Study Guide for Exam I – IDST 2115 – Fall 2007 – Magoulick (updated 9-13)
If you are able to answer all of the following questions, and IF you have done all the readings and have reviewed them carefully, you should do well on the first exam. You will not be able to do well if you have not done all the readings.
I RECOMMEND that you make a list of all the readings, their titles and a brief plot summary.
You should also know all the information from class lectures and discussions. Some outlines of class lectures are available on my website, but there is additional information from class that you are responsible for.
See your syllabus for a list of readings assigned up to this point.
1. What are the colloquial, historical, and contemporary definitions of folklore?
2. What was the purpose in collecting folklore for many in the 19th century?
3. Who are the folk? What is the lore? (in the past and today -- for both)
4. Give some examples of folk groups today.
5. What is “folkloristics”? What is ethnography ("writing culture")? What is ethnology ("studying culture")?
6. Be able to define these terms: culture, acculturation, enculturation, counter-culture, sub-culture, tradition, assimilation, ethnocentrism, authenticity, etiology, worldview, cosmogonic, cosmology, primordial.
7. Be familiar with these names in the study of folklore (and their contributions): The Brothers Grimm, Dan Ben-Amos, William Thoms, Charles Perrault, Alan Dundes, Henry Glassie, and Stith Thompson
8. Be aware of what constitutes folklore studies today (be prepared to give some examples).
9. What are the four branches of folkloristics? (oral, material, gestural, and customary) Which have we studied thus far?
10. Understand the distinctions between the following narrative genres: myth, folktale (& fairy or wonder tale), legend (& urban legend), epic, personal experience narrative, anecdote, & instructive tale. What is a Märchen?
11. What is the primordial period? To what narrative genre does it apply?
12. From which tribes did we read or hear examples of Native American myths, tales and legends? – Be sure you can connect the tale with the tribe. What kinds of tales are they? (Know the plots, main characters, etc.)
13. What are the major kinds of Native American origin myths, what are their elements, and which kind did we read? (earth diver, emergence, migration)
14. What are the categories of tales we have read so far?
15. What is a motif? What is a tale type index? How are they used?
16. What do the tales we read thus far reveal about American consciousness, Native American worldview, nationalism, etc.?
17. Be sure you are familiar with the plot of each tale we read (make a list of the tales, their genres, their titles, their major motifs, etc.)
18. What is the function and purpose of wonder tales (or fairy tales)?
19. What are main characteristics of wonder tale (or fairy tale) heroes and villains? Be sure you can explain how the tales we read fit this.
20. Be aware of some possible interpretations of the various fairy tales (psychoanalytical, historical, etc.).
21. Describe the role of women in the fairy tales we read and how that compares to Disney's women characters in fairy tales.
22. How do many tales show a restoration of social order? Do any challenge the social order?
23. Why do folktale heroes often fight authority figures?
24. What do many origin myths have in common in terms of structure, function, and content?
25. What is the difference (or similarity) between Native American myths we read for class and the Judeo-Christian myth (from the Bible)?
26. Discuss the role of female characters in any of the narratives discussed thus far. How might they be considered strong or weak? And what does this imply?
27. Discuss the use and significance of the number three as a pattern number in our culture.
28. Consider the tales as coming of age stories and be prepared to discuss how they might symbolize things like budding sexuality.
29. Why do folklorists study the stories of other cultures?
30. Analyze the typical pattern of heroic narratives (departure, transformation, return) in the lives of several heroes.
31. What might American tall tales and heroic stories reveal about our worldview?
32. How can stories from long ago still be considered "legends"?
33. How is social class important to various heroes?
34. How do monstrous legends from the past compare to monstrous legends of today?
35. What pseudo proofs are offered for Bigfoot and other monsters and why are they “pseudo”?
36. Why do we tell "monstrous legends"? What do they reveal about humanity?
37. How might the media and popular culture influence monstrous or outlandish legends?
See also website http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu for important links and information
Back to Folklore Information Page
Back to Course Syllabus for IDST 2115