American University of Central Asia
Master of Arts in Teaching Program
(Discipline Course 2: Combined Literature and Social Studies)
Spring 2024
Instructor and Course Information
Instructor Dr. James Plumtree
Contact plumtree_j@auca.kg
Course Description
This course, while introducing students to the theory, practice, and history of the epic, involves various approaches to teaching literature, culture, and history. While reference will be made to other epics, given the location of the teaching, the focus will be on the Kyrgyz-language epos Manas. Various versions, ranging from the earliest known transcription in the mid-nineteenth century to more recent recordings, will be used to emphasize different aspects and qualities of the epos, and to stress the value of both different approaches and each example. These texts have been chosen because of their historical significance, available scholarly versions, and to provide a contrast with the version(s) traditionally taught in schools. Reflection will be made throughout the course regarding the teaching of equivalent materials.
Learning Outcomes
Students at the end of the course will be able to
- Appraise the breadth and variety of the Manas corpus
- Evaluate primary material, secondary sources, scholarship, and material objects, being aware of their issues and their value
- Apply different approaches towards textual material in the classroom
- Judge the issue of text selection and translation
- Identify different methods of engaging with such material in a classroom
- Discuss potential problems with seemingly known material
- Recognize how to carefully frame controversial material
- Apply the advantage of a diverse group of students for a rich classroom experience
Course Outline
Please note that the following is subject to change. Any alterations will be indicated in advance.
An asterisk (*) indicates the readings will be divided into groups.
|
Week
|
Class Title | Potential Topics | Required Reading for Class | Set Assignment |
|
1 (Feb 1) |
Introduction |
Course Outline Framework Grading Experience of Manas What is Manas? Expectations Classroom |
n/a | Online QA |
|
2 (Feb 8) |
The Urtext |
Manuscript Studies Contextualization Oral Culture Performance Audience Classroom |
‘Memorial Feast for Kökötöy-khan’ (1856. collected by Valikhanov |
Online QA |
|
3 (Feb 15) |
Comparisons |
Historical Context Oral Tradition Peformance Audience Poetic diction Textual Comparisons Values and Conclusions Classroom |
‘Bok-Murun’ (1862 coll. Radloff) | Online QA |
|
4 (Feb 22) |
New Historicism |
History Cultural Context (Non-)Literary Discourse ‘Culture under Capitalism’ Politics Performer/Audience Classroom |
‘Duel’ ‘Jantay’ (1862 coll. Radloff) Archival material |
Online QA Reflection 1 |
|
5 (Feb 29) |
Narratology and Oral Formulaic Composition |
Parry-Lord Theory Narrative Structure Characterisation Plotting Gender |
‘Birth of Semetey’ (1862 coll. Radloff) | Online QA |
|
6 (Mar 7) |
What is this text really about? |
Revisit: New Historicism Contextualisation Performance/Audience Discourse Historicity Classroom |
‘Semetey’ (1862 coll. Radloff) ‘Birth of Manas’ (1869 coll. Radloff) |
Online QA |
|
7 (Mar 14) |
Variants |
Narrative variation Social Context Economics Language Performer/Audience Manuscript Culture Jadidism Colonialism Tradition Archive Classroom |
* ‘Semetey’ A (Maldibay c. 1899) * ‘Semetey’ B (Maldibay c. 1899) * ‘Semetey’ (Tinibek c. 1902) |
Online QA |
|
8 (Mar 21) |
Nooroz Mayram | Asynchronous | ||
|
9 (Mar 28)
Note: Potentially On Campus |
A(typical) texts? |
Narrative variation Social Context Textualization Collection/Collation Canonization Periodization Archive Research Classroom |
* ‘Semetey’ (Kenje Kara 1903/4) * ‘Farewell’ (coll. Almásy 1902)
|
Online QA |
|
10 (Apr 4) |
1916 |
Translation Manuscripts Historical Context Discourse Archives Periodization History in the Classroom |
* Musa * ‘From Rebels |
Online QA Reflection 2 Set: Final Assignment |
|
11 (Apr 11) |
Biographical or Narrative? |
Textualization Canonization Picking Exemplars Soviet Context Manuscripts Politics Aesthetics Classroom |
‘Sino-Mongolica’ ‘On Folklore’ ‘Memorial Feast’ |
Online QA |
|
12 (Apr 18) |
A Different Tradition? |
Stemma Canonization Variation Textualization Tradition Contemporary Issues |
* ‘Oral Epics’ * ‘Fragment’ (coll. Dor) |
Online QA |
|
13 (Apr 25) |
Conclusions |
Conclusions Reflections Adapting to Classes Feedback Suggestions |
n/a |
Online QA Reflection 3 |
Online QA means you will be sent a short online questionnaire following the class in which you provide short answers. This is done to check understanding of the content and the course, while also charting your progress. Grading: Accept/Resubmit.
Reflection means a short 1-2 page essay on a set question provided in the class. This is done to provide an opportunity for further reflection on particular elements regarding the material, the corpus, and/or teaching. Grading: Accept/Resubmit.
Final Assignment: essay or lesson plan on one of the themes or texts discussed in the class, displaying an appreciation of the nuances raised. The latter can be a revised reflection essay or expanded answer for the Online QA. Grading: Accept/Resubmit.
Set Readings
Please note that this is a reading intensive course, and so the readings are required. Come prepared to classes with notes, comments, questions, and ideas.
The weekly readings are as follows.
1-2. Valikhanov. The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy-Khan (Kökötöydün ašı): A Kirghiz Epic Poem, ed. and tr. A. T. Hatto (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
2-6: Radloff: The Manas of Wilhelm Radloff, ed. and tr. A. T. Hatto (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1990).
4: Radloff: A. T. Hatto, ‘Jantay: A Kirghiz Lament for a Chieftain, Dated 1867-1869’, in Documenta Barbarorum: Festschrift für Walther Heissig zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. by K. Sagaster and M. Weierseds (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1983), pp. 186-95.
7: Malidbay: prose summary in appendix to D. Prior, ‘The Twilight Age of the Kirghiz Epic Tradition’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Indiana University, 2002), pp. 295-315. Tinibek: prose summary in appendix to D. Prior, ‘The Twilight Age of the Kirghiz Epic Tradition’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Indiana University, 2002), pp. 316-333.
9: Kenje-Kara: The Semetey of Kenje Kara, ed. and tr. D. Prior (with assistance of I. Obolbekov) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006). Almasy: G. v. Almásy, ‘Der Abschied des Helden Manas von seinem Sohne Semetej: aus dem karakirghisischen Epos Manasdin kisasi’, Keleti Szemle 12 (1911-1912): 216-223.
10: Musa: The Šabdan Baatir Codex, ed. and tr. D. Prior (Leiden: Brill, 2013). Jipar Duishembieva, ‘From Rebels to Refugees: Memorializing the Revolt of 1916 in Oral Poetry’, in The Central Asian Revolt of 1916: A Collapsing Empire in the Age of Warvand Revolution, ed. A. Chokobaeva, C. Drieu, and A. Morrison (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019), pp. 289-307. Musa: ‘A Qirghiz Verse Narrative of Rebellion and Exile by Musa Chaghatay uulu’, ed. and tr. D. Prior, in The Central Asian Revolt of 1916: A Collapsing Empire in the Age of War and Revolution, ed. A. Chokobaeva, C. Drieu, and A. Morrison (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019), pp. 308-326.
11: Orozbakov: D. Prior, ‘Sino-Mongolica in the Qirgiz Epic Poem Kökötöy’s Memorial Feast by Sagimbay Orozbaq uulu’, in Philology of the Grasslands: Essays in Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic Studies, ed. A. B. Apatóczky, C. P. Atwood, and B. Kempf (Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. 230-257. Karalaev/Orozbakov: S. Jacquesson, ‘On Folklore Archives and Heritage Claims: the Manas Epic in Kyrgyzstan’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 64 (2021): 425-454. Saghimbay Orozbaq uulu, The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy Khan A Kirghiz Epic Poem in the Manas Tradition, tr. D. Prios, ([London]: Penguin, 2022)
12: Post-Independence: K. Reichl, ‘Oral Epics into the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the Kyrgyz Epic ‘Manas’, Journal of American Folklore 129 (2016), 327- 344. Outside: K. Reichl, ‘Oral Epics Along the Silk Road: The Turkic Traditions of Xinjiang’, CHINOPERL 38 (2019): 45-63. R. Dor, ‘Un fragment pamirien de Manas’, Central Asiatic Journal 26 (1982): 1-55. S. Jacquesson, ‘Claiming heritage: the Manas epic between China and Kyrgyzstan’, Central Asian Survey 39 (2020): 324-339.
Contextual Reading
For those wishing for additional historical context in English, see
D. Prior, ‘Generic Factors and the Context of Empire in Kirghiz Oral Heroic Poetry from the Mid Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Century’, Acta Slavica Iaponica 43 (2022): 95-126
____, Patron, Party, Patrimony: Notes on the cultural history of the Kirghiz epic tradition (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Research Institute for Inner Asia Studies, 2000)
J. Plumtree, ‘A Telling Tradition: Preliminary Comments on the Epic of Manas, 1856–2018’, in Medieval Stories and Storytelling: Multimedia and Multi-Temporal Perspectives, ed. S. Thomson, pp. 239-301 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2021). [Now available in Kyrgyz: ‘Aytuuchuluk önör Manas eposu boyuncha aldun ala tüshündürmeler, 1856–2018’, in J. Plumtree and N. Karybekova, Manas eposuna tieshelüü izildöölörgö (1856-2018) jangycha ilimiy serep (Bishkek: Ordo, 2023), pp. 27-96.]
Course Policies
- Emails, Google Classroom, and other digital means of class communication must be checked regularly. Materials will be available on Google Classroom.
- Class attendance is a requirement. Since much of the work will be done in class, participation constitutes a serious part of the course. You are expected to be on time; lateness will be marked as absence (unless a valid reason is provided).
- Students are required to read the assigned texts before each class. Students should be prepared, with written notes, thoughts, and questions, to use in the class discussions.As with other MAT courses: we support AUCA’s honour code for academic honesty and integrity, and we expect you to abide by the code. The code forbids academically dishonest behaviour or actions, including plagiarism and cheating. Please find the code in full here: Student Handbook, Part III, Section A, p 14. Additionally, with the advancements in AI (such as ChatGPT), we consider AI-generated assignments as a violation of academic integrity, unless we (the instructors) explicitly facilitate the use of ChatGPT and similar IA tools for learning purposes or unless otherwise stated in the assignment guidelines.
Grading
This course uses a cumulative grading criterion, used for both clarity and to promote consistent engagement throughout the course.
- Attendance and participation are the bare minimum (resulting in a D range grade), with the outside-class work adding to that grade.
- University policies regarding other grades, such as W (Withdrawal) and X (Administrative drop), are applicable in this class. (For further information, see https://www.auca.kg/en/p2885/)
- There are 12 QAs; every completion of four of these is worth a third of a letter grade.
- There are 3 reflections; each of these is worth a third of a letter grade.
- A final paper or lesson plan dealing with one of the themes or texts from the course (worth two letter grades).
E.g. A person attends classes and participates well (D+), submits the 12 QAs (C+), and the three reflections (B+), and a good lesson plan – will complete the course with an ‘A’ grade.
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