Cross listed with ANTHRO 3150-01

Course Description

This course examines three related folklore genres (legend, rumor, and conspiracy theory), with a focus on how they migrate back and forth from the oral to the digital realm (film, television, Internet, social media, news, etc.).  These genres—legend, rumor, and conspiracy theory—touch upon the most sensitive areas of our existence, exposing our insecurities and anxieties.  This is why stories about supernatural encounters, miracles, evil spirits, invasion by “others”, and those about the criminally insane, continue to proliferate even in our modern times.  “Industrial advancement has not changed the basic fragility of human life,” writes Linda Dégh, “and the commercialization and consumer orientation of the mass media has actually helped legends travel faster and farther.”  From AIDS aggression and sadism to aliens, ghosts, and zombies, to Covid claims and Q anon, this class explores a broad range of anxiety producing “belief complexes” that live in diverse cultural contexts. In this era of “fake news,” "hoaxes," and social media, understanding and recognizing the structural and social similarities of legends, rumors, and conspiracy theories will make us more critical and literate consumers of stories in all their forms.

Learning Objectives 

The films, assignments, and in-class activities are sequenced and designed to provide the content knowledge and skills necessary to:

•Identify and document variants of legends, rumors, and conspiracy theories;

•Critically analyze the patterning and performance of these variants in context;

•Understand how and why these folklore genres are transmitted and disseminated;

•Examine how these three belief complexes both reflect and shape human behavior.