Folk-F131 Folklore in the United States
2nd 6 Week Session
Daily 12:45 – 2:00 pm
Woodburn Hall 119
Fulfills CASE Arts & Humanities
Fulfills GenEd Arts & Humanities
What does it mean to be American? For many years and even
still for many people, the answer lies in folklore – that storehouse of
knowledge unique to “folk” in the United States. But just what is that
knowledge and who are these U.S. folk anyway? In this class, we will take a
look at the way folklore scholars have answered these questions in the past and
continue to grapple with them today. We will examine a broad range of U.S.
expressive culture, from “ugly jugs” to festivals for the dead, and discuss how
these expressions relate to who we are regionally and ethnically. We will also
explore how people re-contextualize specific community-based expressions like
work songs to fit into wider movements like the folk music revival. Students
will engage many of these ideas on a deeper level by crafting their own
folklore project using the fieldwork techniques taught in class. The goal of
the class is not only to provide students with a limited survey of U.S.
folklore materials but also to have them understand how folklore plays a role
in their daily lives here in the United States.
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