Hutton Honors College

What Is Written in the Stars?

Discussion Lunch with Folklorist and Anthropologist George Lankford

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 * 12:30-2 p.m. * Harlos House (1331 E. Tenth St.) * SIGN-UP REQUIRED

What can the stories of the stars tell us about human life and human beliefs? A preview of Reachable Stars, a book by folklorist and anthropologist George Lankford, notes: "Modern Westerners say the lights in the sky are stars, but culturally they are whatever we humans say they are. Some say they are Forces that determine human lives, some declare they are burning gaseous masses, and some see them as reminders of a gloried past by which elders can teach and guide the young." Lankford uses his knowledge of early American Indians' myths about stars to provide an understanding not only of how Native Americans viewed and understood the cosmos and its origins but also of how different early American cultures moved about and interacted.

Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Lyon College in Arkansas, Lankford earned his doctorate in folklore from IU. His books include Native American Legends: Southeastern Legends—Tales from the Natchez, Caddo, Biloxi, Chickasaw, and Other Nations; Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Enthnoastronomy of Eastern North America; Looking for Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology and Iconography; and Cavorting on the Devil's Fork. He has also written a historical novel, Surprised by Death: A Novel of Arkansas in the 1840s, and edited Bearing Witness: Memories of Arkansas Slavery. This lunch is co-sponsored by the Wells Scholars Program.

Lankford will be on campus as the guest of the departments of astronomy and of folklore and ethnomusicology to deliver a public lecture, "Footprints in the Stars," as part of the College of Arts and Sciences' Themester programming at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11, in Rawles Hall 100.

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