Creation Myth Presentations; Sita Sings the Blues (day 1)

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Please upload/submit your presentation to Google Classroom.

Types of Creation Myths (cosmogony):
  • Creation ex nihilo (out of nothing): creation from nothing
  • Earth Diver: a "diver" (aquatic) animal digs up the earth from the abyssal depths of an ocean.
  • Emergence: the world appears from the body of a primordial being or through metamorphosis or passes through other "worlds" to come into being.
  • Cosmic Egg: creation from a cosmic egg
  • Order Out of Chaos (creation from chaos): order/the world is created from primordial chaos
Presentation Topics:
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Norse
  • Incan
  • Aztec
  • Australian Dreamtime
  • Maori
  • Oceania
  • Egypt
  • Zulu
  • Iroquois
  • Hindu
  • Navaho
Gender & Mythology: Why men? Fathers & Sons (archetypes and male divinities: crash course)

A final example of Indian mythology: The Ramayana.

Ramayana Crash Course. Now that you have the basics, how might an author use the myth creatively to discuss gender? Let's take a look at Feminist criticism (see handout). As we watch the film "Sita Sings the Blues" apply key feminist criticism questions to the text.

HOMEWORK: Begin reading Odd & The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. Write a creation myth of your own; use a myth and update it in a clever or creative way. Notice how the book uses male archetypes to teach boys contemporary values. 

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