Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland College Park/SLLC280 Mythology of the Oppressed (Fall 2023)

Mythological recurrences say much about cultures that had to adapt their world views while attempting to preserve them. What do such experiences tell us about ourselves as humans? Are these apparent commonalities truly &quot;common&quot;? Do they stem from different causes, from historical events or even from the way our human minds work? What tools do scholars have - in the sciences and humanities - to investigate such original conditions? From insights in cultural and literary studies, linguistics, the cognitive sciences, paleo-anthropology, population dynamics, and similar complex disciplines and effective sciences, this course raises the question whether the cognitive basis or historical underpinnings of mythology drove human history, from the perspective of oppressed communities.