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Faculty Research Conversations
"Supernatural Stories in American Indian Culture: Encounters with 'The Little People'" by Dr. Tom Mould of Elon University on Tuesday 25 September 2007, 7:30pm, Grand Tier of the Center for the Arts
Popular culture has made leprechauns some of the
most recognizable Little People in the Western Hemisphere.
But these Irish beings represent only one cultural manifestation
of a phenomenon that exists on every inhabited continent in
the world. In the Americas alone, an estimated 85% of culture
groups have a tradition of the Little People—generally
small, old and wizened supernatural beings who look like humans
but have a range of special powers and abilities. The consistency
of their appearance, role and function is dramatic, yet important
variations abound. Folklorist Tom Mould will discuss the Little
People in Native North America and explore in particular the
stories the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians tell of encountering
these small, powerful, and mercurial beings.
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Dr. Tom Mould is assistant professor of anthropology and folklore at Elon University and director of the Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies. He is the author of two books on Choctaw narrative Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future and Choctaw Tales and has published book chapters and articles on issues of generic boundaries and constructed identities, particularly in the study of oral narrative. He has also produced numerous video documentaries for public television on folk art and culture in Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina. His current research explores prophecy as a distinct genre of verbal art with a cross-cultural perspective.
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