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Spring 2001 | |
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English 369 |
Rice 107, (440) 775-8577 |
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E-mail: Phyllis.Gorfain@oberlin.edu |
Required books
Course objectives
1. To introduce major theories about the body as a cultural construction and about how folkways enable us to study the ways treatments of the body in folk culture serve as a mapway to the self and society.
2. To develop a variety of methodologies and theories for the study of the ways that the body serves as a register of meaning and as a maker of meanings.
3. To consider practices and theories about folklore and the body from various historical positions and cultural traditions.
4. To think carefully about the relationships between folklore about the body with representations of the body and symbolization in popular culture, literature, and other cultural forms.
5. To develop collaborative work skills that enable students to pursue topics, issues, methods not included or pursued in depth in the course. To develop skills in collaborative research, problem setting and solving, and in group presentation. Group projects will broaden and deepen students' knowledge of bodylore through group work and for the class as a whole when presentations are made.
6. To extend the study of the body and folklore to further larger studies of the in culture, history, and society.
Course Requirements
1. Regular attendance and participation in discussion, 15%
Unauthorized absences over three will result in a lowered grade. Only serious illness with a doctor's excuse, required attendance at an event involving another class or family emergencies will be authorized absences. Absence because of athletic events, auditions, job interviews, optional family trips, etc. can be part of the three allowed absences but will not be excused beyond three absences. For every absence beyond five, the grade will be lowered significantly; for absences beyond seven, the student cannot pass the course except with outstanding grades in all other categories.
Those who are very well-prepared for class, attend with fewer than three absences, and who participate actively and productively, will receive A's. B's will be for students who are well-prepared but may not be as active in class discussion. C's will be for ill-prepared and non-attending students; students with more than 5 absences will receive grades lower than C for this segment and their overall grades will be lowered by 1/3 of a point for every absence beyond 5.
2. Position papers and pop quizzes, 30% of grade
Students should be prepared for every class, with all the reading completed. Occasionally pop quizzes will be given both to check on who has done the reading and to serve as a kickoff for class discussion as questions will concern central issues in the reading.
Once a week, students will turn in a position paper on the set of readings, or the long reading, for one day. Further instructions will be given for position papers when study questions are not provided. The position papers will be 2-4 pages and should be printed. Position papers are due by 6 p.m. on the day of the assignment and should normally be ready in class.
Position papers will be returned with very brief comments and a general evaluation such as 1 (poor), 2 (fine), 3 (excellent). All the position papers for each half of the term will be turned in as a portfolio for a grade as a corpus. The portfolio will be judged for:
Pop quizzes will be counted with the position papers in evaluating the student's preparation for class.
3. A midterm examination, 25% of grade
On the last day before break, students will write on three synthetic questions that draw together ideas, methods, and evidence from several assignments. The three questions will drawn from five or six questions distributed two weeks before.
4. A final project, 30% of grade
Students will work on final projects in collaborative groups during the second half of the semester. Each group will make a 50 minute presentation during the last two weeks of classes. The projects may take any number of forms, formats, and objectives. One kind of project might be to cover a subject through a forum or panel discussion, where students present their individual, but coordinated, research or findings. Another kind of project might be a performance; another might be a videotape of some bodylore behavior. Students may do collaborative collection projects with live consultants.
All projects must involve research into secondary studies of bodylore and entail using some theoretical construct. All projects will involve a report or paper that presents or explains the research and its relevance to the final product. Every group will produce a list of readings for the group, and individuals produce annotated notes on their own reading.
Group projects will be graded in terms of:
Deadlines
All deadlines are final and any late work will receive a lowered grade. The grade will be lowered 1/3 for each day late unless the student has received an extension. Extensions will be granted only by permission before the due date, and only for the following reasons:
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Day/Date |
Unit |
Assignment |
Due |
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M 2/5 |
Introduction |
Introduction to Course Objects and methods of study: what is folklore? folklore of the body? Bodylore? folklore and the body? |
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W 2/7 |
Unit I Theory and Applications
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Wholeness and Pollution Mary Douglas, Chapters 7-10 Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. 114-85. Harriet Ngubane, "Pollution," Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine: An Ethnography of Health and Disease in Nyuswa-Zulu Thought and Practice. 77-99. (93 pages to read) |
Position Paper #1 option 1 Discussion questions |
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Th 2/8 |
Play, required attendance at one performance |
Venus, Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Shannon Forney Opens in Hall Thurs; plays Thurs. at 8 p.m.; Sat. 8 p.m. followed by post-play discussion; Sun. 2 p.m. Post-play discussion on Sat. open to all, even if you didn't attend that show. |
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F 2/9 |
Unit I Theory and Applications |
Freakery: The Spectacle of Race, Gender, Sexuality Venus, Suzan-Lori Parks. |
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M 2/12 |
Unit I Theory and Applications
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Freakery: The Exoticization of Body types Yvette Abrahams, "Images of Sara Bartman: Sexuality, Race, and Gender in Early-Nineteenth-Century Britain." 220-36. Bernth Lindfors, "Ethnological Show Business: Footlighting the Dark Continent." 207-18. (26 pages to read) |
Position Paper #2 option 1 |
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W 2/14 |
Unit I Theory and Applications |
Body types: Constructing The Other Robert Bogdan, "The Social Construction of Freaks." 23-37. Karen Dubinsky, "Vacations in the 'Contact Zone': Race, Gender, and the Traveler at Niagara Falls." 251-69. Timothy Burke, " 'Sunlight Soap Has Changed My Life': Hygiene, Commodification, and the Body in Colonial Zimbabwe." 189-212. (52 pages to read) |
Position Paper #2 option 2 |
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F 2/16
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Unit I Theory and Applications |
Body Discourse and Power Michel Foucault. Parts One, Two, Five from The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1.; 1-49; 135-59. "The body of the condemned," "The spectacle of the scaffold," and "Panopticism" Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Pp. 3-69, 195-228. (165 pages to read) |
Position Paper #2 option 3 |
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M 2/19 |
Unit I Theory and Applications
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Body, Performativity and Identity Judith Butler, "Subversive Bodily Acts," Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. 79-141. (62 pages to read) |
Position Paper #3 option 1 |
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W 2/21 |
Unit I Theory and Applications |
Bodylore and Embodiment Katharine Young, "Bodylore, a Preface," viii-xiv. "Whose Body? An Introduction to Bodylore," 3-8. "The Phenomenology of The Body in Medicine," 1-6. "Internal Medicine," 7-45. Dierdre Sklar, "Can Bodylore be Brought to Its Senses?" 9-22. (66 pages to read) |
Position Paper #3 option 2 |
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F 2/23 |
Unit I Theory and Applications |
Constructing Desire Laura Kipnis, "Fat and Culture," 199-220. Riv-Ellen Prell, "Why Jewish Princesses Don't Sweat: Desire and Consumption in Postwar American Jewish Culture," 329-59. (47 pages to read) |
Position Paper #3 option 3 |
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M 2/26
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Unit II Genres
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Joke Joseph P. Goodwin, "O Brave New World: AIDS, Folklore, and Acculturation" 78-86. Karin Norman, "The Ironic Body: Obscene Joking among Swedish Working-Class Women," Ethnos 59.3-4 (1994): 187-209. (34 pages to read) |
Position Paper #4 option 1 |
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W 2/28 |
Unit II Genres |
Tale North American Indian Tales from Coming to Light, ed. Brian Swann, pp. 82-93; 225-49; 717-21; 728-36. Harold Scheub, "Body and Image in Oral Narrative Performance," 345-67. (52 pages to read) |
Position Paper #4 option 2 |
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F 3/2 |
Unit II Genres |
Tale Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Rapunzel, The Seven Ravens, The Maiden without Hands," "The Six Swans," 46-49; 99-101; 118-123; 182-185. Susan Gordon, "The Powers of the Handless Maiden," 253-88. (46 pages to read) |
Position Paper #4 option 3 Exam questions given out |
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Sun 3/4 |
Video, required attendance or see the video before class on Monday |
Beauty and the Beast, dir. Jean Cocteau 050 Mudd, 2 p.m. |
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M 3/5 |
Unit II Genres |
Tale Leprince de Beaumont, Mm. "Beauty and the Beast," English adaptation from videodisc of Jean Cocteau film (not included in reader; will be provided). Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Homing: Returning to Oneself," 256-97. (50-60 pages to read) |
Position Paper #5 option 1 |
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W 3/7 |
Unit II Genres |
Myth Edith Hamilton, "Cupid and Psyche," 92-100 Wendy Doniger, " 'Put a Bag Over Her Head': Beheading Mythological Women," 15-31. Molly Meyerowitz Levine, "The Gendered Grammar of Ancient Medieval Hair," 76-130. (54 pages to read) |
Position Paper #5 option 2 |
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F 3/9 |
Unit II Genres |
Myth and Material Culture Aletta Biersack, "Word Made Flesh: Religion, the economy and the body in the Papua New Guinea Highlands," 85-111. James F., "The Origin of Petroleum at Lake Kutubu," 37-57. (48 pages to read) |
Position Paper #5 option 3 |
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M 3/12 |
Unit II Genres |
Myth and Material Culture Maureen Tudelle Schwartz, "The Cultural Construction of the Nihookáá Dine'é," 61-113. (50 pages to read) |
Position Paper #6 option 1 |
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W 3/14 |
Unit II Genres |
Gesture Desmond Morris, from Gestures: Their origins and distribution, pp. xv-xxvii, 14-37; 100-118; 148-160. Deborah Schiffrin, "Handwork as Ceremony: The Case of the Handshake," 237-50. (65 pages to read) |
Position Paper #6 option 2 |
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F 3/16 |
Unit II Genres |
Gesture Joaneath Spicer, "The Renaissance Elbow," 84-127. Henk Driessen, "Gestured Masculinity: body and sociability," 237-52. (32 pages to read) |
Position Paper #6 option 3 |
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Sun 3/18 |
Video, required attendance or see the video before class on Monday |
Paris is Burning 050 Mudd, 2 p.m. |
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M 3/19 |
Unit II Genres |
Dress bell hooks, "Is Paris Burning?" 145-56. Judith Butler, "Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion," 122-140. (30 pages to read) |
Position Paper #7 option 1 |
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W 3/21 |
Unit II Genres |
Dress Anne Brydon, "Sensible Shoes," 1-22. Ross Higgins, "À la Mode; Fashioning Gay Community in Montreal," 129-61. Elisha P. Penne, "Virginity Cloths and Vaginal Coverings in Ekiti, Nigeria," 19-33. (61 pages to read) |
Position Paper #7 option 2 |
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F 3/23 |
Midterm Exam |
Three questions to answer out of five given out ahead for study. If you are leaving early, you may arrange to take the exam Thursday night but your absence will count. Those present for the exam will be given double credit for attendance. |
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Spring Break |
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M 4/2 |
Unit III Rites of Passage |
Birth Robbie E. Davis-Floyd, "The Technocratic Model of Birth," 297-326. Pascale Bonnemére, "Maternal Nurturing Substance and Paternal Spirit: the Making of a Southern Anga Sociality," 159-86. Andrew McWilliam, "Case Studies in Dual Classification as Process: Childbirth, Headhunting and Circumcision in West Timor," 59-74. (60 pages to read) |
Email everyone in the class, by 6 p.m., a brief statement of a final topic, or type of project you'd want to do in/with a team of 5. Indicate what might you do, and what might others do. Portfolio of position papers 1-7 due. Brief quiz on readings. |
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W 4/4 |
Unit III Rites of Passage |
Initiation Jonathan P. Berkey, "Circumcision Circumscribed: Female Excision and Cultural Accommodation in the Medieval Near East," 19-38. Janice Boddy, "Womb as Oasis: the symbolic context of Pharaonic Circumcision in rural Northern Sudan," 682-98. (29 pages to read) |
Position Paper #8 option 1 |
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F 4/6 |
Unit III Rites of Passage |
Death Maxine Miska, "Drinking the Blood of Childbirth: The Reincorporation of the Dead in Hakka Funeral ritual," 88-107. Elizabeth Wickett, "The Spirit in the Body," 185-202. (32 pages to read) |
Project groups decided Position Paper #8 option 2 |
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M 4/9 |
Unit III Rites of Passage |
Death Debbora Battaglia, "At Play in the Fields (and Borders) of the Imaginary: Melanesian Transformations of Forgetting," 430-44. Brad Weiss, "Dressing at Death: Clothing, Time, and Memory in Buhaya, Tanzania," 133-54. (30 pages to read) |
Position Paper #9 option 1 |
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W 4/11 |
No class |
Work in final project groups |
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F 4/13 |
No class |
Work in final project groups |
ILL requests completed |
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Sun 4/15 |
Video, required attendance or see the video before class on Monday |
Period Piece 050 Mudd, 2 p.m. |
Someone needed to show this tape as professor at a conference |
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M 4/16 |
Unit IV Sexuality |
Menstruation Elisa J. Sobo, "Menstrual Taboos, Witchcraft Babies, and Social Relations," 143-70. Rahel Wasserfall, "Menstruation and Identity: The Meaning of Niddah for Moroccan Women Immigrants to Israel," 309-27. Mary Douglas, "Couvade and menstruation: The relevance of tribal studies," 170-179. (44 pages to read) |
Final project reading lists due with all Ohiolink, ILL, and recall requests made Position Paper #9 option 1 |
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W 4/18 |
Unit IV Sexuality |
Reproduction Rosan A. Jordan, "The Vaginal Serpent and other themes from Mexican-American Women's Lore," 26-44. Janice Boddy, "spirits and selves in Northern Sudan: the cultural therapeutics of possession and trance," 4-27. (34 pages to read) |
Position Paper #9 option 2 |
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F 4/20 |
Unit IV Sexuality |
Sexual Difference Marjorie Garber, "Spare Parts: The Surgical Construction of Gender," 321-336. Suzanne Kessler, "Creating Good-Looking Genitals in the Service of Gender," 153-173. (32 pages to read) |
Position Paper #9 option 3 |
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Sun 4/22 |
Video, required attendance or see the video before class on Monday |
You Don't Know Dick 050 Mudd, 2 p.m. |
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M 4/23 |
Unit V Body Parts |
Hair Olivia Vlahos, "Dead Ends," 125-43. Marina Warner, "The Language of Hair: Donkeyskin III," "From the Beast to the Blonde: The Language of Hair II," 353-86. (51 pages to read) |
Position Paper #10 option 1
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W 4/25 |
Unit V Body Parts |
Hair Noliwe M. Rooks, "Nappi by Nature: Afros, Hot Combs, and Black Pride," "Beauty, Race, and Black Pride," "Afterword," 1-21, 23-50, 53-54. Carol Delaney, "Untangling the Meanings of Hair in Turkish Society," 53-73. (66 pages to read) |
Position Paper #10 option 2 |
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F 4/27 |
Unit V Body Parts |
Skin Donald McCallum, "Historical and Cultural Dimensions of the Tattoo in Japan," 109-134. (25 pages to read) |
Position Paper #10 option 3 |
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Sun 4/29 |
Video, required attendance or see the video before class on Monday |
Wedding Song 050 Mudd, 2 p.m. |
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M 4/30 |
Unit V Body Parts |
Skin Phyllis Gorfain, Deborah Kapchan, Katharine Young, "Wedding Song: Film Review Essay," 79-92. Deborah Kapchan, "Moroccan Women's Body Signs," 4-34. (50 pages to read) |
Position Paper #11 option 1 |
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W 5/2 |
Unit V Body Parts |
Skin Rosenblatt, Daniel. "The Antisocial Skin: Structure, Resistance, and 'Modern Primitive' Adornment in the United States," 287-334. (53 pages to read) |
Position Paper #11 option 2 |
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F 5/4 |
Unit VI Presentations |
Presentation 1
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S/S 5/5 or 5/6 |
Unit VI Presentations |
Presentations 2 and 3 (Make up classes for April 11 & 13)
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M 5/7
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Unit VI Presentations |
Presentation 4 |
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W 5/9 |
Unit VI Presentations |
Presentation 5 |
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F 5/11 |
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Wrap-up, evaluations, special breakfast party in Wilder! |
Evaluations due in class. Final papers and project s write-ups due midnight. |