| CHOOSING A THESIS TOPIC | |
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| A thesis topic must
spring from your own energies and interests. The first step toward defining
a topic, then, is to determine your primary areas of interest. The role
of self-examination in this process is critical.
Look over your past work in the Folklore and Mythology program and your special field and attempt to discover a few general areas of interest. What courses have you taken? What have you written about in course papers? Also, think about why you decided to concentrate in Folklore and Mythology. As you consider these and other similar questions, you will begin to discern certain patterns or trends in your work. Contemplation of these issues will allow you to define your general areas of interest. Finding a topic within an area of interest is more difficult. A topic is best formulated as a question. But the questions cannot be too broad, for a topic must have focus. Nor can it be too narrow since the goal of a good thesis is to express thoughts of general importance through detailed analysis of a specific case or cases. Because the purpose of this process is to formulate a focused and thought-provoking question, the best way to uncover topics in your area of interest is to begin posing questions. Start with the issues that stand out in your mind. Also, read some scholarly literature on approaches you might take. If your topic seems too broad, this reading will give you some ideas on approaches you might take. If your question is too narrow, a selection of articles and books can lead you to the general concerns that relate to your interest. And remember, an undergraduate thesis need not be an original “contribution to knowledge.” More important is the sustained examination of a topic that engages you. If you are unsure about the
viability of your topic, you might look at past theses in order to find
out what types of projects have been the most successful. The best theses
of each academic year are submitted to the Harvard University Archive,
which is located on the first floor of Pusey Library. A list of selected
honors theses from Folklore and Mythology is provided below, and many
theses presented to the Committee are to be found in the Folklore and
Mythology Library. |
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| SELECTED PAST THESIS TOPICS | |
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LATEST: Consuming Transformation: Eating, Drinking, and the Otherworld in Celtic and Scandinavian Folklore and Mythology (2004) Entre Rêve et Réalité: Narrative, Craft, and Identity In the Vineyards of the Touraine (2004) The Emperor and Xuanwu: Interactions between a Myth and the Establishment as Found in the Beiyou Ji and other Pre-Qing Sources (2004) Santa Made Me Do It: the Creation of Social and Family Unity Through Christmas Rituals and Values (2004) Sin Acento: Dynamics of Cultural Identity in a Modern Tejano Family (2004) Compassionate Promiscuity: Women, Sex, and Enlightenment in Chinese Buddhist Literature (2003) For Such a Tomb: the Craftsman in Indo-European Myth and Society (2003) Game-Ending Heroics: The role of the athlete in Homeric Greece and Modern Rome (2003) "He Said to You, There Was an Old Man...": Storytelling in the High Atlas Mountains (2003) (Re)presenting a Nation: Sport, Art, Culture, and Chinese Figure Skating (2003) Creating Imitation: An Investigation of the Wiccan Approach to Ritual as a Means of Negotiating Individual and Group Spirituality (2002) Feeling 'Tribal': Western Interpretation of Non-Western Body Art (2002) Folklore and its Relationship to Modern Media: an Examination of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002) The Popular Theater of Dario Fo, Modern Day Giullare (2002) The Sword Makes the Man: Weapons and the Construction of Social Identity in Viking Age Scandinavia (2002) Love, Politics, and National Identity: Images of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in a Gaelic and Scots Jacobite Song from the Eighteenth Century (2000) Quest of Kinship: The Family in Filipino Folklore and Immigration (2000) The Blues Queen Mystique: Putting the Classic Blues Onstage (1999) Folklore in the Poetry of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (1999) "That’s a basic Chinese immigrant story, you know": Narratives of Immigration and the Construction of Ethnic Identity in the Chinese-Bahamian Community (1999)
PAST: ‘The Interplay of Trance’ Storytelling and Social Change in the Life Histories of Two Fijian Healers A Discussion of the Fasting and Food Piety of Three Late Medieval Women Mystics: Saint Catherine of Siena, Margery Kempe, and St. Catherine of Genoa A Structural Analysis of Conflict Mediation in Three Types of Tlingit Ceremonial Interactions. A Structural and Historical Analysis of the Legend of the Jewish Pope A Study of King Horn and Havelock the Dane. A Study of Modern Witchcraft and the Influence of the Kabbalah Upon It. Adder’s Tongue, Daffy’s Elixir and Ophioglossum Vulgatum: The Fragmentation of Herbal Folk Medicine in America 1750-1850 An Analysis of Anglo-Saxon Charms An Analysis of Structural Aspects in the Romanian Oral Epic Song. Angels in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus Miraculorum: Learned and Oral Inteplay in the Exempla Collection of a Thirteenth-Century Cistercian Monk. Apinaye Mythology and the Origin of the White Man Água de Beber: An Interdisciplinary Study of Capoeira–The Art of the Free Bees in Celtic Tradition Children’s Folklore in Performative Context Christ and His Brothers as Reflections of the Developing Child in Zinacantan Comic Characters in the Icelandic Family Sagas Dancing the Real Reel: A Diachronic Study of Entextualization and the Embodied Dancer in the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, Boston Branch Diana in the Canon Episcopi: Imagination or Folk Belief? Discovering the Wonder in Wonder Tales Divine Grace in Archaic Greek Tradition Dying for a Wake, an Analysis of Traditional Waking Practices Through the Folklore Concepts of Ritual, Rite of Passage, and Festival Dynamics and Syncretism Among the Nevada Paiutes Elvis as Hero of Global Village Culture Entierros de Cuba: An Examination of Eight Cuban Legends of Buried Treasure Folktale and Social Structure: An Analysis of Traditional Chinese Folktales. Form and Function in the Religious Structure of Medieval Scandinavia. Formula for Ecstasy: Ritual Efficacy in the Practice of Witchcraft. From Dance Hall to Pub: Irish Traditional Music Events in Boston 1950-1997 Gymanist Approaching Folkloric Event Hard to Swallow: The Form and Meaning of Women’s Oral Sex Talk Hearing Appalachian Voices: Southern West Virginia Women’s Perceptions of the Dominant Woman Hervarar saga ok Heithreks: Boundaries of Heroism and Wisdom. “Hey, I Didn’t Write This, Folks. . . But I’m Singing It”: An Examination of the Repertoire and Composition Processes of a Northern Anglo-American Blues Singer. Immrama as a Chronicle of Irish History and the Evolution of Irish Religious Belief and Practice. In the Face of a Thousand Sorrows: Seacht Suáilce Na Maighdine The Seven Joys of the Virgin Irish Fairy Gifts: AT503, The Gifts of the Little People, in Ireland “Jävla utlanningar!”: Ethnocentric Legend Tradition in Sweden La Virgen de Guadalupe and the Symbolic Roots of Cultural Change Lady’s Day: Ritual as Community Self-Definition in a Greek Tourist Town Living Under the Cattle: The Pastoral Ethic and Massai Sacrifice. Maize as Mediator: A Structural Analysis of the Popol Vuh Melodic Stability and Variability in Northern Chinese Drum Singing. Merit, Status and Society: An Introductory Essay on Culture and Change in Cambodia. Music in the Jamaican Pentecostal Churches. Myth, Dream and Amythic Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism. Navigating Dangerous Seas: The Female Pirate Gráinne Ní Mháille and Irish Narratives Odin and Ecstacy: The Shamanistic Qualities of Scaldic Poetry On the Study of Slavic Paganism Oskudólgur and Faroese Society Pele and Hiiaka: Structuralism and Hawaiian Myth Psychodynamic Tensions in Maya Culture Re-evaluating Ragnarök: An Examination of the Gosforth Cross as a Celtic Christian Monument Remarks on the Means and Patterns of Folktale Transmission in Ireland Ritual and the Emergence of Mexican-American Identity in Fiesta San Antonio Sentiments and Symbols in the Grimm’s Kinder-und-Hausmärchen. Sexual Humorous Tales in Norwegian Folklore Shield of Heracles: Identity Through Crisis. “Ska vi ta kaffe nu?”: Objects of Cultural Recognition and the Death of a Swedish-American Community Social Life in South Africa: The Songs of Miriam Makeba Songs and Creative Play in French and American Children’s Circle Games: A Comparative Study “Starvin’ Like Marvin”: Factors in Text and Context that Affect Emergent Children’s Folklore Structural Types in Zuni Mythology Take These Chains: Jimmie Rodgers, Hank William, and the Emergence of the Personal Voice in American Country Music. Telling Time: Temporal
Aspects of Orality, Literacy, and Folklore Genre The Bell Witch of Mississippi and Tennessee: a Historical Analysis of a Southern Legend The Character of Balaam as Villain in Midrash Numbers Rabbah. The Concept of Public and Private Music in Three North American Indian Tribes The Development of an Indian Identity: A Study of the Gay Head Indians The Diction of Violence in Beowulf and the Mwindo Epic. The Discourse Between Interpretive Systems: Modern Medicine and Traditional Healing in Africa The Effects of Fairy Tale Violence on Kindergarten-Age Children: A Cross-Cultural Analysis The Evolution of the Hwarang Image: A Theory of National Symbology The Finest Kind? A Study of Marginalization, in Folklore and Narrative, among Fishermen and Scallopers in New Bedford, Massachusetts The Gun, the Hero, and the Myth of Survival in Urban America The Heroic Function of Arjuna in the Mahabharata. The Holistic Power of Hallucinogens: Neuropharmacology and Shamanic Use in Healing and Religion. The Ideal Rapport
for Field Work in Japan The Liminal Quality of the Hunt as Portrayed in the Finn Cycle The Manufactured Minority: Purity, Practicality, or Positional Superioty–the Symbolic, Economic, and Structural Roles of Japan’s Burakumin The Metaphor of the Road in Pindaric Poetry. The Metaphorical Functions of the Cuentos de Juan Bob The Negotiation of Ethnic Identity: Multifaceted Images of Lama Meat in La Paz, Bolivia The Origins of Death among the Bantu Baganda The Poetic and the Musical Device of Tsakisma in the Folk Song of Crete, Kasos and Karpathos. The Representation of Women in Traditional Tibetan Narrative The Ritual of the Passion in the Spanish-American Community of Truchas, New Mexico The Sicilian Puppet Theater: A Dying Art Form The Structure of the Voodoo Belief System The Study of American Coal Mining Music The Tales of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: Audience and Objectives The Totem Pole in Kwakiutl Society They Have Washed Their Robes: Ghost Shirts of the American Plains ‘Thus there are devils, there are spirits’: Genre, Personal Experience, and Belief in Folkloristics and the Words of a Welsh Storyteller Trenchtown Rock: a Study of Jamaica’s Reggae Music Ture, Ajapa and Wakalulu: Three Diverse African Tricksters Widows for the Burning: Rethinking the Historiography of Sati Women in Navaho Culture
and Society: Rethinking B. Ortner’s “Is Female to Male as Nature
is to Culture?” |
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