This course is synchronous and online via Zoom.
Course Description:
All cultures across time and places around the globe create and participate in the production and transmission of knowledge in formal and informal ways that are integral to the identity of the people; stories such as folklore, wonder tales, and oral traditions are an important way such knowledge has been remembered, shared, and enjoyed across generations, first through storytelling, storyperformance (singing, dance, theatrical acting), and related practices (crafts, adornment, symbolic objects, cultural practices, including beliefs, worldviews, and arts, including literature, visual and performing arts, and music), and now through newer media such as film, video games, digital, online, and other (multi)media.
This course introduces students to the study of folklore, including wonder (fairy) tales, and oral traditions across time, places, and cultures. We will begin with key terms and concepts, as well as read and discuss representative texts as well as engage critical secondary texts by scholars in the field. While we often think of folklore as belonging to the past, we are all active participants in constructing and interpreting folklore on a daily basis in our ordinary, every day lives, a process we may or may not always be aware of. For example, folklore includes a range of knowledge, beliefs, practices, and traditions, such as origin stories or creation myths, ghost stories, jokes, tales, children’s games, proverbs, charms, and blessings. At the same time, stories are not only meant to entertain, but also to educate; they can reinforce stereotypes and value systems, as well as imagine alternative ways of being in this world, as well as imagine other worlds of possibilities. They can help groups form or strengthen common bonds, and they can also (simultaneously) exclude others. In considering the oral and performative nature of such stories, whether intimate or public, there is also an art in their telling that does not coincide with the art of print literatures, nor is there a basis of universal aesthetic or appeal.
Some central questions include: what is folklore? Wonder tales? Oral traditions? Where do they come from? How do they affect and influence our lives? Why are they important to study? How, when, where, and why do we engage with them? Because we are in Hawaiʻi where ʻŌiwi (Hawaiian) culture is a foundation literally inscribed in the ʻāina (environment), we will also consider Hawaiian concepts such as moʻolelo (stories, narratives, history) inclusive of wonder (kamahaʻo, āiwaiwa) that differ from western concepts of such (i.e. moʻolelo kamahaʻo are not fairy tales; fairy tales are specifically European).
Across the semester we will engage with selected examples of folktales, legends, folk and traditional song practices, storyperformance, and related genres such as spoken word and even film representations. We will also discuss traditional narratives from different communities and cultural perspectives, and some comparative and place-based research, striving in our endeavor to be mindful of our location in Hawai’i, and to reflect on how Asian, Pacific Island, US and other cultural traditions intersect with ʻŌiwi culture and moʻolelo. We all come to class with our own knowledge, understandings, cultures, and experiences that are essential components of our exploration of various traditions, their similarities, and differences.
Course Requirements:
- Two research comparative and/or place-based projects with a written component (up to 4,000 words total)
- Reaction paper responses, folklore collection assignments, and questions for class discussion
- Lead a class discussion on a specific assigned reading
- Regular attendance, participation in informal class activities, informal class discussion, and doing the reading
- Exams (midterm, final, quizzes)
Possible Texts:
- Goldstein, Diane, et. al. Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore.
- Hallett, Martin, and Barbara Karasek, eds. Folk & Fairy Tales.
- Kapanui, Lopaka. The Legend of Morgan’s Corner.
- Nākuina, Moses K. The Wind Gourd of Laʻamaomao.
- Sims, Martha, and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions.
- Sina ma Tinirau (2019) (film)
- Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (2009) (film)
- Whale Rider (2002) (film)
- Shorter readings including essays and short stories/poetry will be posted on Laulima in lieu of a Course Reader