03.06 - Mayan Creation Story and Story Comparison Matrix

In today's class we were focused on completing a comparison matrix in which each of the creation stories is compared to the other creation stories. The comparison focused just on similarities that exist between the different stories.

In working on this, everyone worked with a partner. Every seven minutes we switched partners. People would compare responses with their new partner and then resume work with the matrix. This enabled everyone to work with a variety of people as well as helped spread out good ideas and unique perspectives.

We were not completing the full sheet today because we have not read the full range of creation stories. The portion that we completed below is filled in in blue below.

Click Image to Enlarge

In the last fifteen minutes of class, we came together as a class and discussed some of the similarities that people found most interesting or were hardest to identify.

We will continue debriefing this sheet tomorrow and will discuss the Mayan creation story in more detail. For homework, everyone should read the Aztec creation story and fill out the region, roles, and summary portion of the creation story note sheet.

Handouts:
Creation story comparison chart
       The comparison chart prints in the 11x17 size.
        Mr. Collins has extra copies available for those in need.
Aztec Creation Story

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

 

 

Homework:

 

Read the Aztec creation story and fill out the region, roles, and summary portion of the creation story note sheet.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Creation stories read so far:

Mayan

Yoruba

Hindu

Norse

Babylonian

Greece/Rome

 

For each creation story we have completed a creation story note sheet:

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

 

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03.05 - Yoruba Creation Story

I reviewed yesterday's class at the beginning of class today in order to set us up for the discussion of the Yoruba story and better understand how the Yoruba culture fits within Africa's diverse culture.

Everyone then had about 20 minutes to complete the creation note sheet for the Yoruba creation story. We then discussed this story through a review of the creation story note sheet.

At the end of class, everyone had time to start reading the Mayan creation story.

Handouts:
Mayan Creation Story

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

Homework:

Complete a creation story notesheet for the Mayan story.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

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03.04 - Culture and European Colonialism

We started off class today with about ten minutes for everyone to write down the major figures and summary of the Yoruba creation myth. The beginning of the African creation story section of our book stated that "No one 'African' culture exists. Instead, many different cultural groups live side by side on the same continent" (401). To explore what this means, looks like, and how it came to be, we took a look at the effects that European trade and subsequent colonization of the Americas and Africa had on the peoples who were subject to this colonization.

To better understand travel by sea, we looked at shipping routes from the 1800s and then at maps that showed cultural divisions within countries and then national/country divisions (borders). I was not able to find any videos that specifically displayed American routes.

Tracks of American Whaling Ships 

(gives a sense of some trade routes in the 19th century)

Tracks of Early American Trade Routes

(gives a sense of some trade routes in the 19th century)

The images below depict:
 1st map: Trade routes in the 19th century (1800s)
2nd map: Trade routes in the modern day

Notice how the creation of the Panama Canal in Latin America and the Suez Canal in the Middle East enable ships to travel between North American and South America (Panama Canal) and Europe/Asia and Africa (Suez Canal) so that ships no longer have to go all the way down and around South America or Africa. The need to travel all the way around these large continents is what lead these continents to be exposed to and colonized by Europeans (the other reason being that Europeans were interested in the goods and resources contained on these continents).

19th Century Trade Routes
(Darker areas are trafficked more heavily than lighter areas -
Continents are revealed as white because that is where ships cannot sail)

 

(click image to enlarge)

Modern Day Trade Routes

(areas in red are more heavily trafficked than areas in blue)

 (click image to enlarge)

The following maps show where cultural groups are located in Africa as well as where countries were formed. Prior to European interest in the African continent (which came through trade with Asia), there were no countries as we would now recognize them. In their efforts to colonize the African continent, European powers divided Africa into countries based on European interests, which often split cultural groups apart and combined other groups that did not get along with one another into one country.

Colonization of the Americas lead to a similar division and combination of native American cultural groups in the United States. While the combination of cultural groups that have historically been enemies in African countries has caused numerous civil wars across the continent, the Americas have avoided the same fate due to the fact that the original native population was severely reduced by disease and violence.

We will discuss the Yoruba creation story in detail next class.

Handouts:
Yoruba Creation Story

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

Homework:

Finish completing the Yoruba creation story note sheet.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

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03.03 - Revision Work / Hindu Creation Story

At the beginning of class today, I returned creation story note sheets that had been turned in last week.

We reviewed class performance on these sheets by looking at data on scores and submitted work. As shown by the graph, there have been a number of people who have yet to turn their sheet in (the number of sheets that has not been turned in increases for more recent assignments).

I also provided feedback on trends I observed from my position of seeing all of the work that was submitted (these are the pluses and deltas on the sheet).

(click image to enlarge)

Everyone then had the next half hour to work on completing or revising their returned note sheets and then to complete the Hindu creation story note sheet.

In the last 20 minutes of class we discussed the Hindu creation story (summary, archetypes, and connections). For homework everyone read the Yoruba creation story.

Handouts:
Yoruba Creation Story

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

Homework:

Read the Yoruba creation story in the World Mythology book (pages 401 - 407)

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

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02.27 - Norse Creation Story

At the beginning of class today, we reviewed our discussion from yesterday and revisited the world map to look at the location of the Norse creation myth (see below). We also talked about a question that came up yesterday with respect to why people have different skin colors if the human race started out in one location (click the link for an explanation)

(the yellow pin in the upper center of the picture marks the general region of this story)

In class, we also talked about how population was very different at the time in which these stories were written. Around 8,000 BCE the world's population was about 5 million people. Today (as of around 2014 CE) the world's population is about 7 billion (click here to see this information as a graph).

Everyone then had about 20 minutes to complete a creation note sheet for the Norse myth.

We then spent about 10 minutes discussing and comparing the Babylonian/Sumerian creation story and the Norse creation story. Everyone handed in their note sheets for these stories at the end of class.

Handouts:

Hindu creation story

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions

Homework:

Read the Hindu creation story on pages 325-330 in the World Mythology book.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

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02.26 - Before Creation - the time of the Mother

Everyone had the first 20 minutes of today's class to work on the creation note sheet for the Babylonian creation story.

The Babylonian and Greek/Roman creation stories both feature a male deity overthrowing a female deity at the beginning of time. As we talked about yesterday, this transition can be seen as a transition from living as part of nature (with the female archetype representing nature) to living in a civilization separate from nature (with the male archetype representing order and civilization).

Today, in class we looked at these stories in their geographic and historic context. To do this, we looked at where the stories were first told (Greece, Rome and then Babylon/Sumeria) and then how these locations factored into human migration across the globe. Maps of the regions for Greece/Rome and Babylon/Sumeria are below.

 (click image to enlarge)

The Babylonian creation stories were created and told by the Babylonians living (roughly) in the area of present day Baghdad, Iraq.

(click image to enlarge)

The Greek and Roman creation story was told by people living in the area living (roughly) in the area from present-day Rome to Athens.

Next, we went through the interactive map of human migration created by the Bradshaw Foundation and Stephen Oppenheimer. You can view this interactive map here.

The final step of this map occurs at the agricultural revolution which was about 10,000 years ago (or 8,000 BCE). The Babylonian/Sumerian creation story would have been written at this time or a few thousand years later. Our first reference of it is by Hammurabi around 4,000 BCE and it is likely the story existed for some time before then. 

(click image to enlarge)

Since these stories were written at around the time of the agricultural revolution, the time spoken of as being "before" in the time of the Mother goddess figure is the 140,000 years where people were living in hunter/gatherer societies and migrating across the planet. 

While the stories we are reading are old and date back to the beginning of human civilization, the science behind this research shows us that the time of the "Mother" archetype stretches back 140,000 years and the time of the "Father" (civilization) archetype begins in the last 10,000-8,000 years.

With the remaining time in the period, everyone began reading the Norse creation story.

Handouts:

Norse creation story (also available in the World Mythology text, pages 205-213)

Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions


Homework:

If you did not finish reading the Norse creation story in class and completing the note sheet, do so for class.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

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02.25 - Greece/Rome Creation Story

At the beginning of class today, everyone had time to finish their creation story note sheet for the Greek and Roman creation story. We then came together as a large group to discuss this story. From here, we ended up breaking into groups of three to look at mapping the people and action of the story with a focus on looking not just at the names of the gods involved, but the powers that they represent.

Each group mapped out the events covered in the creation story taking note of what each god represented. We then looked at and discussed these maps to see what message Greeks and Romans were communicating about powerful forces in life.

These maps showed a progression from broad, earthly forces (Chaos, earth, the sky) to more specific, human forces (foresight, love, wisdom). The conflict between the forces showed that the newer, more human-like gods can use their powers of civilization to defeat the old gods and tame the enemies of the old gods (the cyclops, the hundred-handed giants).

In the remaining time in class, we began reading the Babylonian creation story.

Handouts:
Babylonian creation story (also found on pg. 148-158 in the World Mythology text)
Creation story note sheet
Creation story note sheet instructions


Homework:

Finish reading the Babylonian creation story.
Be prepared to complete the creation story note sheet for this story in class tomorrow.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

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