Semester Project: Topic Brainstorm

 My Four Possible Topics

    These are listed in alphabetical order and not the order of most to least likely to use for my project.

1. Alaskan Legends

    

    Native American mythologies and folktales, in general, have always been fascinating to me. I've heard some stories from a whole bunch of different tribes, but the only one I've heard from the Inuit tribe is about a fox who becomes a guy's wife. From what I also know about the Inuits, I think their stories are probably really cool and interesting.

    These stories are the ones I'm least familiar with out of the four, so I'm not quite sure what I want to learn from them. I think just learning about aspects of their culture and lifestyle through their stories.

    As for the retelling of stories, switching points of view or swapping genders would be cool for these stories, especially the ones listed in Reading B. Those stories seem like they're going to be the most fun to retell.

    Source: Alaskan Legends Unit

No title. 1911. (Source: WikiMedia Commons)

    

    2. Celtic Fairy Tales

    My interest in this subject comes from wanting to know more about the stories from Ireland because the vast majority of my ancestry and heritage comes from there. I know about some of the stories and folktales, particularly about fairies, but I know there's more I can learn that I wouldn't necessarily read or find in the more general Irish story-/mythology books.

    I want to learn more about the types of stories people would tell each other and hopefully get some sort of window into their, perhaps, mainstream values, attitudes, and lives.

    The retelling of these stories, I think I would try to put them in a more modern setting or try to extend them in some way to see if I understood the style and point of it.

    Source: Celtic Fairytales Unit

At that moment she was changed by magic to a wonderful little fairy. John Bauer. 1907. (Source: WikiMedia Commons)

3. Filipino Popular Tales

    My interest in Filipino mythology and folklore goes into two categories.

            1. My fiancee is a first-generation American with her parents coming from the Philippines. I want to learn more about her heritage and the country she comes from because she deserves that interest and respect to get to know where her family comes from and how to understand her better. Part of doing that is learning about the folklore of the Philippines.

            2.There are more Asian countries than China, Japan, and South Korea. Their mythology is really cool, but other Asian countries have their own unique and interesting histories and mythologies and lore, and they should definitely be explored.

    I have a morbid fascination with mythological monsters, and Filipinos do not disappoint, like, they do not mess around with their monsters. There are a few that scare me the most, and I encourage people to look them up! The Manananggal, the tik tik,and the Aswang are some of the scariest to me.

    Most of my folklore knowledge of the Philippines comes from my fiancee scaring me with stories, so I want to learn more outside of monsters...and learn about more monsters.

    I'm not quite sure how I want to retell a story from this. I think it depends on the story and where my mind takes it. 

    Source: Filipino Popular Tales Unit

Manananggal. Gian Bernal. 16 August 2009. (Source: WikiMedia Commons)

    4. Russian Folktales

    Russians seem to be one of the oddballs of Europe and of the few stories I have read, combined with what I know of their history, they can get pretty wild. Like the Filipinos, they don't mess around either. Their stories can get very strange, very heavy, and/or very ridiculous. By reading these, I want to analyze how they tell stories, what lessons or superstitions are important enough to pass down through folklore. 

    Retelling a story in this unit, I think I'll try to keep any elements of the fantastical and bizarre, while perhaps changing the focus from one character to another or messing with a few elements in the story.

    Source: Russian Folktales

Baba Yaga. Koki B-Wa, 10 years old. 1916. (Source: WikiMedia Commons)