Sheriff, Robin

Wright, Lori

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices10-14-2009University Course Explores The Mystery AndHistory Of DreamsLori WrightUNH Media RelationsRobin SheriffUniversity of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori and Sheriff, Robin, "University Course Explores The Mystery And History Of Dreams" (2009). UNH Today. 226.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/226University Course Explores the Mystery and History of Dreamshttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2009/oct/lw14dreams.cfm.html[8/24/2016 2:17:18 PM] University Course Explores The Mystery And History OfDreamsMedia Contact:  Lori Wright 603-862-0574UNH Media Relations Robin Sheriff 603-862-2162Associate Professor of AnthropologyOct. 14, 2009DURHAM, N.H. –They are the subject of songs, poems, books, and movies. They can beperplexing, scary, insightful, and downright bizarre. Dreams and their meanings havefascinated societies for thousands of years, and now University of New Hampshire studentshave the opportunity to investigate how different cultures have interpreted dreams and theprofound meanings attached to them.This fall, Robin Sheriff, associate professor of anthropology, is teaching her newundergraduate course, “The Anthropology of Dreams and Dreaming.”“Dreaming is a universal human activity, shared within and among all cultures. The meaningof dreams, however, varies dramatically across cultures. Modern Western societies refer to‘having dreams’ whereas in ancient Greece and many non-Western societies, people ‘see’ adream,” Sheriff says. “This linguistic distinction underscores a more profound cultural one: among non-Westerners,the dream world is often experienced as a parallel reality – a concept very different from thenotion that dreams are products of an illusion-creating, individual mind,” she says. The course explores Western and non-Western “dream theories.” As Sheriff explains, allsocieties have ideas about what dreams are, where they come from and what role they shouldplay in the lives of individuals and communities. These theories are, in turn, linked to ideasabout the nature of self, experience, and reality. Studying a people’s dream theory opens awindow onto a whole culture, a whole way of living and being in the world. For example, in some non-Western cultures the distinction between a ‘real’ waking life and a‘not real’ dream world doesn’t make sense. Although reality may appear to some Westerncultures in these two different modes, non-Western cultures believe the core of who we are isproduced out of a seamless, fluid universe of experience through which the soul wanders.“If we can stretch our minds to understand the dream theories of other societies, we gain anexpanded sense of the multiplicity of ways that we can be human. Studying dream theorieshelps us to appreciate cultural diversity at the same time that it helps us to reflect on what isprobably universal — preoccupations with the love and respect of others, for example,” Sheriffsays.      University Course Explores the Mystery and History of Dreamshttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2009/oct/lw14dreams.cfm.html[8/24/2016 2:17:18 PM]The course also is a cross-cultural study of the human condition. Students explore age-oldquestions such as, “What is self?”, “What is consciousness?”, “What is the relationshipbetween self and society?”, “How do we know what is real and not real?”, “How many realitiesare there?”In many societies, dreams are thought to communicate knowledge about significant matters,such as hunting, the causes and cures of illness, and how to negotiate relationships withentities in the spiritual realm. Dreams are often thought to have an impact on communitywelfare, rather than just on the individual dreamer.Our Western society is among the few that dismiss dreams as meaningless or as having, atmost, a private and limited significance, Sheriff notes.“Yet, even in our own society, beyond the reach of official culture, many individuals find theirdreams compelling and meaningful. We may even make some important decisions based ondreams,” she says. “Even if we live in a culture that spurns dreams, we still experience thewonder of them.”          Students are studying Freud’s theory of dreams as well as considering the debate of modernresearch – are dreams a product of chemical activities in the brain or is Freud’s belief in themeaningfulness of dreams still valid?The course also looks at how people share their dreams with others, how dreams are used forthe pursuit of knowledge, how dreams figure in various religious systems, the experience ofnightmares, and the degree to which dreams might compose a “political unconscious” that tiesinto systems of power, authority and violence.“Dreams can expose a society’s weighty silences and shared illusions for what they are,”Sheriff says.The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research universitywith the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university,UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and2,200 graduate students.-30-

University Course Explores The Mystery And History Of Dreams

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University Course Explores The Mystery And History Of Dreams

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