Research Plan

Alaska Native Folklore/Story Telling

1.      My research topic is animals in the Alaska Native story telling/folklore.

a.      What is the symbolism behind using animals in the story telling?

b.      Are there more stories about any particular animal compared to others?

c.       Do different tribes use the same animal in their story telling vs. another tribe?

d.      What are some of the folklore/stories with animals by tribe?

e.       Who are some of the Alaska Native story tellers? Have they been recorded?

2.      These questions are important to me as a researcher to understand the symbolisms behind the animals in story telling from one tribe to another. In addition I am curious about the stories themselves and some of the story tellers.

I would like to think that this research on the Alaska Native Folklore would be viewed by primary school teachers to help educate school children and get them excited about the tradition of oral folklore amongst our native community.

3.      In our group I have opted to take the task of learning as much as I can about the topic of animals in Alaska Native Folklore. I will be responsible to write about this particular topic for our Wiki page and keep track of all my resources for the cite page later on. I have created an account on Wiki and will be going over the tutorials on how to contribute to this site.

I do not know enough about Wikipedia in order to make suggestions about changing it, making it better etc. It does carry this stigma about not being a credible source. If anything, just to make sure that our page is clear, well researched and cited well in order not to contribute to this stigma.

4.      March 31^st: To have some information about my topic of animals to discuss at group meeting (class). E-mail group to find out if we need to meet or chat on-line about Prospectus that is due on April 5^th, 10:45 group conference? Make changed to my schedule as group proceeds with project.

April2nd: Research topic and recordings on the internet. Check in with Jake to see if he has heard back from Lance. Might make a trip to UAF library and research Tilly Paul, from that movie “The Land is Ours.”

April 4^th: Narrow down some of my research and do an outline of my topic. Check in with group and see if they have run across anymore research on my topic.

April 5^th: Group meets at Wood Center 10:00 am to go over Prospectus.

Group meets with Christie (instructor) 10:45 about our project and find out if        she has any suggestions/ideas. Possible that group might meet outside of class? Start working on Wiki page? Get this piece of it nailed down?

April 11^th: Rough Draft Annotated Bib

April 12^th: Finish Annotated Bib

April 26^th: Group Research Projects Due