NATIVE AMERICAN & INDIGENOUS MYTHOLOGIES

Catalog description

Most people associate myths with tribal societies or people in the distant past, but modern Western societies also use myths to help them make sense of the universe and provide hope for the future. Beliefs in the power of science to explain the origin of the universe, save humans from dangers, and give them omnipotence and immortality are prime examples of contemporary myths. And yet Western culture regularly oppresses Native and indigenous communities that use "primitive" mythologies seeing them as different. Anthropologists and scholars of religionhave developed a variety of methodsand theories to identify and analyze the presence of myths in various cultures. This course will examine majors classical and contemporary theories of myth using examples from a variety of cultures, predominantly Native and indigenous.