FOLKLORE COURSES FALL 2023

(3 Credits)

TR 2:25 – 3:15 pm w/discussion sections

Course Description: This course serves as an introduction to folklore; that is, the arts, beliefs, stories, sayings, customs, and ways of communication we engage with in our everyday lives. We’ll be examining a variety of folklore genres, while also learning about and employing the methods and practices of folklore scholars. Because this is a practical as well as theoretical course, we will be conducting fieldwork in the region as part of a semester-long folklore project. By the end of the term, you will be able to better understand what folklore is, how and why it functions, and the many and often hidden ways that it is a part of our everyday lives. You’ll learn about ethnographic methods and techniques and how to use interviews, photography, and videography to document various genres of folklore. You’ll better understand what culture is, how it affects our everyday lives, and how it is transmitted, changed, created and re-created, lost, found, and reclaimed.

Prerequisites: None.

(All discussion sections have Comm-B designation.)

(3 Credits)

• MW 1:20 – 2:10 pm w/discussion sections

Instructor: Nadia Chana

Course Description: This course is both about music from around the world and the many different ways people think about this music. Together we will ask: what do we mean by “music”? What do we mean by “culture”? And what do we mean by “the world”? We will focus primarily on Indigenous musics in North America, Irish traditional music, and South Asian Music. Topics include dance, identity, music and social movements, music and ecological crisis, the role of music in public spaces, music as labor, and practices of transmission.

Prerequisites: None.

(3 credits)

Instructor: Thomas A. DuBois

Course Description: This an elementary-level course that explores the folklore of people living in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe as well as that of their descendants living in the United States. The course will introduce you to various forms (“genres”) of folklore from these regions, including stories, music, customs, belief, material culture, and foodways. In taking the course you will learn about folklore as a subject and the ways that folklorists conduct fieldwork. Since this is a Communication B course, you will gain experience in producing the kinds of writing and presentations that folklorists produce in their professional lives as researchers, teachers, museum professionals, public serfvants, and entrepreneurs.

Prerequisites: None

(Gen Ed – Communication Part B. Breadth – Humanities. Level – Elementary L&S Credit – Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S)

(3 Credits)

ONLINE

Instructor: Matthew Brown

Course Description: This online course provides students with a new and critical perspective on a popular UW-Madison course. Originally developed by Harold E. Scheub, “The African Storyteller” introduces students to both the oral and written traditions of African literature. The first half of the semester focuses on oral stories, and theories for interpreting them, while the second half focuses on famous 20th-century novels, by writers including Chinua Achebe, Ferdinand Oyono, Alex La Guma, and Nawal El Saadawi.

All coursework is online. There are no meetings or official office hours. Students read stories and introductory hypertext, watch lectures featuring Harold Schueb, complete quizzes, participate in discussion forums, and compose weekly practice essays. Coursework is synchronous, meaning that, while there is a great deal of flexibility, students must meet weekly deadlines. Major assessments include a midterm essay and a final research essay.

Prerequisites: None.

(3 credits)

Instructor: Thomas A. DuBois

Course Description:This is an intermediate-level course aimed at exploring the folklore of people in Ireland as well as the folklore of Irish people or their descendants living elsewhere in the world, including the United States, England, Canada, and Australia. The course will look at stories, music, dance, customs, material culture, and foodways. It will include examinations of the representation of Irish folk traditions in film. In taking the course you will learn about folklore as a subject and the ways that folklorists conduct fieldwork. You’ll also learn about the ways that cultural traditions change over time, particularly in relation to migration—both migration into Ireland and migration out of Ireland to places like the United States.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing

(Breadth: Humanities. Counts as LAS credit (L&S).)

(3 Credits)

• MW 2:25 – 4:05 pm

Instructor: Peggy Choy

Course Description: Description to come!

(3 Credits)

• MW 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Lowell Brower

Course Description: Ope. Hey der, how’s by you? “Folklore of Wisconsin” examines the traditional and emergent cultures that exist in the state, focusing on forms of creative expression like storytelling, music, dance, foodways, rituals, festivals, folkspeech, and material culture. From cow-tipping; to Hodag hunting; to ‘Jumping Around’ in Camp Randall; to gathering for powwows or lutefisk suppers; to ice fishing and snowmobiling; to sewing Hmong pa ndau, to polka-ing at Polishfest, to sipping Old Fashioneds at the Supper Club, to throwing snow snakes at the Ojibwe Winter Games, to going up to Deer Camp; to making Midwestern memes, we’ll examine the complex cultural expressions, practices, beliefs, identities, and traditions and that make Wisconsin the fascinating, folksy, diverse, and dynamic place that it is. Using campus and the surrounding areas as our fieldsite, we’ll learn about the basic concepts in the discipline of folklore as they read about the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity, of the state, and the vibrant vernacular creativity of its people.

Folklorists rely heavily on conducting ethnographic fieldwork and students in this course will document local cultural traditions, conduct ethnographic interviews about cultural activities relating to the state of Wisconsin, and engage in experiential learning by participating in various regional practices like tailgating, campus ‘legend tripping,’ cheese curd eating, atlatl spear throwing, and *hopefully* cow-chip throwing! Students will also explore a variety of public folklore productions throughout the semester and will evaluate their content and efficacy, while also developing their own projects to showcase the weird, wondrous world of Wisconsin Folklore. Will there be opportunities to study local cryptids and ghosts, sports fandoms, and regional online culture like UW Memes for Milk-Chugging Teens and #Wisco TikToks? You betcha! So if you want to be a Badger, just come along with Folklore 320…

(3 Credits)

• TR 1:00 pm – 2:15pm         

Instructor: Scott Mellor

Course Description: Nordic Mythology, Scandinavian/Folklore/Medieval/Religious Studies/Literature in Translation 342 will give students an introduction to Medieval Nordic Mythology and put it in a European context. The course will use literary works written by Christians; the Kalevala, the mythological and heroic poetry of the Edda and a few of the Icelandic legendary sagas, as well as a few early Christian texts; and look at the material culture that help us understand this volatile time.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 Credits)

• MW 8:00 – 9:15 am         

Instructor: Langston Collin Wilkins

Course Description: This course examines post-civil rights era urban African American folklife from across the United States. Each week, we will explore spaces and places of African American folk production, focusing on multiple genres of expression. Class discussions will interrogate the ways in which these selected folk practices build upon earlier forms, their complex relationships with each other, and their function within the communities of origin. We will also critically examine how these practices intersect with important societal phenomenon- namely issues of race, class, gender, power, and migration. In addition, students will conduct ethnographic fieldwork project and produce media related to African American folklife in Wisconsin. The goal of this course is to use the lens of African American folklife to gain a better understanding of the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of contemporary African American life in general.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 Credits)

• TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm         

Instructor: Sasha Suarez

Course Description: American Indian Women examines the cultural and political roles of Indigenous women in the United States and Canada. This course addresses historical legacies of Indigenous women’s roles in urban and reservation communities prior to and throughout colonization. It also addresses contemporary issues of great concern to Indigenous women including language revitalization, environmental justice, media representation, tribal sovereignty, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 Credits)

• R 1:30 -3:30 pm       

Instructor: Nadia Chana

Course Description: Description to come!

(3 Credits)

• TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Instructor: Robert Howard

Course Description: Description to come!