HON 358 - Geomyths and Fossil Folklore

This course critically examines the convergent field of Geomythology. Geomythologists consider the idea that traditional myths and knowledge conserve significant information of natural phenomena and episodes from Earth’s deep history. While myths worldwide, as traditional tales, recount the shaping of cosmos, society, and humanity, geomyths concentrate on traditional worldviews about nature, landscape, and (pre)human epochs and ancestors. Fossil folklore traces legends emerging from natural and artistic objects ranging from paleontological oddities to fabulous relics. While geomythologists have tended to focus on the historical observations of natural phenomena by ancient peoples and oral traditions, a discursive drift of applied mythmaking has been noted in expressive social charters, geotourism, and lessons of present-day crisis strategies: climate change, the Anthropocene, environmental justice, postcolonial critiques, and eco-criticism. We consider geomythology as a framework not solely for explaining away curiosities, fabulous beasts, and events of prehistory but understanding the lessons we glean from cultural framings of natural disasters, personhood of the natural world, and cryptids of modern-day legendry. We engage in our ongoing entanglements with landscape, co-inhabitants, and the human mind reconciling within the “mythocene.” Geomythology offers a unique opportunity to synthesize the insights of the Human, Social, and Natural Sciences. Letter grade. (Offered as needed.) 3