Course Details

The study of folklore examines social identity through the artistic practices of everyday life.  Students will learn to analyze folklore in relation to expressive genres and cultural groups in North America. From Italian yard shrines to urban legends, from UFO abduction narratives to African American cuisine, from Inuit film to New York cider pressing, this course will explore how cultural traditions are being preserved, renewed, and created by communities in America today. In this course, students will be introduced to ethnographic methods of research, folkloristic theories of culture and social identity, and will critically engage with processes of cultural production. We will analyze texts and performances from artistic genres including narrative, belief, ritual, festival, and material culture. Students will employ the tools of ethnographic methodology and engage in analysis of narrative and performance through the completion of a fieldwork project.