When the first edition of Folklife and Fieldwork was published in 1979 there were only a handful of professional state folklorists. Today nearly every state has a program for documenting and presenting its own folk cultural heritage. Folklife fieldwork has gone beyond its early missions of preservation and scholarship to serve new uses, such as providing information to economists, environmentalists, and community planners. New technologies for preserving and presenting traditional cultural expression have been developed. A new generation of professionally trained folklorists have emerged from university programs, and many now work in state and local organizations to sponsor concerts, Web site presentations, exhibits, and other cultural heritage programs. But regardless of the number of folklorists available for professional projects or the sophistication of the technology, there is still a need for the participation of all citizens in the process of documenting our diverse traditional culture. First Edition Prepared 1979 by Peter Bartis; Revised 2002.

This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal and collective identities, social relations, and economic inequalities are formed and maintained via practices of food production, preparation, and consumption. Discussions are organized around critical discussion of what makes “good” food good (tasty, healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.), and draw on anthropological studies as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. A primary goal of the course is to provide students with conceptual tools to understand and evaluate food systems at local and global levels. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication is provided.

This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, images, objects, and other sources to help students and teachers understand the efforts of Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest to protect and sustain salmon, water, and homelands. Scroll to begin an exploration of the Pacific Northwest history and cultures.

An online, video-based methods course focusing on best practices for foreign language instruction at the high-school and college levels. It features 12 interactive media-rich modules taught by different professors from the University of Texas at Austin. Modules include Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, Pragmatics, Culture, The Language Learner, Technology, Classroom Management, and Assessment.

This class will investigate the ways in which the formal aspects of Western storytelling in various media have shaped both fantasies and perceptions, making certain understandings of experience possible through the selection, arrangement, and processing of narrative material. Surveying the field chronologically across the major narrative genres and sub-genres from Homeric epic through the novel and across media to include live performance, film, and video games, we will be examining the ways in which new ideologies and psychological insights become available through the development of various narrative techniques and new technologies. Emphasis will be placed on the generic conventions of story-telling as well as on literary and cultural issues, the role of media and modes of transmission, the artistic significance of the chosen texts and their identity as anthropological artifacts whose conventions and assumptions are rooted in particular times, places, and technologies. Authors will include: Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Christian evangelists, Marie de France, Cervantes, La Clos, Poe, Lang, Cocteau, Disney-Pixar, and Maxis-Electronic Arts, with theoretical readings in Propp, Bakhtin, Girard, Freud, and Marx.

In this new edition of Foundations for Moral Relativism a distinguished moral philosopher tames a bugbear of current debate about cultural difference. J. David Velleman shows that different communities can indeed be subject to incompatible moralities, because their local mores are rationally binding. At the same time, he explains why the mores of different communities, even when incompatible, are still variations on the same moral themes. The book thus maps out a universe of many moral worlds without, as Velleman puts it, "moral black holes”. The six self-standing chapters discuss such diverse topics as online avatars and virtual worlds, lying in Russian and truth-telling in Quechua, the pleasure of solitude and the fear of absurdity. Accessibly written, this book presupposes no prior training in philosophy.

As we read broadly from throughout the vast chronological period that is “Homer to Dante,” we will pepper our readings of individual ancient and medieval texts with broader questions like: what images, themes, and philosophical questions recur through the period; are there distinctly “classical” or “medieval” ways of depicting or addressing them; and what do terms like “Antiquity” or “the Middle Ages” even mean? (What are the Middle Ages in the “middle” of, for example?) Our texts will include adventure tales of travel and self-discovery (Homer’s Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno); courtroom dramas of vengeance and reconciliation (Aeschylus’s Oresteia and the Icelandic Njáls saga); short poems of love and transformation (Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Lais of Marie de France); and epics of war, nation-construction, and empire (Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, and the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf).

This subject offers a broad survey of texts (both literary and philosophical) drawn from the Western tradition and selected to trace the growth of ideas about the nature of mankind’s ethical and political life in the West since the renaissance. It will deal with the change in perspective imposed by scientific ideas, the general loss of a supernatural or religious perspective upon human events, and the effects for good or ill of the increasing authority of an intelligence uninformed by religion as a guide to life. The readings are roughly complementary to the readings in 21L001, and classroom discussion will stress appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the cultural heritage of the modern world.

The Francophone Project is a resource that was created in order to bring awareness to the various French speaking countries throughout the world. Because culture is so important and often pushed aside in the classroom, we created a website for educators and learners of the French language to use as a way to access information about culture through natives. The website includes individuals from France to Canada, Algeria, The Ivory Coast and more. Through short videos, these individuals share certain aspects about their cultures while reflecting what it means to be Francophone to them. Our hope is that our project will serve to help people learn the French language, to appreciate all Francophone cultures, and to continue learning because it’s benefits go far beyond borders.

Français interactif is a unique, award-winning 1st-year French curriculum used by learners all over the world. Students explore French language and culture by following the lives of real students who have participated in the UT Summer Program in Lyon, France. The online curriculum includes over 320 videos, vocabulary and phonetics audio, online grammar reference with self-correcting exercises and audio dialogues, verb conjugation and practice tools, internet activities, and a textbook of classroom exercises. Franais interactif was awarded the 2009 CALICO Esperanto Access to Language Education Award and the National Endowment for the Humanities EDSITEment Best of Humanities on the Web award (2005)

In this lab, students learn about francophone culture and name pronunciation through discussion of la fête. They also practice demonstrative pronouns.

In this activity, students will be learning about Saint’s Day and take turns asking and responding to questions. They will also practice using demonstrative pronouns.

In this activity students will practice how to share their interpretations on artwork. They will also discuss different forms of art and practice describing various works of art.

In this activity students will practice how to share their interpretations on artwork. They will also discuss different forms of art and practice describing various pieces of art.

This course approaches the question of what constitutes Frenchness in today’s era of globalization through issues of memory, belonging, and cultural production. It explores the role of timeless traditions – common technologies, an internationally-spoken language, monuments open to the world, and foods such as wine and cheese – that remain quintessentially French. The course also covers recent scandals about France’s role in the world, such as its colonial identity and Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s New York debacle.
Taught in French.

This book is for students who have studied Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) for one year or more and would like to learn colloquial Arabic basics using their knowledge of MSA. It aims at transitioning learners from Novice Mid level to Intermediate Low through presenting situations useful for living in an Arab country. The book has several features including hyperlinks, practice dialogues with open answers, cultural tips, and more.

This subject examines interactions across the Eurasian continent between Russians, Chinese, Mongolian nomads, and Turkic oasis dwellers during the last millennium and a half. As empires rose and fell, religions, trade, and war flowed back and forth continuously across this vast space. Today, the fall of the Soviet Union and China’s reforms have opened up new opportunities for cultural interaction.

A brief exploration of Open Access policies and practices as they relate to the galleries, libraries, archives and museums sector.

This course examines relationships between identity and participation in Japanese popular culture as a way of understanding the changing character of media, capitalism, fan communities, and culture. It emphasizes contemporary popular culture and theories of gender, sexuality, race, and the workings of power and value in global culture industries. Topics include manga (comic books), hip-hop and other popular music, anime and feature films, video games, contemporary literature, and online communication. Students present analyses and develop a final project based on a particular aspect of gender and popular culture.

This course gives an introduction to German language and culture. The focus is on acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical concepts through active communication. Audio, video, and printed materials provide direct exposure to authentic German language and culture. A self-paced language lab program is fully coordinated with the textbook/workbook. The first semester covers the development of effective basic communication skills.