Research Opportunities!

Most of you know that the other part of what professors do is to present their personal research in venues of either publication for distribution or the genre of publication-by-performance that is the conference paper. BYU is having a GREAT conference this November, and they have just extended the deadline to the 5 September!  "Women and Creativity" is going to discuss just exactly some of the things we are intending to wrestle with in this first "folk knowledge" unit. What is women's creativity? Is that even a legitimate question? Is it an insulting question; assuming, as some might read (into) it, a difference in qualitative or quantitative production from women than from men?  Why would it be insulting (or not) to have a conference on "Men and Creativity"?

I all in, folks (FOLKS! Ha! Get it?)! And you should be too! (if you want--just because I'm one of the teachers does not make every imperative sentence I utter or write into an assignment.) I am going to submit a proposal to this conference. I have a friend who does bread-giving as performance art. It is every BIT as weird as, even more lovely than, it sounds; as I develop and rewrite my proposal I'll post it here; as I write the paper and do the steps necessary for the sort of research it requires, I'll keep you up to date through this blog.

Cheers!!

This semester is going to rock my socks right OFF.

Unit One: Folk Knowledge

image: Charles Collier

If my friend Gary hadn't stuck his arm out and stopped me from walking into the street that afternoon, I would have been a smudge mark on the Edinburgh pavement. Coming from the states and less traveled than my friend, I wasn't used to traffic flow in the UK and was looking left, instead of right, when beginning to cross the street.

People who have had a lot of traditional education need reminders like that once in awhile: some of the most prized kinds of knowledge may be less essential than more "pedestrian" types. Knowing how to walk about without dying is a kind of folk knowledge. You don't learn it in schools; you learn it in the streets.

Course Overview

Description

From the origins of civilization, the way information has been controlled has shaped what  knowledge is and does. In this course we will examine how various institutions of knowledge and communications media have defined culture and controlled how knowledge is preserved, transmitted, and sometimes censored. We will look at various world cultures and the ways they employed language, symbol systems, libraries, academic institutions, religious authority, and social privilege to maintain order and to develop and define their own identities.  This course, while independent, is a companion course to Honors 202 “Digital Civilization,” (taught with Dr. Daniel Zappala Fall 2011; Winter 2012), and will therefore anticipate the development and significance of modern-day information systems and digital culture.

Learning Outcomes

• History
  Students can characterize historical periods from antiquity through the Renaissance and identify and discuss representative texts, cultures, events, and figures.
• Knowledge Institutions
  Students can describe and analyze the characteristics and differences among knowledge institutions and media
• Communicating Knowledge
  Students recognize differences in the forms through which knowledge is preserved, communicated, and experienced and can interpret the consequences of these differences historically and personally.
• Knowledge Skills
  Students become aware of and take responsibility for their knowledge skills and develop new learning strategies, including collaboration.
• Sharing Knowledge
  Students can represent and share their knowledge of the history of civilization through formal and informal writing, oral communication, and teaching others.

General CalendarThe course will be divided into four different units that correspond with different knowledge media:

1. Folk Knowledge
2. Oral Knowledge
3. Written Knowledge
4. Print Knowledge

• 
  
  
  

Welcome to Reinventing Knowledge

This blog accompanies a course in the first half of the history of civilization, "Reinventing Knowledge," taught at Brigham Young University during Fall, 2011 by Dr. Gideon Burton and Dr. Zina Petersen. We will be posting readings and media, previewing class discussion, and highlighting student blogging here.