Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | HUM-2030-VO01 - American Folklore

Online Class

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

Faculty

Katherine Leach Thorpe
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
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 computer recommendations Support page.

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

*** This is a low cost ($50 or less) textbook or resource class. ***

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Fall 2025 textbook details will be available on 2025-05-19. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

HUM-2030-VO01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

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.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Integrated: This course's generative AI policy acknowledges the use of AI is an essential skill in today's world. By using genAI for specific purposes, students become equipped with relevant skills and tools necessary to thrive in a technology-driven society. Emphasizing the mastery of generative AI should empower you to harness its potential, enhancing your problem-solving abilities and preparing you for future challenges and opportunities. Be aware, however, that any time generative AI is used at any point in the assignment without attribution it may be considered a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

It is not allowed to use ChatGPT (or similar) to write any of your work in this class, including discussion posts. This semester we will talk about how and when to use generative AI, but please do not use it to write your posts, responses, or any other work.

Methods

This course introduces students to the study of folklore in the American context. We will explore how stories, songs, art, tradition, rituals, beliefs, jokes, and customs function in everyday life and how they contribute to the construction of cultural identity. Through a combination of group discussion, critical reading, analytical writing, and ethnographic fieldwork, students will examine the role folklore plays in expressing, negotiating, and contesting ideas of tradition, community, and change in the United States

Folklore is inherently dynamic and it is all around us. My hope for you is that by the end of this semester you will be able to identify, analyze, and appreciate the many forms of folklore and how it has shaped us (and how we shape it!). In this course we will be focusing on traditions that are distinctively American, either having emerged in America or having been adapted in America from other, global sources.

We will explore music, dance, food, architecture, arts and crafts, hair/clothing styles, jokes, myths, legends, and much more as we think about the folklore that has shaped and continues to shape the American experience. You will meet the learning objectives through a mixture of reading assignments, multimedia resources, group discussion forums, interactive projects and activities and other inquiry-based research and writing.

Evaluation Criteria

Class participation: 40%

Class participation consists of weekly discussion posts and response posts to your peers, as well as short writing assignments such as reflections and reading journals.

Folklore Collections: 30%

Learning portfolio: 30%

Your learning portfolio will be a collection of assignments designed to help you track your learning throughout the semester. Examples of assignments that will be a part of your learning portfolio are, for example, short folklore analysis assignments, a music/event review, and a final reflection.

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

Weekly Schedule

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.

Participation Expectations

Weekly participation in the discussion forums is important and is worth 40% of your grade. Group discussions are a key part of this course, which is most impactful when we can engage meaningfully with each other and share questions, ideas, and responses to the readings and topics each week. Everyone is expected to follow the policies below. Please reach out if you have any questions or if anything is unclear. I look forward to getting to know you all throughout the course of the semester!

PARTICIPATION EXPECTATIONS:

Weekly discussion posts:

1. Initial Post:Each student is required to post one initial reflection in the weekly discussion board.

• Your discussion should respond to the questions(s)/prompts for that week, and should demonstrate that you have read and thought critically about the week’s readings.
• Please also conclude your response with a question for us all to ponder.
• Weekly posts should be a minimum of 200 words and are due no later than Saturday 11:59pm Eastern Time.I encourage you to post earlier, if possible, as it will help make the discussions more fruitful and engaging.
• Your weekly initial post is worth 10 points. One pointwill be subtracted for every day your response is late.

2.Response to peers:Each student must also respond to at least two posts by your classmates.

• Responses should be reflective. Please don’t just respond with “great point, I agree!” and nothing else - posts of this nature will not be counted! If you agree, why do you agree? If you don’t agree, tell us why! Please make sure to post thorough responses.
• Each response is worth five points and are due no later than Mondayat noon.

So, at minimum, you should be posting THREE significant posts each week (your initial post, plus at least two responses to classmates). You are free to post more responses and engage with your classmates as much as you want. In assessing points for the week, I will factor your two strongest response posts into your weekly participation grade.

How I monitor and assess posts:

Each week I will use Canvas to review each student’s contributions for the week. I will assess the quality and quantity of each post. I will provide you with a rubric outlining the grading criteria.

1. Initial postsshould demonstrate that students have read the assigned readings. You should relate your insights, ideas, and observations to the course materials and demonstrate an understanding of the topic. You should also show a willingness to engage with and ask questions of the topics we will be exploring. Your posts should also be a minimum of 200 words.
2. Response postsshould engage with the post to which you are responding. These posts should provide additional insights, ask meaningful and probing questions (in a respectful manner), and/or offer constructive feedback.

Please don't worry if this seems complicated. I will explain it again in Week One and I will be here to answer any questions or clear up any confusion!

Missing & Late Work 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 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

Apply Now for this semester.