The Story and the Telling: Performing Culture
Folklore and Oral Narrative (English 380/O)
TR 1:30-2:45 p.m. Sakamaki A102
Kristin M. McAndrews, PhD
Associate Chair – English
Office: Kuy402B
Phone: 956-3087
Email: mcandrews@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays 12-1 p.m.
and by appointment.
Description
Folklore encompasses diverse narratives, forms of knowledge and tradition. Oral narrative, creation myths, folktales, fairy tales, games, and jokes and word play all inform the folklore, a creative and challenging field of study. How do we recognize folklore and what are its social and artistic uses? What makes folklore relevant to understanding our own and other people’s cultures? And how does folklore relate to literature? This course will introduce key concepts in folklore studies and texts (both oral and written), but our primary focus is the analysis of two folk narrative genres, the folktale and the legend used in specific cultural contexts. We will look at the substance of these tales and legends in relationship to more recent variations.
We will also be discussing labels such as folklore, oral traditions, and literature as they assume different meanings and connotations in Euro-American, colonial, and postcolonial contexts. We will focus on the importance of performance and transformations across media and cultures. The knowledge students bring to the class is essential to our exploration of different traditions, their similarities and differences. The final research project will require the collection of an oral narrative or legend based in our community with an analysis of the story.
Texts:
Living Folklore, 2nd Edition: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions by Martha Sims. The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Harold Brunvand. Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale by Maria Warner. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman. All books are available at the UH Bookstore and are required for this course. No electronic versions are allowed in this class. A course reader will be available for purchase. Details forthcoming.
Requirements:
Students will write four posts (10 points), two short essays (15 points) and a research essay (25 points). In addition, there will be a midterm (5 points), final (10 points) and two oral formal presentations (35 points). (As this course has an “O” or oral focus designation, practice in leading discussions, reading out loud and presenting research professionally to a group of peers will be required.) All assigned work and exams must be submitted and taken in order to pass the course. Attendance and participation are mandatory.