atreideslioness: (Child of Dune)
Ghanima Atreides ([personal profile] atreideslioness) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2010-03-08 08:30 am
Entry tags:

World Mythology -- Third Period -- Monday

Ghanima appeared rather cheerful this morning, one might almost say the Princess Royal was giddy.

Almost.  This was, however, Ghanima, and she effortlessly slipped into her role as teacher once the class was assembled.

"Welcome back, I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend," she teased, blue-on-blue eyes flaring with amusement.  "I was caring for my brother for most of the weekend, so I did not get out much to see the events."  Letting a weetiny Muad'dib-Leto run around outside might have been a disaster.  "There is juice and treats from JGoB over on the back table, for those of you that need breakfast."

"Today, however, you are all back to your proper selves, I hope, and therefore class shall go forward as normal.  Firstly, two weeks ago you were given an assignment; to explore the library and report back today about the items you found therein.  We did not turn it in last week, since Aly was able to join us, which means you had two weeks to complete the assignment.  I am going to assume that many of you planned to do the work this weekend, and were unavoidably detoured from your project.  I would, however, like to hear from those of you that did to the assignment.  You," she said, pointing at a random student, "What did you learn?" 

After listening to those that had completed the work, she nodded.  "Congratulations on a job well done.  For the rest of you, you ought to know by now that 'Fandom Weird' strikes without warning, and with alarming frequency.  Consider this a lesson in proper preparation for emergencies." 

"Now that we have pondered the difficult relationship between religion and mythology, we turn our eyes southward, to the world 'Down Under', or Australia."  Hopping off her desk, Ghanima began distributing the handouts to the class.

"Australian Aboriginal myths, also known as Dreamtime stories, Songlines or Aboriginal oral literature, are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia." "All such myths variously tell of significant truths within each Aboriginal groups' local landscape affectively layering the whole of the Australian continent's topography with cultural nuance and deeper meaning, effectively empowering selected audiences with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Australian Aboriginal ancestors back to time immemorial."

"Australian Aboriginal mythologies have been characterised as "at one and the same time fragments of a catechism, a liturgical manual, a history of civilisation, a geography textbook, and to a much smaller extent a manual of cosmography".

"Now, there are over 400 distinct Aboriginal groups from across Australia, each distinguished from each other by unique names most often identifying the particular languages, dialects, or distinctive speech mannerisms.  There are so many distinct Aboriginal groups, languages, beliefs and practices that it would not seem proper to attempt to characterise, under a single heading, the full range and diversity of all myths being variously and continuously told, developed, elaborated, performed, and experienced by members of each and every one to the groups across the whole of the continent," she said, continuing to pace the room.  "Despite the daunting task of trying to catalog such an evolving mythology, The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia never-the-less observes: "One intriguing feature [of Aboriginal Australian mythology] is the mixture of diversity and similarity in myths across the entire continent.""

The traditions and lore of Australia's indigenous peoples belongs to what may be one of the oldest continuous culture on Earth, to my understanding, circa 50,000 years.  Indigenous Australian peoples conceive of all things beginning with The Dreaming or Altjeringa, also called the Dreamtime, a sacred 'once upon a time', time out of time in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation."  Ghanima smiled as she returned to the front of the class to sit on her desk.  "Some of this may sound familiar by now, and while we could dedicate an entire semester to the power of the collective human unconscious, we unfortunately do not have the time."

"On your desks, you should now have four handouts regarding The Dreamtime, Songlines, and the Rainbow Serpent.  Please read them over, and then we will discuss as a class."

Re: Sign-In

[identity profile] she-sheds.livejournal.com 2010-03-09 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis
spiritandsword: (Default)

Re: Turn in the Homework

[personal profile] spiritandsword 2010-03-08 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Annja turned in the *handwavey* homework.

Re: Turn in the Homework

[identity profile] need-no-moon.livejournal.com 2010-03-08 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Jacob had actually done the homework. It'd just been a week ago, so it took a bit for him to remember exactly what he had found.

Re: Turn in the Homework

[identity profile] itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com 2010-03-08 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Hoshi presented a very detailed report on the Russian Orthodox Church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church). It probably would have been longer if the weekend had gone a little differently...
glacial_queen: (Class-Homework)

Re: Turn in the Homework

[personal profile] glacial_queen 2010-03-08 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
One of the benefits of visiting the library every week; Karla'd remembered the assignment. She'd gone through and studied up on the religious ethics in the 205's. It had been interesting--in an angry-making kind of way.
trigons_child: (Writing)

Re: Turn in the Homework

[personal profile] trigons_child 2010-03-08 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course Raven did the homework. And quite well.
eyebrowgoesup: (fascinating)

Re: Turn in the Homework

[personal profile] eyebrowgoesup 2010-03-08 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Spock turned in his handwavey, nerdily comprehensive homework.

Re: Turn in the Homework

[identity profile] she-sheds.livejournal.com 2010-03-09 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Of course Joolushko did the homework. She even managed to avoid (though just barely) making snide remarks about the inferiority of earth libraries.
momslilassassin: ([neu] studying)

Re: During the Lecture

[personal profile] momslilassassin 2010-03-08 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Ben was drinking juice, taking notes, and repressing like it was his job.

Ben was quite the multitasker.

Re: During the Lecture

[identity profile] need-no-moon.livejournal.com 2010-03-08 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Funny how the portal had dropped him off on Monday instead of Tuesday, which meant that Jacob could just catch this class. He stuffed his duffel under his desk, resting his legs on it and tried to keep his mind with the class.
glacial_queen: (Class-Lecture)

Re: During the Lecture

[personal profile] glacial_queen 2010-03-08 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
The juice and treats were well-appreciated this morning. Karla listened to the lecture and read her handouts, a bit surprised by the similarities she found between her own culture and this one.
glacial_queen: (Reading)

Re: Class Discussion: The Dreaming

[personal profile] glacial_queen 2010-03-08 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's one part of the Dreaming that sounds like the Darkness in my world," Karla said, looking at her handout. "The part that talks about holding the souls of everyone that's ever lived? We say that about the Darkness. After true death, we return as a whisper to the Darkness, becoming one with it again."
glacial_queen: (Class-Lecture)

Re: Class Discussion: Songlines

[personal profile] glacial_queen 2010-03-08 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"And these we definitely have," Karla continued. "We call them the Winds; the psychic roads through the Darkness. There's a Wind for every Jewel rank and you can travel on them as long as you stick to your rank or lighter. But they allow you to travel quickly, crossing hundreds of miles of distance in a very short amount of time. Err, there's no singing, though."