Myth, ritual, and symbolism: An overview in prose (course content)
Anthropo-what?
anthropos (Greek) = man; logos (Greek) = study > anthropology is the study of humans, their understandings as well as their practices, through time and space. Anthropology, argued Eric Wolf (and maybe Alfred Kroeber before him), sits at the crossroads of knowledge. He (or they) called the field “the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the humanities” (1964: 88).
Our history like our methods distinguish us from the other academic disciplines. However, in our best works and in this course, we borrow widely (i.e. we are always transdisciplinary) in our studies of how, and what, and why humans think, say, and do as they do. And we are equally interested in what humans mean by how they think, say, and do.
Because you are paying to be here, and because I am paid to be here, I promise not to waste your time. Which is to say, all of the required and most of the optional sources (text, video, audio) + exercises that I have woven throughout this semester are here because they do something for us as we think about myth, ritual, sign systems, and the scientific study of each of these. Therefore:
Myth, ritual, and signs in science
Know that this is going to be a good (complex, multidisciplinary, theory-meets-practice, etc., etc.) course. However, it is also key that you know, right from the start, the following:
This is not “Classical Mythology” in a literature or humanities department. In a “classical” course, you would read a massive number of Greek and Roman myths, take tests on these, and write a research paper or two or three. Classical Mythology is a good course, but it isn’t this course.
This course is, instead, “Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism” for Science and Quantitative Reasoning credit. That’s why you get me (an anthropologist) teaching in place of a classics professor, and that’s why we will be reading Sigmund Freud, and Bronislaw Malinowski, and Claude Levi-Strauss, and Mary Douglas, and Roland Barthes, and… (all theorists, though Barthes is more frequently labeled as a critic).
In 2017, the scientific study of mythology is a study not only of myths but also of the individuals who have most influenced our thinking about how and why and to what ends one might study myths (and rituals). What can we learn from myths? Why do we care about them? Can they help us to understand ourselves?
We will unpack the problematic all the way through this semester, and I promise, you will come out with new lenses to borrow in your own analyzing, new methods for communicating through your making, and … a much deeper understanding of the science of anthropology, past and present.
Structure + time commitment
Our content, discussions, and exercises are organized by week, with deliverables due on Wednesdays and Sundays before 11:59pm. I will be asking for an average of 5–7 hours of your time per week.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course you will be able to:
- Demonstrate (greater) familiarity with myths;
- Trace a brief history of the study of myth and ritual in the social sciences;
- Recognize and interpret signs, including icons, indexes, and symbols (in art, architecture, and advertising as well as in myth and ritual);
- Adopt psychoanalytic, functionalist, and structuralist lenses into your analyses and critiques;
- Think across multiple sources simultaneously;
- Ask, ask, ask questions unabashedly;
- Recognize and apply anthropological methods accurately, ethically, and effectively; and
- Assume your own, informed positions on key contemporary debates related to belief, meaning-making, and the study of others.
Finally, about science in general (a quick refresher)
Science is a practice, and… as Montell Jordan sang before many of you were born, “This Is How We Do It” (1995):
Ask
Investigate
Analyze
Find
Ask again (the same question; a new or revised question)
Investigate
Analyze
Find…
Good science never ends. Welcome to the loop.
