FOLKLORE

FOLKLORE: HUMAN AND NONHUMAN ANIMALS IN A RELATION OF CARE

This class is a core teaching in the three curricula of the master’s degree course in Cultural Anthropology, Ethnology, Ethnolinguistics. This class provides an overview of the history of Italian and foreign folklore studies with a special focus on the relation of care between human and nonhuman animals. The ultimate goal is to offer students food for thought and analytical tools for them to question, through historical-anthropological lenses, the theme of interspecies relations in the context of pressing questions of our time such as extinction processes, the diffusion of diseases of animal origin and the impact of anthropocentrism on nonhuman life forms.

The study of the required readings, along with attendance (recommended) and the drafting of the final project proposal, will allow students to:
- become aware of the birth and development of Italian and foreign animal folklore studies;
- consider the possible crossroads between “classic” folklore studies and the vast field of human-animal studies;
- familiarize themselves with the research methods mainly used in the study of human-animal relations within folklore studies;
- appreciate the complexity of interspecies relations of care in different folk cultures;
- explain the proposed case studies from an anthropological standpoint;
- formulate original research questions on the topics encountered;
- be able to select and examine critically the available bibliography (both folklore-specific and interdisciplinary);
- communicate complex ideas both in the written form (in the final project proposal) and oral form (during the final oral exam);
- reflect critically on one’s own and other’s use of nonhuman species for the attainment of human well-being and health.

The students who have not taken the bachelor’s degree class “Folklore: introduction” are encouraged to read: Dei, Fabio. Cultura popolare in Italia. Da Gramsci all’Unesco. Il Mulino. 2018. Moreover, it is suggested – but it is not compulsory – to have already taken the master’s degree class “Methodologies of anthropological research”.
The knowledge of academic English is recommended to access the proposed international bibliography.

Within the vast field of 1) Italian and foreign folklore, which have already been introduced in the class “Folklore: introduction”, this class focuses on 2) the human-nonhuman relation 3) in a context of care for the achievement of physical, mental and social multispecies health.

The coursework comprises two parts.
Part 1 introduces each of these three macro-topics and their intersections, from the birth of folklore studies to nowadays, through the last two decades when human-animal studies have grown exponentially.
Part 2 proposes a vast overview of case studies in which the three macro-topics cross their paths in different ways. For each case study, we will start with the ethnographic example to then reflect on the development of animal folklore studies. The proposed case studies are:
- The animal who is good to eat and use in case of sickness: the pig in the Italian peasant culture
- The animal who is good to say and think: the spider in tarantism in Apulia, Italy
- The animal as expression of cultural syndrome: the dog in the puppy pregnancy syndrome in Jharkhand, India
- The animal as drug store: the pangolin in folk medicine in western Africa
- The animal as witness of healing: the snake in the festival for St Dominic in Cocullo, Abruzzo, Italy
- The animal as guarantee of social prosperity: the ploughing bullock and the reading of its dung in Loreto Aprutino, Abruzzo, Italy
- The animal as repository of medical knowledge: the swift in European folk medicine
- The animal as recipient of care: livestock in ethnoveterinary practices in Spain
- The animal as recipient of health: pets and farm animals in the festival for St Anthony the Abbot in central Italy
- The animal as element of social health: the dog in the cult of Hadkai Mata in Gujarat, India
- The animal as object of sacrifice for human wellbeing: the buffalo in the Gadhimai festival in Bariyarpur, Terai, Nepal
- The animal as object of invented tradition: the dog in the Yulin festival in Guangxi, Cina
- The animal as "hope in a blasted landscape": the tick in Belluno mountains

Readings for Part 1: all compulsory
- P1.1. ARTICOLO: Dei, Fabio. "La categoria di medicina popolare nella storia degli studi demologici italiani". Lares, 85 (3), 2019. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.2. ARTICOLO: Shapiro, Kenneth. "Human-animal studies: Remembering the past, celebrating the present, troubling the future". Society & Animals, 28, 2020. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.3. ARTICOLO: Van Dooren, Thom. “Care”. Environmental Humanities, 5, 2014. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.4. ARTICOLO: Van Dooren, Thom et al. "Multispecies studies. Cultivating arts of attentiveness". Environmental Humanities, 8 (1), 2016. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.5. CAPITOLO "Animals in folklore" in LIBRO: Kalof, Linda. The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies. Oxford University Press. 2014. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.6. ARTICOLO: Mechling, Jay. "’Banana Cannon’ and other folk traditions between human and nonhuman animals". Western Folklore, 48 (4), 1989. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.7. ARTICOLO: Thompson, Tok. "Folklore beyond the human: toward a trans-special understanding of culture, communication and aesthetics." Journal of Folklore Research, 55 (2), 2018. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.8. ARTICOLO: Thompson, Tok. "The ape that captured time. Folklore, narrative, and the human-animal divide". Western Folklore, 69 (3-4), 2010. Presente in Moodle.
- P1.9. ARTICOLO: Sabrina, Magliocco. "Folklore and the animal turn". Journal of Folklore Research, 55 (2), 2018. Presente in Moodle.

Readings for Part 2: two compulsory, to be chosen by the student
Once the student identifies the case study of their interest, to be worked upon in the final project proposal, they have to choose at least two of the related readings among the suggested ones, which are going to be the starting point of the bibliography selected for their composition. The whole list of the readings suggested for Part 2 is available in Moodle.

Learning assessment involves a project proposal (70% of the final class score) and an oral exam (30% of the final class score).

Research proposal:
Each student will choose a case study of their interest among the ones presented. In a 2000-word composition (bibliography included) in Italian or English, the student will: 1) develop a research question that they consider relevant, original and important for a hypothetical future study, 2) identify, starting from two of the case study-related readings presented by the lecturer, the bibliography to use as a starting point to contextualise theoretically the proposed work and answer the question, by presenting the state of the art and highlighting its gaps, and 3) describe the research methodology that the student would use to collect the data necessary to answer the question. Further instructions on the project proposal will be provided through Moodle.
If the student is interested in a case study different from the ones proposed, they are invited to discuss their idea with the lecturer via email.
The composition will be submitted as a PDF file at least 15 days before the oral exam. The date and time of the deadline will be communicated through Moodle.

Oral exam:
The student will receive comments and questions on their research proposal, about its content, form and academic writing style. Moreover, the student will answer two oral questions about the content of the compulsory readings for Part 1.

This class consists of lectures, including the use of PPT and audio-visual materials, aimed at presenting the main theoretical and methodological matters of the course, describing the case studies and explaining how the final project proposal should be prepared and submitted.

Italian

It is not possible to propose the coursework of the previous academic years.
The lecturer is always available at deborah.nadal@unive.it.
Ca’ Foscari applies Laws 17/1999 and 170/2010 to provide students with disabilities or learning disabilities the support services they need. The students who need such support (e.g. accompanying services, reservation of classroom seats for courses and exams, specific technological support, a sign language interpreter, accessible education materials or others) are invited to contact the disability and DSA office at disabilita@unive.it.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development