments for this week: “The Hero Pattern and the Life of Jesus,” pp. 223-261, in Interpreting Folklore by Alan Dundes. In addition, read the six assigned folktales on the Moodle site for this week (three Slavic and three Celtic); come to seminar prepared to discuss them. Note: on Saturday, May 12, there will be an all day workshop on Irish traditional arts (location is still to be determined). It will cost $20 and will include dance, art, song, an introduction to the Irish language, and tea! You do not have to attend, but it will be fun and informative.
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WEEK SEVEN: Folk Tales: the Dark Side
5/14: morning – Vampires, Sorcerers, and the Evil Eye
5/14: afternoon – Seminars
5/15: morning – Film and discussion: The Celtic Trilogy
5/15: afternoon – Cross-seminar workshop: bring the six folktales for this week
5/16: morning – Performance workshop
Assignments for this week: “Wet and Dry, the Evil Eye,” pp. 93-133, and “To Love My Father All” [re: King Lear], pp. 211-222, in Interpreting Folklore by Alan Dundes, and on Moodle, “The Devil” from Russian Folk Belief, by Linda J. Ivanits. In addition, read the six assigned folktales on Moodle for this week (three Slavic and three Celtic); come to seminar prepared to discuss them. Note: your second four-page essay – using a folktale from Celtic and Slavic tradition and viewing them through a particular lens – is due this Friday by 5 p.m., May 18, by e-mail to your seminar faculty.
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Week Eight: Folk Sounds
5/21: morning – The Sound of the Folk (Sean and Pat)
5/21: afternoon – Seminars
5/22: morning – Films: various excerpts
5/22: afternoon – Why the Violin? Why the Fiddle?
5/23: morning – About Ethnomusicology (Sean); Students bring instruments and voices
Assignments for this week: Consult Moodle for this week’s reading assignments. Note: the rough draft of your final essay (expect five to seven pages in the final product) is due this Friday by 5 p.m., May 25, by e-mail to your seminar faculty. We will have these returned to you by the end of Week Nine.
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Week Nine: Appropriation
5/28: all day – Memorial Day; no classes
5/29: morning – Slavic Folklore and Nationalism (Pat)
5/29: afternoon: Celtic Folklore and Nationalism (Sean)
5/30: morning – Neo-Paganism (Pat and Sean)
Assignments for this week: Consult Moodle for this week’s reading assignments. Note: Posters are due to the poster printer on Monday of this week, May 28. More information will be provided on this project and due dates. Also note that the final draft of your essay will be due on Monday of Week Ten, June 4.
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Week Ten: Student Poster Presentations
6/4: morning – Presentations
6/4: afternoon – Presentations
6/5: morning – Presentations
6/5: afternoon – Presentations
6/6: morning – Presentations
Assignments for this week: Your final draft is due on Monday, June 4. Begin working on your self-evaluation and faculty evaluations. Please be on time for your evaluation conference! Both Sean and Pat will begin holding evaluation conferences by the end of the 10th week of classes, and will complete them early in evaluation week.