Since we've been talking about power and politics quite a lot last time (and about power structures in the educational system), these two videos might interest you. It is always good to see 'great philosophers' in real life, as human beings. Do comment here, or else we can discuss it next time in the tutorial.
Which of the two 'great minds' would you side with?
P.S.- in case you are wondering: the bald pretentious-looking guy is (or better was) Michel Foucault, while the one that looks like a hybrid between Bill Gates and Woody Allen is Noam Chomsky (he's still alive).
FIRST PART
SECOND PART
Friday, 17 October 2008
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Hungarian Myths
Well done to Jonathon for identifying two out of three of the Hungarian Myths posted last week. The third one was an image of the myth of Csaba son of Attila the Hun who will return one day (via the Milkyway!) to save the Hungarian nation at their time of greatest peril!
Keep an eye out for Mystery Myths part II!
Friday, 10 October 2008
To Do
1) Buy the study pack. It was designed for you: it's nice, it's light blue, and it's only 22 pounds!!
2) Read the study pack and think about the question for next week:
3) Create a Gmail account and email it to Fabio to be able to write on the blog. NB: you must check your gmail account: the invitation I will send you to join the blog will be sent to that email and in order to be able to contribute to the blog you must respond to the invitation.
4) Have a nice weekend
2) Read the study pack and think about the question for next week:
Do you think Lincoln’s analysis of the process whereby the valuation of ‘mythos’ and ‘logos’ was transformed in ancient Greece successfully demonstrates the ways in which forms of self-representation are built into, and drive mythmaking practices? What relevance do you think this analysis might have for the ways in which myth is constructed as a category today?
3) Create a Gmail account and email it to Fabio to be able to write on the blog. NB: you must check your gmail account: the invitation I will send you to join the blog will be sent to that email and in order to be able to contribute to the blog you must respond to the invitation.
4) Have a nice weekend
Mythmaking Exercise
The slides of the little presentation I showed in my tutorial on Thursday.
It's meant to be ironic of course, but still to give an idea of different ways and reasons to build up a myth.
DISCLAIMER: The Author of the slides and the School of Oriental and African Studies do not condone nor encourage any discrimination towards the glorious, magnificent and prestigious institutions of the University College London and of the London School of Economics and their student and staff.
It's meant to be ironic of course, but still to give an idea of different ways and reasons to build up a myth.
DISCLAIMER: The Author of the slides and the School of Oriental and African Studies do not condone nor encourage any discrimination towards the glorious, magnificent and prestigious institutions of the University College London and of the London School of Economics and their student and staff.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The Lay of Thrym, or Thor Goes In Drag
Barring some, probably unfair remarks that contemporary Goddess Spirituality just takes a male concept of deity and sticks it in a dress, there is a dearth of transvestite gods. Norse mythology, however, tends to be filled with an odd bunch of characters; one simply needs to recall the fact that Loki is the mother of Odin’s horse, to name but one example.
This myth is The Lay of Thrym (Þrymskviða), and held an enduring popularity in Scandinavia, continuing to be recited in several forms until the 19th century. It involves the story of the god Thor dressing as the goddess Freyja to retrieve his hammer from the giant Thrym. Here are two different translations. This one is longer and more poetic in style (remember the story was originally in poetic form), while this one is probably easier to read. I prefer the first, but that's just me. It is founf in the Poetic Edda.
There is little scholarly consensus on its age: some see it as an older heathen story, others as a Christian parody. I’m posting it because I find it interesting and wondered what you think of it. What message do you think it conveys? What image of, and attitude to, women does it project? Is the hammer symbolic of masculinity, and if so how is this reflected in the narrative? What questions does the story raise for you?
In all honesty, what I'm trying to work out is how Thrym didn't notice the beard. It's not as if the story takes place before the binding of Fenrir...
Monday, 6 October 2008
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Mystery Myths
There is a small prize going for the first person to identify which European nation's founding myths are portrayed in these images. Once you have discovered the country of origin, try and explain the significance of these myths in the nationalist discourse of the nation in question.
Myths
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Some thoughts about the storytelling
I was thinking about the myth that you have to re-tell.
When you'll do that, try to get the meaning of this exercise: its not about how well you know the story, nor on how well you tell it. It's just about how you tell it, what you include and what you exclude, what you stress and what you don't. It is about the elements of you that will lie in it. This means that you should not write it being concerned with the marking; do not sit down with a printed copy of the myth on one side and just rephrase it, the point would be completely missed.
In fact, what I would suggest is: read it as soon as possible, maybe twice, and then just let it be for some weeks. When the day will come for you to sit down and write it (or paint it, or facebook it, or sing it, or powerpoint it, or put it down in verses or whatever mean you can imagine...and the mean of course is instrumental to the goal, be aware) don't read it again, and what you will remember more vividly will constitute your own way of metabolizing it.
Once again, the assessment is more for your partecipation rather than for your accurate and detailed description of the myth. As every myth, it has a precise pattern: once you have understood it, after your first thorough reading, feel free to move within that pattern.
Just find a way to have fun with it.
(Of course, if you end up telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood, something has gone terribly wrong, or else your brain has a rather peculiar pattern of associations)
I hope you see my point (I tend to be right).
When you'll do that, try to get the meaning of this exercise: its not about how well you know the story, nor on how well you tell it. It's just about how you tell it, what you include and what you exclude, what you stress and what you don't. It is about the elements of you that will lie in it. This means that you should not write it being concerned with the marking; do not sit down with a printed copy of the myth on one side and just rephrase it, the point would be completely missed.
In fact, what I would suggest is: read it as soon as possible, maybe twice, and then just let it be for some weeks. When the day will come for you to sit down and write it (or paint it, or facebook it, or sing it, or powerpoint it, or put it down in verses or whatever mean you can imagine...and the mean of course is instrumental to the goal, be aware) don't read it again, and what you will remember more vividly will constitute your own way of metabolizing it.
Once again, the assessment is more for your partecipation rather than for your accurate and detailed description of the myth. As every myth, it has a precise pattern: once you have understood it, after your first thorough reading, feel free to move within that pattern.
Just find a way to have fun with it.
(Of course, if you end up telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood, something has gone terribly wrong, or else your brain has a rather peculiar pattern of associations)
I hope you see my point (I tend to be right).
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Next Week's Readings
The studypacks seem to be late, therefore you'll find the 2 articles that you have to read for next Thursday on the noticeboard outside Sian's door (339), in clearly marked paper folders. Please, just take one copy of each.
To remind you, the guide questions will be:
If you have any terrible uncertainty about them, feel free to post a comment below here and ask.
To remind you, the guide questions will be:
Both McCutcheon and Schöpflin draw attention to the way in which myth functions as a tool for self-definition and for constructing communal cohesion. What implications does this have for expanding the ways in which myth is conventionally theorised? Does the category myth need to be retheorised as McCutcheon suggests? Using McCutcheon’s and Schöpflin’s schemas, what kinds of narratives can you think of that might be understood as forms of ‘myth’ or ‘mythmaking’?
If you have any terrible uncertainty about them, feel free to post a comment below here and ask.
Monday, 29 September 2008
SlideShare
Among the many useful web-tools you can use there is SlideShare. It works just like YouTube, only with PowerPoint slides instead of videos. You might wanna use it to upload your presentation slides and embed them on the blog for everyone to see.
Here's an example, actually about .ppt presentations. So a presentation about how to make a presentation. A meta-presentation. Whatever.
Watch it (do you watch a presentation?): it is actually pretty useful.
Here's an example, actually about .ppt presentations. So a presentation about how to make a presentation. A meta-presentation. Whatever.
Watch it (do you watch a presentation?): it is actually pretty useful.
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Odyssey
Among your assignments (again) you will be reading (or re-reading for the more classically trained of you) the Odyssey. In order to make the Odyssey less of an odyssey, I'm once again posting some useful links (which, take care, can not substitute for the actual reading of Homer's exquisite poetry).
General Information and Summaries
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
- http://www.mythweb.com/odyssey/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20040909.shtml (Click on 'Listen Again')
- http://www.angelfire.com/art/archictecture/articles/odsum.htm
- http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218
- http://books.google.com/books?q=odyssey&btnG=Search+Books
Demeter and Persephone. Remake.
Among your assignments, this first term you'll have to consider the myth of Demeter and Persephone and re-tell the story in your own way. Once your version is ready, you will post it on this blog, titling the post '(yourname)'s Demeter and Persephone'. The other users/students will comment below your post. The details will be explained by Sian during the first lecture.
To facilitate you (that's what TAs are for) in your duty, I'm posting here a series of links. Moreover, I've added the Perseus Digital Library in the 'Useful Links' section: it will turn out to be useful for all sorts of Latin and Greek texts.
General Information
- http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/paolicchidemeter/demeter.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone
Re-tellings of Demeter and Persephone
- http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/demeterceresmyth/a/demeterbrothers.htm
- http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3497/demeter.html
Interpretations
Friday, 26 September 2008
Our Classroom
Quick shot of our future classroom (taken from behind the door's glass, it was locked when I went for my inspection...). The room is in the Vernon Square campus, number V326. Enter from the main door, walk to the lifts in front of the Byte2Eat cafe, enter in the lift (if it's there, if it works, if you really want to come), press the button 3 (three), wait approximately 17 seconds, walk through the opening door, and here you go, you are right in front of it.
Negative note: it's pretty small. We'll most probably have to change it in the next weeks. Unless you really like standing up.
Positive note: it seems to have some pretty big windows that you can actually open. Rooms in Vernon are infamously hot.
Mythic Video
An amusing video about Norse mythology (Sian will clarify how and why this is interesting to us). The main purpose anyway is to encourage you to create your own videos, upload them somewhere (YouTube, Photobucket...), and embed them on the blog.
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