Karen Malouf Ostlund
Associate Professor of English
St Louis Community College at Forest Park
5600 Oakland Avenue
St Louis, Missouri 63110
Title VI-A Year One Project
West Africa
Global Infusion: West African Cultures
Folklore, Myths and Legends of West African Griots:
Entertainment, Education, Enlightenment for the Collective
III). Course Title and Number: English 101 and English 102
In addition to composition courses, the globalization module described below will
be applied to the Coordinated Studies Course being taught at St. Louis Community
College at Forest Park. The Coordinated Studies Course combines the content of three
focus courses: Introduction to Psychology (Psychology 101), Literature of American
Minorities (English 228), and English Composition (English 101). This is a course that
readily lends itself to global infusion since the underlying theme of the course is: Ways of
Knowing Yourself and Others. The course has already applied the History, Family, and
Culture of China and Latin America to the curriculum along with Communication
Strategies of China and Asian Cultures. The addition of West African fables, folktales
and fairytales will expand the global focus of the class while, at the same time, allow
students the opportunity to learn more about a little known and often misunderstood part
of the world.
In terms of the composition courses, there is already a focus on contrasts and
comparisons of communication strategies between Collectivist and Individualist Cultures.
Expanding the application to include Senegal and West African cultures will make the
material more relevant to our diverse student population.
IV). Semesters Course will be offered, delivery methods, and
anticipated enrollment:
Coordinated Studies is offered during Fall Semesters to attract entering freshman
with the objective of helping students new to the college experience find ways to become
part of learning communities. Additionally, Coordinated Studies helps students see
acquisition of knowledge, skills and information holistically with emphasis on applying
information and integrating knowledge into all the courses they will be taking during
their college careers.
Delivery Method for the information utilizes a variety of teaching and learning
strategies. There is a strong emphasis on group learning. There is application of lectures
and problem solving with a high expectation of student participation. This has been the
established format for Coordinated Studies and continues to be the established format for
my English 101 and 102 courses.
My workload allows for two English Compositions courses each semester. In the
Fall Semester, I teach with the Coordinated Studies team (Donald R. Cusumano, PhD and
Ron Hughes) and our estimated enrollment ranges between 45 to 60 students. My
English 101 Courses are taught both Spring and Fall Semesters and usually result in
enrollments of 26 students per class.
V). Course Outcomes with the specific outcomes affected by the module
highlighted.
For the specific module included in this project, the course outcomes are stated as
follows:
OBJECTIVES: By the end of this teaching module, students will be able to:
1. Examine their own personal and subjective biases regarding how their own
value system has been formed;
2. Recognize the possible fallacies that may exist in some of the literature and
fiction that they had not previously questioned;
3. Show how their current beliefs and biases may have been misguided by their
exposure to biases developed through literature and fiction;
4. Explore their own biases against other cultural beliefs and examine the origin
of those biases, the power of those biases, and the effect of the biases on our
collective behaviors and choices;
5. Examine how our own popular cultures may generate bias against other
cultures;
6. Examine how literature and oral storytelling of other cultures can demonstrate
common goals and objectives of all human beings;
7. Examine the possible causes for the development of common story themes in
any culture.
VI). Narrative Description of the Project:
AIM OF PROJECT: The aim of this Title VI-A project is to blend information from a
study of both oral and written histories of the peoples of West Africa with the material
already offered in the Coordinated Studies Course being taught at St. Louis Community
College at Forest Park. The Coordinated Studies Course combines the content of three
focus courses: Introduction to Psychology, Literature of American Minorities, and
English Composition. This is a course that readily lends itself to global infusion since the
underlying theme of the course is: Ways of Knowing Yourself and Others. The course
has already applied the History, Family, and Culture of China and Latin America to the
curriculum along with Communication Strategies of China and Asian Cultures. The
addition of West African cultures will expand the global focus of the class while, at the
same time, allow students the opportunity to learn more about a little known and often
misunderstood tradition.
In addition, introduction of some of the legends and myths as recorded in “The
Tales of Amadou Koumba” by Birago Diop will be used to make a connection to some
of the early folktales of Africans transported to the Western Hemisphere during forced
immigration. Students will be given the opportunity to weigh similarities between the
tales of “Afro-American Folklore” and the West African folklore preserved by the
griots.
This project will also be applicable to English Composition Courses which
already focus on communication strategies between Collectivist and Individualist
Cultures. Ultimately, it should become apparent to students that the preservation of oral
folktales and legends is a necessary element of a Collectivist Culture and, by contrast, it
requires elements of Collectivism to allow for the preservation of oral histories and
folktales.
Experience has shown that many students entering a Midwestern college
classroom have mistaken notions about the vast continent of Africa. As the same time, as
seen with the cultures of Asia and Latin America, there are shared human experiences
leading people to seek and arrive at the same answers to the mysteries they confront in
their intellectual evolution.
It has long been my aim to demonstrate that the distrust we harbor toward
unfamiliar countries, cultures and religions is founded in ignorance. Often, the
unfamiliar is met with bias based on stereotypes and generalizations. The simple act of
putting a human face on the unfamiliar is a beginning toward eliminating distrust and
fear.
The “Other” represented by the inhabitants of a West African country such as
Senegal is further complicated by the fact that the majority of the people of this country
are not Christian. The majority of the people of Senegal are Muslims. Sadly, there
continues to be an inherent distrust on the part of our “mainstream” American students
regarding people of non-Christian regions. The focus of this project will be to educate
students in the art of investigation and critical thinking to determine the causes for
behaviors that might be labeled negative but which may well have a valid origin based on
primitive survival.
In addition, a more thorough and analytical investigation into some of the early
folktales may lead students to the realization that the motives of people who are “other”
are really not so very different from the motives of the average American college student.
A classroom introduction to some of the history and practices of the people of
West Africa as well as a study of the Family and Culture of West African Countries will
be the first avenue for opening up awareness of “the other” allowing students an
opportunity to recognize the common challenges that face all human beings.
The introduction of myths and legends as early oral literature of other cultures
will offer students the opportunity to use their own analytical and critical thinking skills
to determine the roots and destinies of one specific region of the “Dark” continent.
Eventually, the connection may be made to other cultures including our own.
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: Because there continues to be an inherent distrust of
the traditions of non-Christian regions, the focus of this project will be to educate
students in the art of investigation and critical thinking to determine the causes for
behaviors that might be labeled negative but which may well have a valid source. A
scholarly study of documented history is certainly a valid strategy. However, oftentimes
bias, prejudice, stereotypes and morality begin early in a child’s development through
fairytales, folktales, music, myths and legends.
In the application of this project, comparisons will be drawn between the value
systems of people of the West and people of West Africa. Contrasts will also be
encouraged with a focus on geography and history to determine the causes that may have
separated the cultures. The instruments will be two video documentaries titled “Mickey
Mouse Monopoly” and “Game Over”. In different ways, these videos explore the
impact of media and technology on the formation of childhood attitudes toward racism,
sexism, violence, and commercialism.
The course will include brief lectures to present the background of the culture of
Senegal in West Africa. Students will be assigned literature on basic themes (family,
relations, coming of age) from multiple points of view including cultures of the United
States and West Africa focusing on Senegal. (Eventually, this course will be expanded to
include the study of more cultures such as Chinese, Caribbean, West African and the
United States). Assessment of the students’ comprehension of the material will be
demonstrated through essays and oral presentations which will give students the
opportunity to develop their own hypothesis through research and critical thinking.
Since my own interests continue to return to the study of communication
strategies and the environments that form those strategies, the bottom line regarding
communication between people of diverse cultures and religious traditions is, from my
point of view, dependent on understanding and respecting the causes of communication
strategies.
The 2007-2008 Title VI-A Project will be applied to the Coordinated Studies
Course as well as to all other English Composition courses that I teach. Its aim will be to
focus on polishing the students’ research strategies, critical thinking skills, writing skills
and communication skills.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES: The objective of this project is to infuse information about
other countries, cultures and religious traditions into the information already scheduled
for presentation into an existing course.
Infusing new international and intercultural material into a composition course
offers a natural direction for the course to take. For the most part, the students are
learning the skill of writing which can best be taught with the assignment of topics that
challenge them to exercise their critical thinking abilities, go beyond their traditional
beliefs, set aside their own biases, and employ objective observations.
Furthermore, the language of folklore, fairytales, legends, oral histories and
fiction is more universal that one might think. Perhaps one reason for this universality is
the function of stories not only as historical records but also as teaching instruments.
Following a critical analysis of “children’s” stories from various countries and cultures, a
common thread becomes evident. The stories are designed to instill values in children
which will be carried to adulthood and which will school the child in the acceptable
behaviors that will best conform to the rules of the collective. It is also apparent that
even an Individualist Culture, such as the one found in the United States, is still
dependent on fairytales and cautionary tales to direct individual behaviors. Barbara
Lazear Ascher in her essay “On Compassion” wrote: “For the ancient Greeks, drama
taught and reinforced compassion within a society. The object of Greek tragedy was to
inspire empathy in the audience so that the common response to the hero’s fall was:
‘There, but for the grace of God, go I.’” (Ascher 185) In short, drama of the ancient
Greeks was designed to keep the individual in line with the expectations of society
which, in turn, kept the social structure stable.
I submit that the role of storytelling goes even further to impress upon the listener
the rules and consequences that are part of any family, village, collective or culture.
Integrating the stories of other cultures into a classroom discussion on fiction or literature
provides an additional opportunity to expand our students’ comprehension of the
countless similarities that link us together as human beings.
The culture of West Africa presents a number of challenges. The current climate
of many people in the West is one of distrust of Africans and the Islamic Religion. That
distrust prevents students from learning to appreciate the history, art, literature and
culture that make up the region. The same distrust may well prevent the students from
recognizing the influence that West African cultures have had on our Western culture.
As I pursue my interest in other countries, I have come to realize that any new and
“foreign” culture should be integrated into a broader course experience. Toward that end,
I am also proposing to create a Capstone Course to integrate the materials gathered
during focused studies on China, Latin America, West Africa and hopefully the Middle
East. It is my hope that such a course would be able to explore some of the causes for
breakdowns in communications as well as the commonalities that provide threads to build
bridges in the form of communications between varied cultures.
VII /VIII). Basic Outline of Learning Unit and Student Assessments:
Title VI-A Project
2007-2008
Global Infusion: West African Cultures
Developing Modules for an Existing Course: Coordinated Studies and
English Composition – Folklore, Myths and Legends Shared by West
African Griots Which Have Served as Teaching Tools and Oral
Histories
Sample Teaching Module I
RATIONALE:
Before introducing legends and folktales of a new culture, it is important that students
have the opportunity to explore their own exposure to the legends and folktales of their
own cultures. Many younger students have not given much thought to the origin of some
of the simple folktales they grew up on. Many of those students will claim that the
fairytales, folktales, Disney characters, and stories from the sanitized Brothers Grimm
have had no effect whatsoever on the value systems the students now subscribe to. The
purpose of this early Teaching Module is to help students recognize the power of the
storyteller in any social grouping.
OBJECTIVES: By the end of this teaching module, students will be able to:
1. Examine their own personal and subjective biases regarding how their own
value system has been formed;
2. Recognize the possible fallacies that may exist in some of the literature and
fiction that they had not previously questioned;
3. Show how their current beliefs and biases may have been misguided by their
exposure to biases developed through literature and fiction;
4. Explore their own biases against other cultural beliefs and examine the origin
of those biases, the power of those biases, and the effect of the biases on our
collective behaviors and choices;
5. Examine how our own popular cultures may generate bias against other
cultures;
6. Examine how literature and oral storytelling of other cultures can demonstrate
common goals and objectives of all human beings;
7. Examine the possible causes for the development of common story themes in
any culture.
BRIDGE-IN: “Tell Me A Story”
As a bridge in activity, students will be asked to write an original fairytale. The fairytale
must have certain elements:
1. There has to be a protagonist
2. There has to be an antagonist
3. There must be a theme
4. There must be a plot
5. There must be a moral to the story
Either in small groups or a large full class discussion, the stories will be read.
PRE-TEST: Discussion or short quiz
1. Students will be asked to identify the elements of the other students’ fairytales
2. Students will be asked to analyze possible sources for some of the elements of
the fairytales
3. Students will be asked to analyze the possible lessons a child would learn from
the fairytales
PARTICIPATION:
1. Students will be shown the video documentary Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney,
Childhood & Corporate Power which explores the impact of the media on children’s
attitudes toward sexism, commercialism, violence, and racism.
2. Students will be given an opportunity to respond to the video. Students should be
encouraged to offer both positive and negative observations of the construction of the
video.
3. Either in groups or in a full class discussion, students should also be encouraged to
look for logical fallacies presented in the video. In addition, students could offer
suggestions for ways to make the video stronger.
4. Students will be given a brief writing assignment to argue either for or against the
premise of the video.
5. Students will be assigned readings from Tales of Amadou Koumba by Birago Diop
(Longman Group: England, 1985.)
6. After reading the assignments from Tales of Amadou Koumba, they will be asked to
identify the following:
a. The protagonist
b. The antagonist
c. The theme
d. The plot
e. The moral to the story
7. Students will also be asked to analyze and discuss:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Possible sources for some of the elements of the Tales of Amadou Koumba
Possible lessons a child would learn from the Tales of Amadou Koumba
Possible themes directing the stories
Reasons for the morals to the stories
POST-TEST: Formal Writing Assignment
Students will be expected to write a 3-4 page essay exploring the answers to one of the
following topics:
1. What is a possible source for some of the common themes of children’s
fairytales?
2. Compare or contrast some of the Tales of Amadou Koumba with some of the
Grimm’s fairytales as represented by Disney Productions
3. What is the role of animals in folktales or fairytales?
4. How does oral history, folktales and fairytales control the behaviors of an
individual?
5. How does oral history, folktales and fairytales control the development of a
culture?
IX). Student Evaluations of the assignments will follow the standard format
used for all writing assignments in my composition courses.
Example #1 (Cause and Effect):
1. Title Page (5)
________________
Follow Format
Include One Sentence Thesis Statement
INTRODUCTION:
2. Establish the Event you are focusing on (5)
________________
3. Focused and Interesting Thesis Statement (10)
________________
BODY:
4. Acknowledge there may be other causes/effects (5)
________________
5. Distinguish between immediate and remote causes/effects (5)
________________
6. Distinguish between primary and secondary causes/effects (5) ________________
7. Use of Outside Sources (5)
________________
Integration into text of essay
Credit given to the source within the text of your essay
Appropriate to the text of your essay
8. Development of Ideas (10)
________________
9. Organization of Ideas (10)
________________
10. Content (10)
________________
CONCLUSION:
11. Look to the future (5)
________________
12. Mechanics (15)
________________
13. Rough Draft (5)
________________
14. Peer Edit Sheets (5)
________________
OUTLINE (10)
________________
Title
Thesis Statement
Second Level Divisions
WORKS CITED PAGE (10)
120 Points Possible
________________
Example #2 (For Comparison or Contrast Topics):
1. Title Page (10)
_____________
Follows Format
Thesis Statement
Title does not use V, VS, or Versus
2. Interesting and Focused Thesis Statement (10)
a. States the subject
b. States if it’s a comparison or contrast
_____________
c. Grabs readers’ attention
d. May show author’s preference
3. Introductory Paragraph (10)
_____________
4. Development of Body (15)
_____________
Details and descriptions to develop examples
Use of outside source as support
In-text citation must be given for outside sources
5. Organization (5)
_____________
6. Content (10)
_____________
7. Concluding Paragraph (10)
_____________
8. OUTLINE (10)
_____________
Title
Thesis Statement
Second Level Divisions
9. WORKS CITED PAGE (10)
_____________
10. Mechanics (15)
_____________
11. Rough Draft (5)
_____________
12. Peer Edit Sheets (5)
_____________
115 Points Possible
X). Overall assessments by the Instructor of this module:
Standard pre and post-test assessments will be used
XI). Use of technology necessary:
Material will be presented to students through the use of Power Point
Presentations as well as Blackboard applications.
XII). Bibliography of resources used by students for this module:
Students will be assigned readings from: Diop, Birago. Tales of Amadou
Koumba. Longman Group: England, 1985.
XIII). Bibliography and Works Cited Sources used in the development
of this module:
WORKS CITED PAGE
Africa (Third Ed.) (Edited by Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O’Meara). Indiana
University Press: London, 1995.
Ascher, Barbara Lazear. “On Compassion.” The Bedford Reader (9TH Edition). Edited
by X.J. Kennedy et al. Bedford St. Martins: Boston, 2005.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales, Knopf, New York, 1976.
Book of Negro Folklore (edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps). Dodd, Mead
and Company: New York, 1958.
Christensen, A.M.H. Afro-American Folk Lore: Told Round Cabin Fires on the Sea
Islands of South Carolina. Negro Universities Press: New York, 1969.
Diop, Birago. Tales of Amadou Koumba. Longman Group: England, 1985.
------. Les Contes D’Amadou-Koumba (Original French). Présence Africaine: Paris,
1961.
------. Mother Crocodile (Maman-Caïman). (Translated and adapted by Rosa Guy).
Doubleday: New York, 1993.
Game Over: Gender, Race and Violence in Video Games. Produced & Directed by Nina
Huntemann. Executive Producer Sut Jhally. Edited by Jeremy Smith.
Copyright 2000.
Harris, Joseph E. Africans and Their History. Meridian (Published by Penguin Books):
New York, 1998.
Lott, Joanna. “Keepers of History.” Penn State Online Research: Penn State, May 8,
2002, January 27, 2008. http://www.rps.psu.edu/0205/keepers.html.
Mercurio, James P. “Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and
Important of Fairy Tales. Creative Screenwriting. Vol 6: 2,
http://www.jamespmercurio.com/review_enchant.html (2/3/2008)
Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood & Corporate Power. Media Education
Foundation Video. Produced & written by Chyng Sun. Directed, filmed and
edited by Miguel Picker. An ArtMedia Production. Educational Distribution by
the Media Education Foundation. Copyright 2001.