8 February: What is the Supernatural/Finding Information

Before 8 February:

• Explore Google, “How Search Works.”
• Sam Wineburg, “Thinking Like a Historian,” Teaching with Primary Sources Quarterly 3, 1 (Winter 2010).
• Errol Morris, “Which Came First?,” New York Times, 2007: part 1, part 2, part 3.

• Read Bartlett, “The Boundaries of the Supernatural,” from The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages (Chap. 1: pp. 1-33)
• The Meanings of Magic
• Toward_a_Definition_of_Popular_Culture
• Read “The Apprehension and Confession of Three Notorious Witches” (1589)
  • Feel free to look at the other pamphlets in the collection

During class:

• What is the Supernatural? What is the difference between Fantasy and Myth?

• Sign up for an account at Feedly and try adding a few websites.
• Watch: Eli Pariser, Beware online “filter bubbles”  (video, ~9min)
• History Matters, Making Sense of Evidence (review at least two)

In-Class Workshop

• We’ll do an online scavenger hunt and learn how to find sources about the Supernatural
• Look over some of the resources to find potential research topics related to an aspect of the Supernatural. Using your usual research methods, gather some data and sources about a topic of your choice.
• Take notes along the way as you do your research. What are your search strategies? How successful are you at finding useful material? What are your criteria for judging what is reliable and useful and what is not?
  • Start to think project/topic. We will go over topic ideas in class.

After class on 8 February:

• Anything that you want me to know?

Reading Homework by 13 February:

• Read: Roy Rosenzweig, “Can History Be Open Source: Wikipedia and the Future of the Past,” The Journal of American History 93 no. 1 (Jun 2006): 117-146. [Available through ProQuest via Mason Libraries].
• Watch: Heavy Metal Umlaut by Jon Udell on YouTube (approx. 8.5 min)

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• Bettelheim, “Fairy Tale versus Myth: Optimism versus Pessimism” & “The Importance of Externalization: Fantasy Figures and Events,” from The Uses of Enchantment (pp. 35-41 & 61-66)
• Warner, “The Devil’s Banquet,” from Monsters of Our Own Making (pp. 95-115)
  • We will discuss these articles, which are  Secondary Sources extensively in class.

• Blog Post  due Saturday, February 11th by 5pm.
  • Prompt: Either from Survey of Scottish Witchcraft or a site of your choosing from what you can find out online about the supernatural, please pick one or two (or three) famous or sensational trials, supernatural events,  and discuss:
    • your initial interest;
    • other sites, groups or organizations which have written or produced something about the topic/trial. (This can include movies, documentaries, television shows, books, articles, comics, etc); and
    • what you hope to learn by researching this/these topic(s)/trial(s).

[IT Requirement: 1]