Course Syllabus

Fall 2024 | HUM-2030-VO01 - American Folklore

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Martha Lance
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Jennifer Gundy

General Education Requirements

VSCS Humanistic Perspectives

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course is an exploration of how the traditional and popular beliefs and practices of North American cultures have developed over time and what their interpretation reveals about social identity, relationships, and change. Students study verbal, material, musical, and ritual folkways as expressive and artistic forms in everyday life.

Essential Objectives

1. Define folklore and its development as a specific field of study and identify key theoretical concepts in the discipline and the role that folklore plays as a tool for understanding the everyday beliefs and experiences of different cultural and ethnic groups within the United States.
2. Describe the major genres and explore various topics included in the study of folklore including stories, urban legends, songs, games, jokes, riddles, superstitions, magic, rituals, holidays, dances, proverbs, foodways, folk art, and folk medicine.
3. Describe the way that material culture, story, song, and other genres of folklore may perpetuate harmful stereotypes and contribute to systemic racial injustice.
4. Discuss the way that folklore of marginalized communities is often repressed and/or appropriated by the dominant culture and the ways those communities maintain resistance to that.
5. Identify and compare major symbols and themes found in American folk traditions, relate these to particular social contexts, and describe how these have changed over time.
6. Compare and contrast the origins, development, and process of transmission of differing groups' folk traditions.
7. Analyze and present a specific folktale, song, ritual, or other folklore form in performance.
8. Describe aesthetic, literary, and social theories of folklore and the methodologies that have been applied to the discipline, including fieldwork, recording, and transcription.
9. Identify, collect, document and analyze local folk materials including stories, songs, photographs, and objects.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity