Return to Humanities 156 syllabus
Posted
02/13/08
HUMANITIES 156: Global Humanities II
Discovery Projects and Self-Reflection
Guidelines
(225 Portfolio Points Total)
Beginning
on Feb. 25, each week three (or so) students will present some piece of
writing, music, art, film, architecture, or other product of one of the
cultures being studied. It should be presented in a format that will
allow the class to experience that object (or some part of it)—a physical
object, a written handout, photographs or other graphics, a piece of music, a
website projection, etc. You should be prepared to explain the following
and include notes:
- What is the work? Does it have a
title? When was it made (approximate, if an exact date is not known)?
Give the copyright information, URL, or other relevant information about where
you found this work.
- What are
the basic elements of the work? Examples:
- Writing:
Is it a novel, short stories, poems, or works in another genre? In what
language was it originally written? If it is a translation, what was the
original language and who did the translation?
- Music:
Is the work (or group of works) classifiable as “art,” “popular,” or
“folk” music?
- Art
work: Is it a painting, a sculpture or other format? What materials were
used to make it?
- Film:
Who is the director? What is the length of the film? Where was it made?
- Architecture:
Where is/was this building located? What materials were used to make it?
- What form
does this work take? Examples:
- A novel,
a short story, a film, or some poetry or songs may be narrative—it
tells a story. If so, who is the story about? Give a summary of what
happens in that story, who is telling the story, and when it is taking
place.
- Some
poetry may be lyric in form—it does not tell a story but describes
an observation, a mood or an emotion. If so, explain what the poems
conveys those observations or feelings.
- Music
may be meant for an audience to listen to or as an accompaniment for work
or dance or other activities. What is the intent of this piece of music?
- Who created
this work? Do you know the name of the authors/composers/ artists/directors/
architects/other creators who made this work? Whether or not you know
their names, what do you know about their lives or backgrounds that led to
the creation of this work?
- What is
the purpose of this work? Is it meant to be used for something
particular (especially in architecture), to teach a lesson, to protest or
satirize a social condition, to convey something about the creator’s
culture or society, or just to be enjoyed?
- What is
the cultural context of this work? What does it say or reflect
about the lives, histories, or beliefs and practices of the society from
which it came? Does this work primarily come from a particular tradition,
does it reflect the effects of modernity on that tradition, or would
you consider it to be a postmodern attempt to deal with the legacy
of a tradition?
Notes
example, using the
Malian oral epic The Sundiata:
- This
version of the work is taken from “The Epic of Son-Jara,” in The Norton
Edition of World Masterpieces, expanded edition, ed. Maynard Mack, et
al. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), 1437-1472. Other translations and
versions of this work go by somewhat different names or spellings, but it
is best known as The Sundiata.
- This work
was originally an oral story passed from generation to generation by the
griots who served the ruling family of the Bambera or Manding people in
what is now the African nation of Mali. It dates from about the late 13th
or early 14th century C.E. This version was transcribed from a
live performance by Fa-Digi Sisoko and translated by John William
Johnson.
- This work
takes the form of an oral epic that deals with the life of the legendary
hero-warrior Son-Jara (or Sundiata). The parts of the epic and summaries
of omitted portions here deal with the background of the Bambera people
and eventually the extraordinary circumstances of the birth of Son-Jara’s
mother and of Son-Jara himself. Born unable to walk, Son-Jara and his
mother are forced into exile by another of his father’s wives and his half-brother,
who becomes the king. Forced into exile, Son-Jara eventually returns,
overthrows his brother, and goes on to lead his people to victory in
establishing the Malian empire. The speaker/persona of this work is the
griot, who represents an unbroken string of service to Son-Jara’s family.
- The exact
dates of the origin of this story are unknown, except that
Son-Jara/Sundiata was a historical figure who ruled the Malian empire
during the 13th century CE. This is an example of the kind of
epic tale of historical/cultural heroes that can be found in many
societies, including the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia
(modern-day Iraq) and the Old English poem Beowulf. Like those
works, this one presents a model of heroic action but it also serves as a
way for the Bambera to understand their own identity as a people.
- As an
epic narrative, this story contains miraculous and magical events, as well
as events that establish the hero’s (and his descendants’) right to rule
or to inherit a particular legacy. As this version’s editors point out,
the events here have parallels with stories from many cultures about
rivalries between brothers, including the stories of Cain and Abel and of
Jacob and Esau from the Bible, and the Ramayana from India.
- This epic
is a strong example of traditional cultural identity for the Bambera, and
this version reflects how it has been passed on as an oral performance
down through the ages.
Self-Reflection (3-4 pages, about 750-1,000 words)
This part
of your paper should reflect your response to this work. The points covered in
the paper should include such things as
- How you
came to know about or discover this work and what made you select it as a
topic
- What you
had to learn about its background or origin or creator(s) in order to
understand and appreciate it
- What
found especially unusual or challenging about understanding this work
- What you
think you have learned about this work and its culture and/or creator(s)
- What you
think you still need to learn to understand this work more completely
You should
be specific about particular elements of the work that you can point out to
readers/viewers/ listeners so that they can share your appreciation,
understanding, and/or confusion about this work.
The
presentation itself—including your notes/outline--will be worth 75
points. The other 150 points are assigned to the
Self-Reflection portion that you will write about your presentation.
Both parts should be combined into one document and uploaded to the D2L drop
box when you are ready to submit them. As with other portfolio items, you have
the opportunity to revise until the end of the semester.
I encourage
you to collaborate and communicate with other students who are assigned to
present a discovery related to yours. You may even do a joint
presentation with one or more other students. However, your notes and
your Self-Reflection Paper must be your own work.
Possible Topic Areas
Note: As
group members, it is your responsibility to work together to discover and share
resources and ideas, but each of you will be responsible for individual
reports, unless you give the report as a team of 2 or more people. In any
case, the notes you submit must be your own individual work.
The
following are just some possible topic areas. You should focus on a form of
cultural expression within one of the nations or cultural groups that we are
studying. The questions to keep in mind are “How have people from this nation
or group expressed themselves through one of these cultural formats?” “What are
the specific lessons or ideas being conveyed?” “Why are they being conveyed in
this way?”
Africa
§
Oral Culture:
o
Proverbs, Folk
Tales and Fables
o
Creation Stories
o
Text: The Epic
of Shaka the Great or other oral epics
§
Masks, textiles,
and other “art” objects
§
Contemporary art
(for sale or museums)
§
Architecture or
artifacts from African civilizations (Nubia, Ghana, Mali, Zimbabwe, etc.)
§
Song or Dance
performances in village/folk contexts
§
Contemporary ,
classical and popular music or dance performed for audiences
§
Fabrics and
Dress
§
Films
§
Slave narratives
by first-generation African slaves
§
Texts by African
Writers, including
o
Chinua Achebe
o
Alan Paton
o
Leopold Sedar
Senghor
o
Amos Tutuola
o
Agostinho Neto
o
Nadine Gordimer
o
Camara Laye
o
Wole Soyinka
o
Bessie Head
o
Nugui wa Thiong’o
(James Nugugi)
o
J.M. Coetzee
§
Films (at MSU
Memorial Library or available through Prof. Larsson)
o
Daareselam
o
La Petite
Vendeuse de Soleil
(The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun)
o
Harvest: 3000
Years
o
Guimba the
Tyrant
Oceania
§
Stories, poems,
dance from Australian Aborigines, New Zealand Maoris, or other peoples of Oceania
§
Traditional
stories, customs, rituals, etc. from one of the native ethnic groups in this
region (examples: the Maori in New Zealand; Aborigines in Australia; island cultures (Fiji, Tahiti, etc.); the Kingdom of Hawaii)
§
Contemporary
fiction, poetry, art, drama, etc. from one of these ethnic groups
§
Films, such as Once
Were Warriors from New Zealand or Walkabout and Rabbit-Proof
Fence from Australia
Latin
America
§
Architecture,
Rituals, Music, Oral Literatures of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations
§
Other Native
American tales, music, etc. from South and Central America or the Caribbean
§
Other Colonial
art, literature, music, architecture
§
Other
post-colonial (19th century) art, literature, music, architecture
§
Contemporary
art, literature, music, etc.
§
Texts by Latin
American writers, including
o
Domingo Faustino
Sarmiento
o
Jose Hernandez
o
Machado de Assis
o
Jose Marti
o
Ruben Dario
o
Gabriela Mistral
o
Cesar Vallejo
o
Miguel Angel
Asturias
o
Jorge Luis Borges
o
Cecilia Meireles
o
Alejo Carpentier
o
Jorge Amado
o
Julio Cortazar
o
Octavio Paz
o
Pablo Neruda
o
Carlos Fuentes
o
Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
o
Isabella Allende
§
Films (at MSU
Library)
o
Don’t Die
without Telling Me Where You’re Going
o
The Official
Story
o
City of God
o
Y tu mama tambien
o
Maria Full of
Grace
There are
hundreds (thousands!) of other possibilities! The important thing is that your
topic must be a specific work or group of works.