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Created by:
Last updated:
November 19, 2022
Duration:
Unlimited Duration
FREE
This course includes:
Unlimited Duration
Badge on Completion
Certificate of completion
Unlimited Duration
Description
Human beings are symbol-making as well as tool-making animals.
We understand our world and shape our lives in large part by assigning meanings to objects, beings, and persons; by connecting things together in symbolic patterns; and by creating elaborate forms of symbolic action and narrative. In this introductory subject we consider how symbols are created and structured; how they draw on and give meaning to different domains of the human world; how they are woven into politics, family life, and the life cycle; and how we can interpret them.
The semester will be devoted to a number of topics in symbolism.
- Metaphor and Other Figurative Language
- The Raw Materials of Symbolism, especially Animals and The Human Body
- Cosmology and Complex Symbolic Systems
- Ritual, including Symbolic Curing and Magic
- Narrative and Life
- Mythology
Course Curriculum
- Introduction Unlimited
- Culture, Sign and Symbol Unlimited
- Discuss Illness as Metaphor Unlimited
- Metaphor and Other Tropes Unlimited
- More Tropes Unlimited
- Interpreting Metaphor Unlimited
- Metaphorical Imperialism Unlimited
- Animals Unlimited
- Animals and Classification Unlimited
- Roosters and Interpretation Unlimited
- The Human Body Unlimited
- More Bodies Unlimited
- Classification and Cosmology Unlimited
- Ritual Unlimited
- Passage and Persuasion Unlimited
- Ritual and Power Unlimited
- Magic and Ritual Curing Unlimited
- Narrative and Life Unlimited
- Narrative and Control Unlimited
- Folktale and Form Unlimited
- Little Red Riding Hood and the Freudian Wolf Unlimited
- Goldilocks Meets Oedipus Unlimited
- Hyenas and Demon Brides Unlimited
- Jaguars, Vampires, and Starlets Unlimited
About the instructor
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
