Idaho State University Undergraduate Catalog 2012-2013
Folklore Program
Faculty
Information
Minor
Courses
Folklore
is the part of our culture that we learn in informal, personal
interactions with people we meet regularly. The many genres of folklore
include the verbal arts, such as epic, ballad, folksong, folktale,
legend, myth, joke, tall tale, riddle, and proverb. Folklore also
includes customary and material forms, such as calendar customs, games,
dances, foodways, modes of dress, folk architecture, and crafts such as
chair making, blacksmithing, and the many forms of fabric art. People
learn and share folklore within groups that have a common ethnic,
religious, occupational, or other basis.
Folklorists
with a literary orientation tend to focus on genres, the ways in which
they are learned, the ways they change in transmission, the ways they
are performed, and their cultural and historical contexts. They may
focus on textual questions, studying folk aesthetics and connotation
and the relationships between folklore genres and literature.
Folklorists with an anthropological orientation tend to study the
variety of genres within a single culture, examining the
interrelationships and functions of folk forms within the cultural
group. The Program in Folklore at ISU draws on both of these
orientations to provide students with a well-rounded course of study.
Experience
in folklore benefits students interested in continuing to graduate
programs in folklore, history, anthropology, English, American studies,
and sociology. Knowledge of folklore is helpful, too, in public
history, museum, and oral history programs. Folklore courses enhance
the knowledge of both elementary and secondary teachers and of those
planning to do social work or work in health-related professions.
Minor in Folklore
The
program in folklore offers a minor designed to augment American
Studies, Anthropology, English, History, Sociology, and other majors.
The program's required course, ANTH/ENGL 2212, introduces students to
the study of folklore genres, folklore fieldwork, and types of folk
groups. Upper-division courses provide students with more focused study
of folklore issues and genres, the history of folklore scholarship,
particular folk cultures, and the interrelationship of genres within
those cultures. The program also provides opportunities for study of
ethnographic and material culture fieldwork techniques. Specialized
courses include material culture, American Indian verbal and material
arts, and courses in the relationships between folklore and literature,
including fantasy literature.
The
minor in folklore consists of 18 credits, as follows:
Required Course:
ANTH/ENGL 2212 Introduction to Folklore/Oral Tradition 3 cr
Choose 15 credits from:
ANTH 3301 Introduction to Shoshoni Folklore 3 cr
ANTH 4404 Material Culture Analysis 3 cr
ANTH 4449 Methods and Techniques
of Ethnographic Field Research 3 cr
ANTH 4452 American Indian Verbal Arts 3 cr
ANTH 4472 Native American Arts 3 cr
ANTH/ENGL 4490 Topics in Folklore 3 cr
ENGL 4492 Folklore and Literature 3 cr
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IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY
Academic Information
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Revised: March 2012 |