Romanian Folklore from the perspective of Globalization

Course Code: MR513 • Study year: II • Academic Year: 2024-2025
Domain: Philology - Masters • Field of study: Romanian literature and culture in European context
Type of course: Compulsory
Language of instruction: Romanian
Erasmus Language of instruction: English, French
Name of lecturer: Maria Georgeta Orian
Seminar tutor: Maria Georgeta Orian
Form of education Full-time
Form of instruction: Class / Seminary
Number of teaching hours per semester: 42
Number of teaching hours per week: 3
Semester: Autumn
Form of receiving a credit for a course: Grade
Number of ECTS credits allocated 7

Course aims:

Knowing, understanding and a correct using of fundamental concepts regarding Romanian Folklore
The integration of the traditional Romanian culture in the broad context of the values of the universal culture
Explaining the Romanian traditional culture in a multidisciplinary and intercultural context

Course Entry Requirements:

It is preferable for the student to have attended courses of ethnology and folklore or cultural anthropology (Bachelor's degree level)

Course contents:

  • Globalization - conceptual boundary (short history, types of globalization, implications, advantages and disadvantages);
  • Elements of national and European legislation on the promotion and preservation of traditional culture; EU policy on the conservation of national heritage;
  • The main categories of traditional culture: folk music, folk literature, folk dance, architecture and rural crafts, traditions, rituals, customs and beliefs, gastronomy and ethnoiatry;
  • Cultural features transcending the Traditional Romanian Area: rites of passage; traditional costume; rural architecture, decorative art, masks;
  • Current research; integration and recovery of traditional cultural values. 

Teaching methods:

Project-based learning, Cooperative Learning, Lecture, Student-Centered / Constructivist Approach Brainstorming; Case studies; Essays; Debates&Group discussions; Learning by doing; Lecturing; Photography, Music&Video; Storytelling.

Learning outcomes:

Course participants will get an idea about Romanian folklore and mythology, will be able to make comparisons with their own culture, establishing similarities and differences, and will be able to notice the spread of myths and legends, folklore, generally speaking, in different languages artistic (literature, music, film, plastic arts, design, etc.), as a reference point of a cultural identity.

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

• Free exposition; portfolio, project – 50% • Written paper - 50%

Recommended reading:

..., https://ich.unesco.org/en/state/romania-RO, ..., ..., 2021, ....
Emilia Ivancu, Mytho-poetical thought as described by Ernst Cassirer and Lucian Blaga: a comparative approach applied to works of poetry, „Avant. The Journal of the Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard”, T/2011, Volume II, Torun, 2011, 207-234.
Laura Jiga Iliescu, St. Elijah and the Fairies. Understanding a Charm Through Legends, Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 64(2),, Budapest, 2019, 311-320.