COURSE PROCEDURE AND GRADING POLICY

COURSE NAME: Roots Music as Folklore and Popular Culture

COURSE NUMBER: ANT 389 (3143)

CLASS/STUDIO/LAB HOURS: 3

INSTRUCTOR'S NAME: Lydia Fish

DATE: Spring 2007

OFFICE HOURS: 4:30-5:45 Monday, Wednesday and Thursday or by appointment

OFFICE: Classroom Building B-102

E-MAIL: All e-mail to the professor must be sent through ANGEL. Mail sent to any other address will not be answered.

WIKI: http://www.wikwik.com/rootsmusic

ATTENDANCE: For each unexcused absence ten points will be subtracted from your course grade. This means that each unexcused absences will lower your course grade by one letter; after four you will automatically fail the course. Also, I test heavily on my lectures and on the audio-visual material presented in class, so it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to pass the course if you do not attend class regularly. You are responsible for all material presented, announced or handed out in class, whether or not you attend. You are also responsible for all material sent to you by e-mail or posted on the "(Almost) Daily Bulletin from the Professor" page of the wiki.

Of course, you may have a perfectly valid excuse, such as illness or a personal, work, or family emergency, for missing a class. Send me an e-mail message explaining what happened and if I consider your excuse to be valid I will not count your absence as unexcused.

COURSE FORMAT:

• lectures
• audio-visual presentations
• classroom discussions and presentation of two papers
• readings from (a) textbooks and (b) documents sent by e-mail or posted on the class website or on the wiki
• weekly participation in class wiki

EVALUATION: Grades in this course will be based on two tests (40%), two 2500 word papers (40%), and participation in the class wiki (20%).

PREREQUISITES: There are no prerequisites for this course, but completion of English 102 or equivalent and upper division status are strongly recommended.

WEB-ENHANCED COURSE: This is an on-campus course supplemented by a course web site. Access to an Internet- connected computer is required. You will be expected to use the proprietary databases on the Butler Library website in your research, to read material posted on the class website (http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm) and to participate in the class wiki (www.folklorewiki.org).

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: All makeup tests are given at the discretion of the instructor and must be taken within one week of the original examination date.

You are welcome to bring your laptop computer to class. However, cell phones and other communication devices are to be turned off and put away.

All work handed in for this course is to be word-processed and handed in as hard copy.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• To make students aware of the importance of roots music in folklore and popular culture.
• To introduce students to the most important genres of roots music found in the United States
• To enable the students to utilize the basic techniques of library and on-line research
• To familiarize students with the concepts of interactive websites and of collaborative learning and to make them aware of the role of technology in the transmission and creation of contemporary folklore.
• To introduce students to writing as a learning technique.

TEXTBOOKS:

• Robert Santelli, Holly George-Warren, and Jim Brown, editors. American Roots Music. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001
  This book is presently out of print. There are seven second-hand copies available in the college bookstore and more than twenty at www.amazon.com. There are two copies at the reserve desk in Butler Library.
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? Various artists. Audio CD (December 5, 2000) Lost Highway ASIN: B00004XQ83. You should be able to find a copy of this CD at New World Records, Barnes and Noble or Borders. There are a lot of second-hand copies available at www.amazon.com. You also might be able to borrow a copy from your local branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.