Storytelling, Language and Ancient Ways of Knowing
Regularly throughout the semester, on this website, I will post web essays linking all the readings for the week with discussion prompts and connections. A working course itinerary with readings, assignments and projected due dates is available for your reference. Here are some broad descriptions of the projects and pieces we will create:
Cosmogony: Worldviews in technicolor; Stories that shape reality
Inquiries: What is the human relationship with the divine? How do humans make meaning? How do humans understand their place in the world? Why are we here and what happens next?
Ancient Stories Reimagined:
A small group collaboration, re-presenting one of the creation, origin stories, or a sequence of scenes from Epic of Gilgamesh in a multimodal way for a modern audience. Attentive to the way the ancient story is told and true to the text. Option to work solo. Re-tellings can take many forms – illustration series, movie, collage, graphic novel, podcast . . .
Texts: Cosmogonic Stories (Cherkee, Yao, Nigerian, Genesis), Popol Vuj, Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis
Public Art Scavenger Hunt
Assignment link here. Paired with Amanda Wray’s LANG120 students. A scavenger hunt among the public art of Asheville. You will need a camera (phone is fine). After the hunt, we will meet. Reflection Paper/Post.
Texts: Cherokee and Popol Vuj texts and cultures; art and artifacts from Greece and Rome
Ethics: Worldviews put into practice
Inquiries: How to live? What is a “good” life? Can we/should we define a “good” life? How can we deal gracefully with mystery and conflict? What gives life meaning?
How to Live? Dialogue: an ancient conversation about ethics:
Using the texts we will imagine the conversation ancient thinkers and characters would have had if they came around to discuss central questions (determined by the class) about how to live a “good” or meaningful life. Options for students to work alone or in groups to craft a dialogue between three or more thinkers.
Texts: Plato’s apology of Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurius, Epictetus, Confucius, Doedejing, Bhagavad Gita
Realities of Poverty walk and reflection:
With Amanda Wray’s Lang120 class, we will take a tour of Asheville facilitated by a scholar from Asheville Poverty Initiative, who will help up see the city urban infrastructure and messaging – thru the lens of one who has experienced poverty in this city. We will discuss, reflect and explore connections to the ancient world’s systems of urban infrastructure, resource sharing and social justice.
Rhetoric/Politics/Intimacy:
stories make arguments too . . . and then there are love poems.
Inquiries: Who has power, who doesn’t and how do you get it? What does HOW a story is told affect the meaning of the story? How do stories/texts/messages define a culture? Whose voices get to define? What is the Relationship Between Economics and Justice? How are labor and resources valued?
Politic/Resources & Relations/Love discussion lead
Student choice – in small groups, will present the texts to class, with instructor support.
Small groups meet with instructor on Monday/Wednesday, present and lead the class on Friday for three weeks. Each group member writes a reflection.
Texts: (Student choice)
Politics – tbd
Resources and Relations- tbd
Love – tbd
Nature: Land, language, story, science is a story too!
Inquiries: How do human’s relate to the sacred. What can we learn from the ancient world that would help our current crisis? How have some values we inherited from the ancient world helped or contributed to the climate crisis?
Earth Day Project: The earth is ancient!
To be determined by class, but must incorporate ancient perspectives on nature. Ideas: poetry incorporating ancient ideas, recipe collection, science lessons. Small groups or whole class collaboration with individual reflections, due.
Texts: Daodejing, Cherokee Stories, Presocratics
Final Reflective Essay
(Can be creative and multimodal, and/or genre specific such as a letter, but must reference specific questions, thinkers and texts.)
Other writing through the semester will be comments on the website.
From the projects we create, together and individually, we will decide what to contribute to the First Year Showcase, which will be launched on Friday, April 29th.