Folklore & Mythology

The concentration and secondary field in Folklore & Mythology focuses on the study of society, past or present, through its cultural documents and artifacts, and uses a variety of methodologies drawn from the humanities and social sciences.

Chair: Stephen A. Mitchell

Gateway Courses

Spring 2024

FOLKMYTH 97: Fieldwork and Ethnography in Folklore: A Tutorial in Cultural Documentation and Community Engagement
Sarah Craycraft

This tutorial introduces students to the study of cultural traditions, beliefs, and artistic expressions—their performance, collection, representation and interpretation—through the practice of ethnography. Both ethnographic and theoretical readings serve as the material for class discussion and the foundation for ethnographic fieldwork.At once a crash course in ethnographic theory and ethics, and a practicum in qualitative methods, FM97 weds scholarly inquiry and academic study to practical experience in cultural documentation and personal involvement with local tradition bearers and folk communities. Guided by an interdisciplinary collection of texts, students will have the opportunity to study folklore from the ground up, not only through an academic lens, but through personal relationships, cultural participation, and inquisitive explorations of local communities. Throughout the semester you will be invited to develop skills in qualitative research, cultural documentation, proposal design, interviewing, and the arts of interpretation as you try your hand at fieldwork and ethnography. By examining folkways, expressive culture, traditions, and performances, and interrogating their import in the daily lives of individual and groups, we will aim to bridge the divide between grand theories and everyday practices, between intellectual debates and lived experiences, between the academic institution and the vernacular world. Ultimately, this course aims to bring “the folks” themselves into the center of the academic study, discussion, and debate. And it aims to give you the tools to help amplify and illuminate their voices, traditions, practices, and lore.

FOLKMYTH 120: Folklore and Appalachia
Sarah Craycraft

From moonshine and bluegrass to Lil Bubby Child memes, Latine music, and Affrilachian folk reporting: This course explores Appalachia through the region’s folklore as well as the ways that folklore has constituted Appalachia as an imagined American region. Designated a federally recognized region as recently as 1965, Appalachia has long been romanticized as America’s authentic “other.” We will explore the many genres that make up Appalachian folklife as well as consider folklore’s role in shaping portrayals of Appalachia. We’ll also think about the ways that insider-outsider relations impact representations of the region. Discussions will explore issues such as cultural staging in Dolly Parton’s Dollyworld, the commodification of Mothman, and the use of folklore as a form of “back talk” in response to outsider portrayals of the region as backward, homogenous, and unchanging. Our course will also consider the ways Appalachian folklore links the region transnationally, engaging with comparative cases like the Carpathian Mountain communities, the Czech bluegrass scene, and Welsh coal communities.

FOLKMYTH 172: Quilts and Quiltmaking
Felicity Lufkin

Are quilts the great American (folk) art? From intricately stitched whole-cloth quilts, to the improvisational patchworks of Gee's Bend; from the graphic simplicity of Amish quilts to the cozy pastels of depression-era quilts; from the Aids Quilt to art quilts; quilts have taken on extraordinary significance in American culture. This class surveys the evolution of quilt-making as a social practice, considering the role of quilts in articulations of gender, ethnic, class and religious identities, and their positions within discourses of domesticity, technology, consumerism, and cultural hierarchy.

CELTIC 120: Food and Fantasy in Irish Tradition
Joseph Nagy

Many aspects of food—growing, cooking, eating, drinking, and distributing it—have served as powerful cultural symbols in Irish oral and literary tradition from medieval to modern times.  A survey of the environmental, historical, and economic background to food and its production in Ireland of the early Middle Ages will lead to the close reading of medieval texts (in translation) such as “News about Mac Dathó’s Pig,” “The Vision of Mac Conglinne,” and “The Battle of Mag Tuired,” in each of which the “what,” “why,” and “how” of eating determine the outcome of the story.  In addition, we will examine the lively symbolism of food as perpetuated in Irish legend and folktale, and also in post-medieval Irish literature.