Anthropology of Folklore

Catalog description

Students will study folklore as an aspect of culture, a symbolic expression of peoples’ identities, beliefs, and values, and a medium for contesting and changing culture. Students will learn how folklore developed as a field of study and what professional folklorists do. Folklore is constantly changing and by its fluid, informal, and often subversive nature it resists easy categorization. Students will develop skills in defining and analyzing this complex aspect of culture as they encounter cross-cultural examples of folklore from around the world. Cross-listed: ENGL 362