Interdisciplinary Minors

Folklore and Mythology

Faculty

Burns, ffolliott, Fuchs, Johnsen-Neshati, Kendall, Mattusch (co-coordinator), Owens, Rutledge, Shiner, Todd, Winkler, Yocom (co-coordinator)

Stories told in both sacred and secular contexts, along with festivals, foods, music, material objects, and other traditional art forms, continue to influence our lives. This interdisciplinary minor offers students the tools with which to explore the compelling meanings within these seemingly simple, everyday cultural texts and become more aware of the ways these texts are used by individuals and institutions for various goals. Committed to interdisciplinary study, this program asks students to study folklore and mythology by juxtaposing the multiple viewpoints available from anthropology, art history, classical studies, literary studies, and religious studies.

Requirements

A minimum of 18 credits of related course work is required, taken from three groupings of courses. If any of these courses is taken for credit toward the B.A. literature requirement, it may not be taken for credit in the minor.

Group 1 (3 credits)

• ARTH 102 Symbols and Stories in Art
• CLAS 250 Classical Mythology
• RELI 100 The Human Religious Experience
• RELI 211 Religions of the Near (Middle) East
• RELI 212 Religions of the Orient

Students may take only one Group 1 course from a department for credit toward the minor.

Group 2 (12­15 credits)

• ANTH 450 Qualitative Methods in Sociocultural Research (note ANTH prerequisites)
• ARTH 319 Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
• ARTH 321 Greek Art and Archaeology
• ARTH 322 Roman Art and Archaeology
• ARTH 382 Arts of India
• ARTH 383 Arts of Southeast Asia
• ARTH 384 Arts of China
• ARTH 385 Arts of Japan
• CLAS 340 Greek and Roman Epic
• CLAS 350 Greek and Roman Tragedy
• ENGL 311 Writing Ethnography
• ENGL 333 Folklore of the Americas
• ENGL 337 Special Topics in Myth and Literature
• ENGL 491 Special Topics in Folklore
• ENGL 498 Internship: Special Topics: Folklore
• ENGL 591 Special Topics in Folklore
• RELI 351 Religions of the Ancient Near East

Group 3 (0­3 credits)

Independent Study and Internships: ANTH 299, ANTH 495, ARTH 393, ARTH 490, ARTS 491, ENGL 498, ENGL 499, summer field work schools offered by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and other institutions approved by the faculty

To avoid duplication of courses, English majors who choose the folklore and mythology interdisciplinary minor should not elect the English Department's folklore, mythology, and literature concentration.

For further information, contact Margaret Yocom, Department of English, Robinson Hall, Room A439, (703) 993-1172, or Carol Mattusch, Department of History and Art History, Robinson Hall, Room B355, (703) 993-1017.