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The New York Folklore Society |
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New York Folklore Society P.O. Box 764 Schenectady, NY 12301 518/346-7008 Fax 518/346-6617 nyfs@nyfolklore.org |
PROGRAMS & SERVICES | NY FIELD TRIPS | FORUMS | MENTORING | ARCHIVES | ADVOCACY | SEARCH EXPLORING PLACE: SUMMER FIELD SCHOOLLIB-644580-05, Advanced undergraduate or graduate, 2 credits Summer A Term: May 19 - July 11 Instructor: Alice Lai Residency coordinator: TBA Empire State College’s Center for Distance Learning (CDL), in a partnership with the New York Folklore Society (NYFS), is pleased to offer the summer 2008 blended course (including online and residency components): Exploring Place: Summer Field School. The purpose of this course is to provide community scholars and students, interested in documenting, presenting, or researching the culture and tradition of their local community, the opportunity to learn fieldwork methods and strategies, and to engage with critical issues that arise in the context of conducting local fieldwork. This two-credit, blended course at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level is comprised of online discussions of readings and three face-to-face weekend meetings (residency). Two of these meetings will be a half day workshop in Saratoga Springs, NY, tentatively in the beginning and the end of the term, while one of the meetings will be an overnight event. Attendance at these meetings (residency) is mandatory and will offer opportunities for students to meet fieldwork specialists, folklorists, and/or tradition bearers, to learn and practice documentation techniques (e.g., documentary recording/photographic skills, interview) in a selected local fair, and to present their project to each other. Thanks to the NYFS's support, the residency expense including lodging, meals, guest lecture fees, and some travel costs will be covered. The readings and online course discussions include topics such as the concepts of folklore, ethics, documentation techniques, presentations of folklore, and other broader issues such as nationalism and culture preservation. Examples of folklore research are also included. In addition, each student is expected to practice fieldwork documentation techniques at their own local site. This culminates in a documentation or research project, which each student is to share and discuss with the entire group throughout the term online. Projects are expected to deal with any of the wide array of local or everyday life cultural traditions or practices that sustain communities: local arts, graffiti, billboards, yard decorations, regional dance traditions, local music, regional crafts, songs texts sung at local coffee shops, music performed at regional festivals, proverbs of community elders, regional foodways, or local storytellers. Community scholars or students come into the study with a local documentation or local research project already in progress are welcome to continue their project. Others are expected to launch a project they may have been thinking about undertaking. Students may register for this course online just as they would for other courses. This information will be available under Collegewide Opportunities in the online Learning Opportunities Inventory for Summer (A) term, 2008. More information regarding registration, residency program, and scholarship opportunity will be announced later on the CDL website. Read more about the 2006 Summer Field Course: “Exploring Place: Documenting Your Community’s Culture and Traditions” HOME | ABOUT NYFS | PROGRAMS & SERVICES | PUBLICATIONS | RESOURCES | CALENDAR | WHAT’S FOLKLORE? | MEMBERSHIP | GALLERY | SHOP | SEARCH | CONTACT US © 2008 New York Folklore Society |