Not sure if anyone is intersted at the very least, but I'm a cultrual anthropology major, now a grad student with a focus in folklore. and during my career I've written two term papers that either were entirely about lycanthropy, or in the case of the 2nd, lycanthropy was a major focus.
I thought I'd go ahead and post them as they are the cumulation of a lot of research into the subject based on traditional French folklore, and people might be interested - they also include reliable bibliographies if anyone wants to read up more on the subject themself.
Note - these are both in word format - I didn't bother to convert to hmtl - but let me know if anyone who is intersted has a problem reading them.
The first, and muuuch shorter (written during undergrad): a general look at Lycanthropy beliefs in France from about the 16th century:
http://arania.kamiki.net/misc/Lycanthropy%20paper.doc
The second paper, muuch longer, and written my first semester as a grad student - ties together the cannibalistic beliefs of aformentioned Frenchmen (and admittedly integrates a lot of the previous paper) with the Algonkian windigo beliefs - and does something to explain some of, I believe, where hollywood pulled some of the now pop-culture werewolf beliefs (bite spreads it, silver, etc).
http://arania.kamiki.net/misc/Cannibalism%20paper.doc
Enjoy :3
Lycanthropy Term papers
Here's one of my term papers
I've also written one paper for a college class on the topic of shapeshifter folklore. Since it is relatively short, I've included it entirely in the body of this post. The title was "A New Spin on Zulu Mythology" and I got a perfect score on it:
I chose the topic of cultural syncretism. The film I watched was a documentary titled The Reptilian Agenda, which consists of a series of interviews between British-born conspiracy theorist David Icke and Zulu shaman Credo Mutwa. A bit of background on these two characters is necessary for understanding the cultural syncretism that exists in this documentary.
David Icke is a white man who seems firmly rooted in western culture. He is widely known as one of the most “out there” conspiracy theorists to have a substantial following. He has published numerous books, is in demand for lectures, and is now in the process of producing a series of documentaries. Mr. Icke believes in the urban legends of alien abduction that are well established in western culture. However, he doesn’t stop there. He goes way beyond normal alien abduction lore into a realm of truly bizarre weirdness. David Icke believes that most aliens are reptiles who are able to shapeshift into human form, and who can interbreed with humans.
According to David Icke, these “reptilians” can turn into snakes, lizards, alligators and dragons, but their natural form looks something like a horned person covered with green scales. They are described as having high technology, but they act more like vampires than aliens. These activities include kidnapping human children to drink their blood, raping women, and starting wars because they “feed” on fear, sex and negative emotions. David Icke says that these reptilian aliens are secretly in charge of all governments and the banking industry. For example, he states that all of our presidents have really been reptilians, and he frequently repeats the story of a woman who says she saw George W. Bush turn into a reptile. David Icke supports his theories with an odd mishmash of biblical quotes, mythology gathered from around the world, and genealogical research. Thousands of people buy David Icke’s books and subscribe to the same belief system as him, making this ideology a part of western culture, even though it is an obscure and weird part.
Credo Mutwa grew up in South Africa, where he still lives. He says that Zulus were discriminated against in the mission school where he received his education. His teachers told him that Zulus were lazy, stupid and promiscuous, and that they had no moral codes, religion or intellectual traditions before the white man came. He was pressured to adopt westernized ways of doing things. When Credo Mutwa was 16, he dropped out of school and his aunt, grandmother and grandfather began his training to be a “keeper of the ancient knowledge,” a title that can mean shaman or storyteller, and is actually a combination of both.
Credo Mutwa then realized that his white teachers had been telling him lies about his people. The Zulus had a rich mythology and history that he had been unaware of. Credo Mutwa learned about Zulu astrology and religion, soaking up as many legends as he could find. Even after his training was complete, he wanted to know more about the mythology of Africa, which he now considered true history. He rejected everything that he had been taught by white men, regarding it all as lies meant to enslave his people and Africans in general.
Credo Mutwa became determined to know all African mythology, especially secret knowledge that required a high price or was otherwise hidden. In search of this knowledge, he traveled all over Africa, joining secret societies and looking for underground religions. All information he obtained this way was added onto the Zulu mythology he had learned as a “keeper of the ancient knowledge.” Credo Mutwa has thus already started the process of cultural syncretism even before he met David Icke, by taking elements from other African cultures to combine with his own people’s mythology.
When these two people met, they got along quite well. Both of them had decided, for various reasons, that the normal history taught in schools is wrong. In addition, both of them believed that strange, evil beings were secretly manipulating society. Furthermore, David Icke was already in the habit of traveling around the world, picking up bits of mythology and using them to support and enlarge his own peculiar belief system. Of course, this in itself was a constant process of cultural syncretism. Credo Mutwa was exactly the sort of person that David Icke used as a source for mythology. The two of them had a number of private conversations before creating this documentary, and to me it seemed as if their two belief systems had already started to grow towards each other because of these previous conversations. Each man was already familiar with what the other was talking about.
During the three interviews that comprise this documentary, David Icke asks Credo Mutwa about the information that he has received during both his early training as a storyteller/shaman, and later during his travels in Africa. As Credo Mutwa talks about the legends he has heard and the visions he has experienced, David interrupts frequently to explain how certain elements in these tales support his own theories. For example, Credo Mutwa talked about reptile people that the Zulus call chiti-or-ay (I had to guess at the spelling since I could not find a written example of this word). These beings are said to have come from the sky shortly after the time of creation, riding in bowls made of gold. Of course, David Icke incorporates the golden bowls into his own ideology by saying that these were UFOs.
Credo Mutwa describes these reptile people as scaled, horned humanoids who prefer to live underground, in caves that are full of fire, sounding as if whoever created these legends was basing the idea of chiti-or-ay on Christian lore about demons, another possible aspect of cultural syncretism in this documentary. These creatures are supposed to be so sensitive to sunlight that they only come out at night. According to Credo Mutwa, if a chiti-or-ay is caught in sunlight, it becomes blind and completely helpless.
Like vampires, these beings cannot be killed by ordinary means. They have to be killed with sharp wooden stakes, especially those made of Rhodesian teak. Credo Mutwa showed a wooden stake that he was carving for this very purpose, and said he would pass this object on to his successor when he died. Credo Mutwa blames the chiti-or-ay for destroying the rainforest, because then if people have no wood for stakes the chiti-or-ay will become more powerful. He also blames the chiti-or-ay for AIDS, for environmental degradation near the Sahara, and for the frequency with which war is happening in Africa. According to this attitude, whenever something evil is happening, the chiti-or-ay or their half-human descendents are likely to be behind it.
A nearly endless list can be made of elements that David Icke uses that are taken from legends Credo Mutwa has learned or visions he has had. This is real cultural syncretism at work moment by moment during the interviews. For example, Credo Mutwa says that the Zulu creator god defeated the reptile people a long time ago, and “closed their mouths” to keep them from eating or speaking, and that is why they now feed like vampires, on blood, sex, and bad emotions. David Icke uses this bit to support his own theories, saying that this is why aliens have small mouths. Credo Mutwa talks about a bogeyman called “pinky-pinky” that Zulu children fear, and David Icke labels it an alien. Credo Mutwa also discusses older legends about beings called monopods by white South Africans and “the beast of the terrible blanket” by Zulus. The monopod looked like a masked figure with only one leg. It hopped around and scared people. David Icke also labels this an alien. In fact, David Icke labels nearly every mythical being from Zulu mythology this way, from dragons to mermaids.
In addition to the cultural syncretism that is operating on the small portion of western culture that consists of David Icke and his followers, there is also some cultural syncretism flowing in the opposite direction. Credo Mutwa has almost certainly been influenced by his conversations with David Icke, and Credo Mutwa will in turn influence the Zulu culture through his position as storyteller and in the things he will teach his successor.
Credo Mutwa also admits to being influenced by American movies. He says that certain things he has seen in his visions closely resemble things he has seen in science fiction movies. He thinks that this is because some American filmmakers know the “true” history and are trying to communicate it through their films. For example, one day Credo Mutwa was in a place his people call the Weeping Moon Mountains. It was very hot and he passed out, experiencing a vision which he regarded as representing the truth. This vision combined things that would be familiar to western moviegoers with other elements from Zulu mythology.
He was confined on a table while reptile people stabbed him with their long claws and drank his blood. Stereotypical little gray aliens hooked him up to a machine that drained him of semen, while a robot that looked as if it came from a 1950’s movie stood by and watched. Then a large-breasted elf with blue eyes and blonde hair had sex with him, and he was shown rooms where deformed fetuses swam in pink liquid, and other rooms where people were being tortured. When he regained consciousness and told people his story, they said that he had been carried away by the “little people,” the African version of fairies.
-Jamie Hall
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Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, or should I say, Darth Sideous
Fascinating bits of lore, even if I'm not convinced to agree with David Icke and Credo Mutwa themselves. I've read about other bits of ufology lore about the "reptilians" or "Draconians" in doing research for my storyline.
It would explain a few things about the Bush administration, which is full of food for conspiracy theorists.
It would explain a few things about the Bush administration, which is full of food for conspiracy theorists.
Taking a Gestalt approach, since it's the "in" thing...
There's a whole bunch of stuff at stargods.org that is either hilarious or scary, depending on one's personal beliefs. I think the most entertaining are the parts about all world leaders being reptilian shapeshifters (see Did Clinton Shapeshift? and Is Prince Charles a Shapeshifter). One of the bits of "evidence" that is repeatedly used is that people actually do turn slightly greenish in skin tone when under the right kinds of stress. Feed me some rotten fish, and I'll turn quite green! I am kind of glad that people have found a different shapeshifter to bash than werewolves. I would like these theories even less if they were all about "big bad wolves".Fascinating bits of lore, even if I'm not convinced to agree with David Icke and Credo Mutwa themselves. I've read about other bits of ufology lore about the "reptilians" or "Draconians" in doing research for my storyline.
-Jamie Hall
Do you like monsters? See Monster Mania!
Do you like monsters? See Monster Mania!
Thanx! i found your papers quite interesting, and have downloaded them for further study and reference!