1. Position paper 5, no option 1.
Nothing to do for Monday except to be ready to discuss the article and tale. We will have a guest artist in class, Rebecca Cross, to discuss Estes' tale and an art quilt she made in response to this tale her reading of Estes' chapter.
Because we won't be able to discuss the Cocteau film, we'll view Beauty and the Beast the next Sunday. I will get you the literary tale on which he based the film during the week, and we'll discuss it and the film next Monday, March 12.
2. Position paper 5, real option 1.
For this option, please prepare for class by drawing a picture or making something tangible that in some way "embodies" an incident, image, situation, or theme connected with a character's body in one of the myths or tales you have read, or read about.
Have the picture or object focus on a problem you want to call attention to in the tale, or on a resolution you find either in the tale or in your own retelling of it, or on motif or idea you want to examine or critique through embodiment. Add a short written explanation of what you put into and "drew from" your process of making the picture or object.
OR
Write a critique or personal response to one of the articles to voice your own interpretations or analysis of recurrent motifs in myths and tales. Whatever you write about, I would like you to address an aspect of how narratives use the body and its changes as a site for complex narrative conflicts and resolutions that truly matter to you.
If you want to take a less personal approach, explore cultural and historical differences or similarities between various tales and myths. Examine the ways "the body" has not only a history but also has cultural differences. You might consider how the tales, or the articles along with the tales, help you reconceive the ways we use bodies not only in tales, but also in other ways we think.
Whatever choice you make, take the assignment in a direction you find truly valuable.
3. Position paper 5, option 2.
Both Aletta Biersack and James F. Weiner (his last name got deleted from the syllabus) write on myths in New Guinea cultures. They both examine myths in relation to the body/spirit aspects of human bodies and as the myths and rituals use tangible objects as embodiments of wealth and transcendence. Both anthropologists explore the relationship of wealth to ideas of human and animal reproduction and value. Discuss how the authors construct their interpretations of myth, ritual, and custom using different theories and examining different kinds of evidence. You might address questions such as these: