GLENN HINSON, Chair
Bob Cantwell (26) Culture and Human Rights, Vernacular Music, Folklore Theory, Sexual Consent, Jane Addams, Pragmatism and the Progressive Era
Carole L. Crumley (22) Archaeology, Complex Societies, Europe
Terence Evens (27) Social Anthropology, Social Theory, Phenomenology, Ethics, Philosophical Anthropology, Collectivist Settlements
*William R. Ferris (65) Southern Music and Literature, Documentary Studies, American South
Kaja Finkler (32) Medical Anthropology, Latin America
Jacquelyn Hall (18) American History, Southern Oral History
*Trudier Harris (5) African American Folklore and Literature
Norris B. Johnson (25) Cultural Anthropology, Art and Literature
Edward Donald Kennedy (6) Medieval Romances, Arthurian Literature
H. Craig Melchert (23) Indo-European Linguistics
Patrick P. O'Neill (20) Medieval Literature, Celtic Languages and Culture
James L. Peacock (11) Culture Change, Symbolic Systems, Southeast Asia
Della Pollock (9) Performance of Literature, Performance Theory and Criticism, Cultural Studies
Ruel W. Tyson Jr. (15) Philosophy and Anthropology of Religion
Robert Edward Daniels (4) Social Anthropology, Culture and Personality, Africa
John W. Florin (16) Population Geography, Medical Geography, and Historical Anglo-America
*Glenn D. Hinson (36) Ethnography of Communication, African American Expressive Culture, Belief Systems, Public Folklore
*Patricia E. Sawin (1) Feminist Theory, Ethnography of Speaking, Performance, Southwest Louisiana
Marcie Ferris (35) Southern Jewish History, American Foodways, Women's Studies, Folklore, Material Culture
Matthew Hull (69) Semiotics, Bureaucracy and Governance, Information Technology, Urban Planning, Material Culture, Science and Technology, South Asia
Valerie Lambert (59) American Indians, Ethnography, Political and Legal Anthropology, Sovereignty, Identity, Race and Racism, Elites, United States
Jocelyn Neal (7) Twentieth-Century Theory, Popular Music
Christopher Nelson (64) History and Memory, Everyday Life, Ethnography, Critical Theory, Storytelling, Ritual and Performance, Japan and Okinawa
Karla Slocum (56) Global/Local Studies, Social Movements, Agency, Development, Gender, Applying Anthropology, Caribbean
Daniel W. Patterson, Ballads; American Folksong; Religious Folklife; Gravestones; American South
Charles Gordon Zug, Pottery; Material Culture; Narrative; Maritime Folklife; Folk Art; American South
* core faculty
The Curriculum in Folklore focuses on the study of creativity and aesthetic expression in everyday life, and on the social and political implications of this 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 MA program that readies students for both public practice and further academic study.
The millennium's turn marked five decades of the curriculum's presence at UNC-Chapel Hill. 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 sci-fi costumers in Boston. Faculty interests tend to cluster in the areas of music, language and narrative, African American culture, public folklore, gender, material culture, occupational folklife, and the politics of culture. Deeply committed to collaborative work in the public realm, curriculum members work extensively with local communities, pursuing projects with museums, arts councils, media production companies, and a range of other organizations.
Structurally, the curriculum is an interdisciplinary program. Faculty are based in various home departments (American Studies, Anthropology, English, Geography, History, Linguistics, and Religious Studies). Each core faculty member holds a half-time appointment in Folklore (although most of their courses in other departments are also relevant to folklore study).
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers a fitting home for the Curriculum in Folklore. Its libraries have extensive holdings of books, manuscripts, periodicals, images, and sound recordings relating to folklore. Holdings of folklore materials are especially strong for the American South and the British Isles. Particularly notable among these collections are the Archie Green Occupational Folklife Collection, the Don Yoder Collection of American religious tune books, the John Edwards Memorial Collection of early Southern commercially recorded folk and popular music, and the Southern Folklife Collection of field and commercial recordings.
Degree Requirements: The MA program in folklore stresses flexibility, inviting students to craft a course plan to meet their particular needs. Master's students must complete ten courses (thirty hours); of these, only two - Introduction to Folklore Theory (FOLK 850) and The Art of Ethnography (FOLK 860) - are required. Other courses must demonstrate a rough balance between genre, theory, area studies, and practice. In addition to classes in the core curriculum, students traditionally take courses from a variety of associated graduate programs, including Anthropology, Communications Studies, English, History, and Music. Students pursuing an MA must demonstrate reading proficiency in a foreign language.
Students may also opt for a folklore minor in another PhD program. Students pursuing the minor must complete only six courses.
130 [133] ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE CARIBBEAN (ANTH 130) (3). Theories and examples of how Caribbean people live, act, and see themselves within various cultural, social, economic, and political contexts across time. Attention to North American views of the Caribbean. Spring. Slocum.
230 [130] AMERICAN INDIAN SOCIETIES (ANTH 230) (3). Broad survey of contemporary American Indian societies and cultures in the U.S. Explores socio-cultural and historical diversity of tribes through film, autobiography, literature, current issues, guest speakers, archaeology, and history. Lambert.
323 [123] MAGIC, RITUAL, AND BELIEF (ANTH 323) (3). Starting with the late 19th century evolutionists, this course discusses, intensively, major anthropological theories of magico-religious thought and practice, then offers an approach of its own. Admission by permission of the instructor. Spring. Evens.
334 [134] ART, MYTH, AND NATURE: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES (ANTH 334) (3). Cross-cultural study of form, image, and meaning in painting, drawing, and sculpture. Emphasis on the interrelationship of religion and art in selected prehistoric and contemporary sociocultural traditions. Spring. Johnson.
375 [176] FOOD IN AMERICAN CULTURE (AMST 375). This course will examine the history and meaning of food in American culture and will explore the ways in which food shapes national, regional, and personal identity. M. Ferris.
428 [142] RELIGION AND ANTHROPOLOGY (ANTH 428) (RELI 428). Religion studied anthropologically as a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon in the works of classical and contemporary social thought. Spring. Peacock and Tyson.
429 [129] CULTURE AND POWER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (ANTH 429) (ASIA 429) (3). The formation and transformation of values, identities, and expressive forms in Southeast Asia in response to forms of power. Emphasis on the impact of colonialism, the nation-state, and globalization. Peacock, Nonini, Wiener.
435 [135] CONSCIOUSNESS AND SYMBOLS (ANTH 435) (CMPL 435) (3). This course explores consciousness through symbols. Symbols from religion, art, politics, and self are studied in social, psychological, historical, and ecological context to ascertain meanings in experience and behavior. Fall. Peacock.
454 [154] HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES (GEOG 454) (3). A study of selected past geographies of the United States with emphasis on the significant geographic changes in population, cultural, and economic conditions through time. Florin.
455 [155] ETHNOHISTORY (ANTH 455) (3). Integration of data from ethnographic and archaeological research with pertinent historical information. Familiarization with a wide range of sources of ethnohistorical data and practice in obtaining and evaluating information. Pertinent theoretical concepts are explored. Fall. (Alternate years.) Crumley.
470 [171] MEDICINE AND ANTHROPOLOGY (ANTH 470) (3). This course examines cultural understandings of health, illness, and medical systems from an anthropological perspective with a special focus on western medicine. Finkler.
473 [173] ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE BODY AND THE SUBJECT (ANTH 473) (3). Anthropological and historical studies of cultural constructions of bodily experience and subjectivity are reviewed, with emphasis on the genesis of the modern individual and cultural approaches to gender and sexuality.
484 [184] DISCOURSE AND DIALOGUE (ANTH 484) (LING 484) (3). Study of cultural variation in styles of speaking applied to collection of ethnographic data. Talk as responsive social action and its role in the constitution of ethnic and gender identities. Sawin.
485 [146] INTRODUCTION TO FOLKLORE (ANTH 485) (ENGL 485) (3). An introduction to the study of creativity and aesthetic expression in everyday life, considering both traditional genres and contemporary innovations in the material, verbal, and musical arts.
487 [186] FOLK NARRATIVE (ENGL 487) (3). The study of three genres of folk narrative (fairytale, personal narrative, and legend) and their distinctive roles in contemporary life.
490 [195] TOPICS IN FOLKLORE (3). Fall and spring. Staff.
495 [198] FIELD RESEARCH (3). Fall and spring. Staff.
496 [199] DIRECTED READINGS IN FOLKLORE (3). Fall and spring. Staff.
502 [141] MYTHS AND EPICS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST (RELI 502) (3). An examination of Babylonian, Canaanite, Egyptian, Hittite, and Sumerian texts from the pre-Biblical era, focusing on representative myths, epics, sagas, songs, proverbs, prophecies, and hymns. Spring. Sasson.
525 [121] CULTURE AND PERSONALITY (ANTH 525) (3). Systems theory used to conceptualize relationship between cultural patterns and individual minds. Functional, dysfunctional, and therapeutic processes considered. Examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Native America. Lectures, films, recitations. Spring. Daniels.
537 [137] GENDER AND PERFORMANCE (ANTH 537) (WMST 438) (3). A study of the ways in which individuals constitute themselves as gendered subjects in the contemporary context of economic and cultural globalization. Spring. Sawin.
550 [148] TRADITIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP (3). An introduction to material folk culture, exploring the meanings that people bring to traditional arts and the artful creations with which they surround themselves (e.g., architecture, clothing, altars, tools, food).
560 [160] SOUTHERN LITERATURE AND THE ORAL TRADITION (3). This seminar considers how Southern writers employ folklore genres such as folktales, sermons, and music and how such genres provide structure for literary forms like the novel and the short story. Spring. W. Ferris.
562 [161] ORAL HISTORY AND PERFORMANCE (COMM 562) (HIST 562) (WMST 562) (3). This course combines readings and field work in oral history with study of performance as a means of interpreting and conveying oral history texts. Emphasis on women's history.
565 [165] RITUAL, THEATRE, AND PERFORMANCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE (COMM 565) (3). This course explores the dynamics of performance as it is broadly produced within the texture of individual experiences, the interaction of community memberships, and the dramas of cultural aesthetics.
571 [150] SOUTHERN MUSIC (HIST 571) (3). Explores the history of music in the American South from its roots to twentieth century musical forms, revealing how music serves as a window on the region's history and culture. Fall. W. Ferris.
585 [147] BRITISH AND AMERICAN FOLKSONG (ENGL 585) (3). Explores the forms, functions, and relationships of British and American folksongs, charting the emergence of Anglo- and African American vernacular musics and the dynamic processes of tradition, creolization, innovation, and revival.
587 [187] FOLKLORE IN THE SOUTH (ENGL 587) (3). An issue-oriented study of Southern folklore, exploring the ways that vernacular artistic expression (from barns and barbecue to gospel and well-told tales) come to define both community and region.
589 [189] AFRICAN AMERICAN FOLKLORE (ENGL 589) (3). A study of folklore within the Black community, concentrating on African and slave backgrounds, and covering rural and urban folktales, spirituals, work songs, blues, toasts, and folk beliefs. Fall. Harris.
610 [190] VERNACULAR TRADITIONS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC (AFAM 610) (3). Explores performance traditions in African American music, tracing the music's development from African song through blues, jazz, gospel, and contemporary vernacular expression. Focuses on continuity, creativity, and change within African American aesthetics. (Alternate years.) Fall. Hinson.
670 [174] INTRODUCTION TO ORAL HISTORY (HIST 670) (3). Introduces students to the uses of interviews in historical research. Questions of ethics, interpretation, and the construction of memory will be explored, and interviewing skills will be developed through fieldwork. Hall.
675 [175] ETHNOGRAPHIC METHOD (ANTH 675) (3). Intensive study and practice of the core research methods of cultural and social anthropology. Staff.
684 [185] WOMEN IN FOLKLORE AND LITERATURE (ENGL 684) (WMST 684) (3). The images of women depicted in the folk imagination from ancient times to the present: sorcerers, conjurers, witches, sexual objects, tricksters, healers, heroines, avengers, and carriers of family tradition.
688 [288] OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION OF RELIGIOUS ACTION (ANTH 688) (RELI 688) (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Exercises (including field work) in learning to read the primary modes of public action in religious traditions e.g. sermons, testimonies, rituals, and prayers. Spring. Peacock.
690 [295] STUDIES IN FOLKLORE (3). Fall and spring. Staff.
790 [290] PUBLIC FOLKLORE (3). A graduate seminar addressing theory and praxis in public sector cultural work. Focusing on public folklore, this course explores broad issues of representation, cultural politics, and cultural tourism. (Alternate years.) Fall. Hinson.
841 [241] PERFORMANCE ETHNOGRAPHY (COMM 841) (3). This seminar focuses on methods of ethnography and fieldwork ethics. Performance as theory and practice informs methodological inquiries as well as the analysis of specific ethnographic texts and case studies.
842 [342] SEMINAR IN PERFORMANCE AND CULTURAL STUDIES (COMM 842) (3). This course focuses on performance-related issues in the emergent field of cultural studies.
843 [343] SEMINAR IN PROBLEMS IN CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE THEORY (COMM 843) (3). An advanced graduate seminar, this course will address recent developments and problems in performance theory. It will consider cross- and multidisciplinary approaches to performance as sites for consideration and debate. Pollock, Long, Madison.
850 [296] APPROACHES TO FOLKLORE THEORY (3). A systematic overview of the major issues and perspectives informing two centuries of folklore study, including: social base, tradition, evolution, diffusion, structure, function, interpretation, performance, feminism, and ideology. Fall. Sawin.
860 [297] ART OF ETHNOGRAPHY (ANTH 860) (3). A field-based exploration of the pragmatic, ethical, and theoretical dimensions of ethnographic research, addressing issues of experience, aesthetics, authority, and worldview through the lens of cultural encounter. Field research required. Spring. Hinson.
890 [390] SEMINAR IN SELECTED TOPICS. An irregularly offered graduate seminar exploring selected topics in the theory and practice of folklore.
891 [196] TOPICS IN FOLKLORE (3). An irregularly offered graduate seminar exploring selected topics in the theory and practice of folklore.
895 [395] SEMINAR IN FOLKLORE. An irregularly offered graduate seminar exploring selected topics in the theory and practice of folklore. Staff.
993 [393] MASTER'S THESIS (3-6). Research in a special field under the direction of staff members. Fall and spring.