The Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina focuses on the study of creativity and aesthetic expression in everyday life, and on the political implications of that expression as it unfolds in the contested arenas of culture. Not bound to traditional definitions of folklore, and committed to preparing students for ethical practice in a multicultural world, the Curriculum offers a flexible M.A. program that readies students for both public practice and further academic study.

The new millennium marks six decades of the Curriculum’s presence at UNC. Founded with an eye to regional study, and deeply integrated with the University’s long-standing focus on Southern history, literature, and culture, the Curriculum maintains its commitment to the study of regional folklife. This commitment, however, in no way limits the Curriculum’s vision. Though students and faculty still do much of their fieldwork in the South, they are just as likely to be working with poets in Chicago, shamans in Siberia, or master-level science fiction costumers in Boston. Faculty interests tend to cluster in the areas of music, narrative, African American culture, material culture, public folklore, performance theory, occupational folklife, and the politics of culture. In keeping with the latter of these interests, Curriculum members work extensively in the public sphere, pursuing projects with museums, arts councils, media production companies, and a range of other organizations.

Structurally, the Curriculum is an interdisciplinary program, one whose faculty is situated in home departments (American Studies, Anthropology, English, Geography, History, Linguistics, and Religious Studies). While it operates as an autonomous unit, the Curriculum has no salary lines for faculty or teaching assistants. Primarily a graduate program, offering an M.A. in Folklore and a minor with the Ph.D. in a related field, the Curriculum now also offers a formal undergraduate minor; undergraduates may also devise their own major in Folklore through the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies (see Degree Requirements).