Seminar – Unit 3 Myth and the Origin of the Humanities Questions & Concerns DQs for the week...

Seminar – Unit 3Myth and the Origin

of the Humanities

• Questions & Concerns• DQs for the week• Seminar Question

Seminar Question 1: Look back at the discussion on popular sayings in the text. These common phrases communicate the beliefs, values, and morals of a culture that repeats them. Think of 2 family expressions, often-heard proverbs, advertising slogans, or political slogans.

(avoid using the examples in the text)

What are some of these sayings? What do these phrases mean to you? What do the sayings communicate about

the culture that expresses them?

Popular Sayings

‘Us vs. them.’

Popular Sayings

‘Leave it to mother nature.’

Popular Sayings

‘They’ll think of something.’

Popular Sayings

‘Isn’t that just like a man!’

“In an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of good

complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports . . . any man who fails to qualify in any one of these ways is likely to view himself—

during moments at least—as unworthy, incomplete, and inferior.”

Popular Sayings

‘Isn’t that just like a woman.’

“Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to

put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small

portion of their gifts.”

Popular Sayings

‘All you need is love.’

Popular Sayings

‘Nice guys finish last.’

Popular Sayings‘To the victor go the spoils.’

‘The Elgin Marbles’

British Museum

Popular Sayings

‘It must be fate.’

Popular Sayings‘Everybody does it.’

Popular Sayings

‘What goes around comes around.’

Seminar Question 2:

Some of the mythology in a culture is so deep that is can lead to assumptions that would be considered stereotypical.

What are some of the stereotypes that exist in American culture?

Do you believe they can be dispelled?

Seminar Question 2: (cont.)

Have you ever held a stereotype that you adjusted after an experience that proved the belief to be inaccurate?

How did this change?

DQ 1 -

Sociologist Erving Goffman critiqued the limitations and expectations for American males: “In an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports . . . any man who fails to qualify in any one of these ways is likely to view himself—during moments at least—as unworthy, incomplete, and inferior.”

DQ 1 – continued

Psychologist Mary Pipher argues America is poisoning girls with pressures to maintain difficult standards of beauty and behavior.

She says, “Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.”

DQ 1 - continued

First, do you see these definitions as accurate or inaccurate?

Why or why not? How are these perceptions perpetuated?

DQ 2 –Myths often communicate the values, lessons, or beliefs of a

culture. For example, Narcissus is so self-involved that he falls in love with his own reflection in the water. This leads to his death, because he will not leave himself behind. Lot’s wife, as noted in the text, perishes because she does not trust and obey. These stories act as corrective tales to guide behavior.

DQ 2 – continued

• Explain a narrative in your life or culture that is frequently told, or commonly known, and communicates a corrective lesson. Share this narrative with us.

Why do you believe this lesson is told in a narrative format? Does a narrative hold a different meaning than a set of rules? Explain your answer.