CFA 3301: The Dawn of Wisdom SMU-in-Taos, June, 2011 SYLLABUS Instructor (including Dallas contact information): John Lewis On-Campus Address for Pick-up and Drop-off: c/o English Department, Room 5 Dallas Hall (hard copy materials) Phone: (76)8-2946 (messages please be detailed) email: jlewis@mail.smu.edu (most reliable) Comprehensive Course Description: CFA 3301 (ANTH 2321/ENGL 2371), THE DAWN OF WISDOM, explores the visions of the cosmos expressed in the art, archaeology, and literature of Mesopotamia, Greco-Roman civilization, the Maya, and the Navajo, emphasizing the role of human beings as central and responsible actors in these four worlds. With its ancient roots and multicultural present, Taos provides an ideal setting in which to encounter these still vital traditions. The cultural exchange possible in Taos works in two directions: local religious and spiritual practices illuminate ancient texts, and ancient texts provide keys for understanding those practices. Students who have taken this course in the past have frequently experienced profound inner changes that go beyond the mere acquisition of new knowledge. THE DAWN OF WISDOM will operate as a seminar, with continuous student participation, evaluation, and feedback. Students will keep a journal in which they respond to assigned texts, make connections between readings and their own experience, and report on related material in a variety of media, including field-trips to relevant sites in northern New Mexico: the Taos Pueblo, the Museums of International Folk Art and the Governor s Palace in Santa Fe, the Santuario de Chimayó, and other sacred sites. In addition to the journal, graded written work will include three brief out-of-class papers analyzing specific texts, sites, films, and artifacts. Students will also participate in the collective creation of new myths and present those myths to the class. Texts include Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony; the Homeric Hymns to Demeter, Apollo, and Dionysus; Gilgamesh; The Popol Vuh, Diné Bahané, and Ovid, Metamorphoses.
Learning Outcomes: : By the end of the course, you will be able to identify the disciplines whose approaches were included in this course. These will include some branches of literary analysis, cultural anthropology, and social anthropology. describe several contributions that each discipline contributed to your understanding of the topic. These learning outcomes will be demonstrated by means of a question on the final examination. Required Texts On Order at the SMU Bookstore: Tedlock, tr. Popol Vuh (Simon & Schuster) Ovid, Metamorphoses (Indiana U. Press, Humphrises translation) D. Ferry, translator, Gilgamesh (FSG) Zolbrod, Diné Bahane' (U. of New Mexico Press) Sargent, Homeric Hymns (Norton) Stephanie Nelson, tr. Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days (Focus) You are also are required to buy a small sewn-bound book which will contain your journal for this course. This journal should be a permanent artifact (so no spiral notebook and no loose pages, please; if you want to print your entries, get a glue stick and paste them into your journal). Under no circumstances should you include class notes in your journal. By the same token, I will not write in them; they are to be entirely your own writer s space. In addition to the above readings, we will be viewing some films. probably including Popol Vuh (animated telling of the story in Tedlock), The Sanctuary (documentary on Chimayò), Men with Guns and Blade Runner (both theatrical). These theatrical films will be screened early on certain evenings (depending on the schedule of wellness activities and other elements of the Summer Term program).
Written Work and Activities: 1 1. Your journal will form the basis of your writing for this course. You will begin keeping it before you come to Taos (see below), and you will write in it daily until the course is finished. The focus of your journal will be your relation to the themes and concerns of the course. That includes your responses to the readings, films, and field trips (sites visited will include Taos Pueblo, the Sanctuary at Chimayó, and the museums in Santa Fe, dates TBD), but it also includes anything you feel to be relevant to the topics we explore in the course. It can contain memories and dreams if these seem relevant to you. Entries are limited only by the limits of your curiosity and your imagination. From time to time I will give you prompts as to what to write a journal entry about (see for example the writing to be done before you come to Taos). 2. For the purposes of more intensive discussion, development of essays, and participation in field trips, you will be divided into a (small) number of Clans: Ravens, Eagles, and possibly others depending on class size. The number and composition of these Clans will be determined at the end of the first week of classes. Clans will be responsible for the presentation of original myths on Wednesday, June 29. 3. You will also be asked to write three brief essays responding to specific issues raised in class discussion (due June 14, 21, and 28 at the beginning of class), an in-class essay on Monday, June 6 (our first full class meeting) and a final multipart written examination (up to three hours allowed) on the morning of Saturday, July 2 (which is also our scheduled departure date). 3. Your grade will depend on your enthusiastic participation in all this reading, writing, viewing, discussing, traveling, and creating. Given the size of the class and the intensity of communal life at Ft. Burgwin there is, in this course, literally no place to hide. Before You Come to Ft. Burgwin: Before coming to Fort Burgwin, be sure to obtain copies of the required texts and familiarize yourself with them. What do they contain besides the works named on their covers: introductions, notes, appendices, glossaries, indices? Read some of the assigned passages to get a feel for them. In what ways are you comfortable with them? In what ways are they uncomfortable or difficult? Remember: none of these primary texts was composed with us in mind. Moreover, they have been translated from languages that are very different from contemporary English. Even in translation they seem foreign to us, and that foreignness is what we seek to understand. Also before coming to Fort Burgwin, you will want to start thinking about the nature of myth. You ll be sent a handout including several short definitions of 1 Since SMU-in-Taos involves many programs sharing the same resources (including time), individual dates for field trips, film screenings, and other activities are subject to change.
myth, some of which were written by students like you in a course like this. In your journal, note which definitions appeal to you and which do not. Also note where you encounter the word myth in your daily life: on the news, in advertising, in conversation. What meaning or meanings does it have in your experience? Finally, before coming to Fort Burgwin you will want to practice being a Martian in your own world. Take time now and again to sit back and observe what s going on around you rather than immersing yourself in it. Watch how people around you interact with one another and their surroundings. Spend an hour watching a public space fill up with people and then empty again. What kinds 2 of people do you see, and what has brought them there? How do they behave as the space gets more crowded? as it empties out? Schedule of Meetings and Assignments: Friday, June 3: Afternoon: arrival at Fort Burgwin. After dinner there will be an important orientation meeting; and the end of the general session we ll have a breakout in which we will meet as a class (our first class session) to formalize the time and place of class meetings and to prepare for Monday s class. Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5: As you settle in, familiarize yourself with Fort Burgwin and with Taos (especially if you haven t been here before). Have fun, plunge into the way of life here, but from time to time slip into your Martian role and reflect on what you re experiencing. Keep working on your journal, and if you manage to get any sleep, take note of your dreams. Try to see at least one sunset, and if sky conditions permit, try to see the stars! Drink lots of water and get acclimated to the altitude the air is thin up here! WEEK OF JUNE 6: AFTERNOON FIELD TRIP TO TAOS PUEBLO; EVENING SCREENING OF MEN WITH GUNS (BOTH DATES TBD) 3 Monday, June 6: Introduction to methods of analyzing myths: comparison, structural analysis, and issues raised by cultural and social anthropology. Bring your copies of Diné Bahane' and The Homeric Hymns as we ll be practicing with them. Tuesday, June 7 Read The Homeric Hymns, Nos. 2 (To Demeter), 5 (To Aphrodite), 7 (To Dionysus), and 26 (To Dionysus). Sargent s edition is 2 Kinds might include age, gender, race, ethnicity, class the things we notice but don t always put into words. In fact, we sort people into various kinds almost automatically all the time. I d like you to make the process a little more conscious, a little less automatic. 3 The field trip is mandatory; you must attend. If you have an unavoidable conflict with the scheduled viewing and discussion of the film, borrow the film from me and be sure to watch it before class on Monday, June 13.
intended for readers of poetry; you won t find any notes, but Sargent s Foreword contains some useful material. The three gods we focus on today: Demeter (Ceres), Aphrodite (Venus), and Dionysus (Bacchus) form a triad. They preside over what is essential to earthly existence: food, sex, and drink (both as nourishment and as source of pleasure). Their dealings with mortals in these stories, however, are ambiguous: they are elusive, deceptive, and easily angered. Later Greeks were puzzled by their behavior, and we might well share in their puzzlement. Wednesday, June 8: Read The Homeric Hymns, Nos. 3a & b (To Apollo), 4 (To Hermes), 8 (To Ares), and 19 (To Pan). Apollo is often contrasted with Dionysus as representing the rational side of Greek culture. His myths are curiously entwined with those of the trickster Hermes (Mercury). To complete this circle of myths, note that Pan is often associated with Dionysus as a god of the wilderness and of the irrational side of Greek culture. Thursday, June 9: Read Hesiod, Theogony, pp. 21-62, and three selections from Hesiod, Works and Days: Prometheus and Pandora, pp. 72-74; The Five Ages, pp. 74-78; and Reciprocity and Hard Work, pp. 81-84. The Theogony is tough going; read the Introduction very carefully to get a sense for its structure. We ll be focused on the big picture here, especially the emergence of the gods from primal forces or qualities of nature and the Succession Myth, which traces the process of usurpation that led to what was for the Greeks the present world order presided over by Zeus. If you re interested in psychology, read Appendix A (Richard Caldwell s essay The Psychology of the Succession Myth ). Friday, June 10. Workshop for first short essay (on the ordinary and the sacred at Taos Pueblo: what do the guides tell us, and what do they leave untold?). Begin reading Ferry (tr.), Gilgamesh. The action of this Mesopotamian epic takes place in four regions, two for living mortals (the city and the wilderness), one for the dead (below the world of the living), and one for the gods (above or beyond the world of the living). As you read, be aware of the movement from one of these regions to another. Ferry s translation into poetry is intended to give readers a feel for the original; the edition has only a brief introduction and a few notes (found on pp. 93ff.), but use them as you read. For today s class, read through Tablet IX, to p. 53. How does this poem answer the question, What is it to be human?
WEEK OF JUNE 13: AFTERNOON FIELD TRIP TO CHIMAYO; EVENING SCREENING OF THE SANCTUARY (BOTH DATES TBD). 4 Monday, June 13. Finish reading Gilgamesh. How does this poem answer the question, What is it to be mortal? Tuesday, June 14. First short essay due. Begin reading Diné Bahane' through Part One, The Emergence, to. p. 78. 5 Zolbrod s Introduction, 1-29, does not offer a detailed synopsis of the Diné Bahane', but it does contain some interesting reflections on this text's literary character, including a suggestive parallel with the first and last works on our syllabus, the Homeric Hymns and Ovid s Metamorphoses. Extensive and useful notes to the Introduction and the Diné Bahane' itself begin on p. 341. Note that Part One contains coded references to the Pueblo peoples as seen from the Navajo point of view. Wednesday, June 15. Continue reading Diné Bahane', Part Two, The Fifth World. The first section gives a Navajo answer to the question Why We Die : how is this explanation similar to others we have encountered, and how is it different from them? In this part of Diné Bahane' you will also find coded references to the Mexicans, i. e. the European Spaniards as seen by the Navajo. Thursday, June 16. If you can t make the screening, be sure to borrow and view the film before class on Monday, June 20. Read Diné Bahane', Part Three, Slaying the Monsters, to p. 241. As the monsters die, their bodies give rise to the environment as the historical Navajo know it, and the fivefingered people (human beings) stabilize as human beings, not the ambiguous creatures we have seen up to this point. We pass from myth to reality. Friday, June 17. Workshop for Essay 2 (on the ordinary and the sacred at Chimayó: what role do stories play in mediating the sense of the sacred?). Begin reading Popol Vuh. Pay careful attention to the structure of Tedlock's book, which includes the text of the poem (pp. 63-198) with a Preface, an Introduction (21-60) and Notes and Commentaries (201-335), followed by an excellent Glossary. The Introduction contains a synopsis of this complex poem, see 30-57. The book is lavishly illustrated with Maya art as well as photographs of today s Maya. This is one case in which a picture is often worth a thousand words, so study these pictures closely! Having read the Introduction, and consulting the Notes and Comments and the 4 The field trip is mandatory; you must attend. If you have an unavoidable conflict with the scheduled viewing and discussion of the film, borrow the film from me and be sure to watch it before class on Monday, June 20. 5 Diné Bahane' is important to us in the course because the creation stories of the Pueblo peoples are not shared with outsiders. We turn instead to the stories of this other Southwestern people.
Glossary as needed, read Parts One and Two of the poem (to p. 88), the Creation, which stops short of the creation of (fully) human beings, and three episodes in the lives of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. WEEK OF JUNE 20: AFTERNOON FIELD TRIP TO THE MUSEUMS OF SANTA FE; EVENING SCREENING OF POPOL VUH (BOTH DATES TBD) 6 Monday, June 20: In Tedlock, read Part Three of Popol Vuh, to p. 142. Part III begins with a flashback to the lives of the Twins fathers, One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, whose descent to Xibalba, the home of the Gods of Death, ended in their death. Hunahpu and Xbalanque will be more fortunate, and will succeed in escaping death and setting limits to the demands that the dead can make on the living. Tuesday, June 21: Second short essay due. In Tedlock, read Parts Four and Five of Popol Vuh. Part Four completes the story of how human beings came to be created, explains why they have limited knowledge, and brings the sun s light to the world. Part Five describes how the Quiché migrated from the place of emergence to the town of Quiché and how they came to pay tribute to the Spanish, completing the move from mythic to historic time. Wednesday, June 22: Metamorphoses Books I-II, to p. 56. This section of the poem opens with the Creation and includes the Greek version of the Flood. It ends with Jove (Zeus) carrying off Europa, who will give her name to the continent of Europe:,in a broad sense establishing the location for the Greek homeland. As you read these stories, think about parallels with other texts, but focus as well on Ovid s perspective on these archaic tales. What is his attitude towards them, and why might we want to think of him as a modern writer? Thursday, June 23:. Metamorphoses, Books III-VI, to p. 152. This section of the poem opens with Cadmus and the founding of Thebes (the city later ruled by Oedipus); it includes the story of Dionysus and Pentheus, part of the wanderings of stranger god also told in Homeric Hymn 7, and ends with the gruesome story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela. By this point you will have noted how Ovid embeds one story inside another and plays with time in ways reminiscent of the nested stories in Popol Vuh. 6 The field trip is mandatory; you must attend. If you have an unavoidable conflict with the scheduled viewing and discussion of the film, borrow the film from me and be sure to watch it before class on Monday, June 27.
Friday, June 24: Workshop on Third Short Essay (museums put ordinary and sacred objects in new contexts: how do the ordinary and the sacred play out on Museum Hill in Santa Fe?). Metamorphoses, Books VII-X, to p.258. This section of the poem opens with a fragment of the heroic quest of Jason and the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece, but Ovid focuses on Medea, princess and magician, who aids Jason out of love and wreaks a terrible vengeance on him when he betrays her. Note Medea s devotion to Hecate, prominently featured in Hesiod, Theogony. Note, too, the reminiscences of wars between the Greek mainland (Athens) and the island of Crete, the saga of Hercules (Herakles), and the love of Venus and Adonis (parallel to Ishtar and Tammuz in Gilgamesh). In class discussion we will sum up the connections between Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian mythologies. WEEK OF JUNE 27: EVENING SCREENING OF THEATRICAL FILM (DATE TBD) 7 Monday, June 27: Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books XI and XII, to p. 304. The story of the Trojan War and its aftermath form the subject of the Iliad and Odyssey respectively. To the Romans this had a special significance, for they viewed themselves as descendants of the Trojans. In Books XI through XV the setting for the myths gradually shifts to Italy, and the age of gods and legendary heroes gives way to history. In class discussion we will summarize our thoughts on the relation between mythic time and real or historical time: what does this discussion mean in practical terms? Tuesday, June 28. Third short essay due. Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books XIII and XIV, to p. 364. In Book XIV note the deification (Greek apotheosis) of Aeneas, 356f., foreshadowed by the deification of Hercules, Book IX, 216f. and repeated for Romulus/Quirinus, 363f. Among the representations of apotheosis in later cultures is the Apotheosis of Washington, the fresco in the eye of the Dome of the Capitol building in Washington, DC, which carries the motif into the 1860 s. In class discussion we will focus on the uses of myth in discourse about modern and contemporary culture. Why do we continue to find the concept of myth useful? Wednesday, June 29. The Clans will entertain and instruct one another by enacting their myths. Location(s) TBD. Instructions for Friday s final will be given, and there will be consideration to another summary question: what is the practical meaning of wisdom? How is it different from knowledge? How is it different from belief? 7 There will be a question on the film on the final, so if you can t attend the screening, borrow the film from me.
Thursday, June 30. Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XV. The book opens with a miracle attributed to the deified Hercules and includes a summary of the doctrine of reincarnation attributed to Pythagoras. It concludes with Ovid s prediction of his own poetic immortality, a trope familiar to students of English literature from its use in Shakespeare s sonnets. In class discussion we use this as a springboard for summing up our thoughts on immortality and its relation to the good life. Friday, July 1: Final Examination (three hours allowed). The final will feature a few short essays on themes from the course; it will test your ability to make connections between facts rather than recall and repeat them, but it will leave the choice of facts largely up to you. Saturday, July 2: Departure in the morning.