Curriculum in Folklore
GLENN HINSON, Chair
Core Faculty
Robert Cantwell, Marcie Ferris, William Ferris, Trudier Harris, Glenn Hinson, Jocelyn Neal, Katherine Roberts, Patricia Sawin.
Professors
Carole Crumley, Terence Evens, Jacquelyn Hall, Norris Johnson, Edward Kennedy, H. Craig Melchert, Patrick O’Neill, James Peacock, Della Pollock, Ruel Tyson Jr.
Associate Professors
Robert Daniels, John Florin, Valerie Lambert, Karla Slocum.
Assistant Professor
Christopher Nelson.
Introduction
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. In essence, it looks to those expressive realms that communities infuse with cultural meaning, realms that are often deeply grounded in tradition. Consequently, the curriculum studies areas as diverse as traditional pottery and African American gospel, Mardi Gras celebrations and midwifery, work-site stories and bluegrass fiddling, graffiti and barbecue and cyber-legends. Connecting all of these domains is a sense of artistry, creativity, and soulful performance, through which communities give voice to the issues and concerns that they see as central to their being. As these issues change—and as communities define themselves differently in light of shifting social, political, and economic realities—so does community-based artistry. Folklore thus moves beyond the study of the old and time-honored to explore emergent meanings and unfolding redefinitions of beauty, faith, and truth.
The vehicle for this exploration is fieldwork, the real-world study of people’s lives in everyday settings. Rather than relying on the distanced abstractions of survey questionnaires and library research, folklife study grounds itself in conversation and participatory engagement. Hence many of the curriculum’s courses encourage students to move beyond the University to engage experts of the everyday in the communities that they call home. Given this focus, the curriculum directs much of its teaching to regional folklife, inviting students to take advantage of the area’s rich fieldwork opportunities while complementing the University’s strengths in the study of Southern history, literature, and culture.
Structured as an interdisciplinary program, the curriculum draws many of its courses from other departments. This allows it to offer classes on music, narrative, festival, architecture, belief, language, and art across communities defined by race, gender, class, ethnicity, region, faith, and occupation. The curriculum does not offer a separate undergraduate major, but does offer a folklore minor. Students who wish to study folklore in a more intensive manner can craft an independently designed major through the interdisciplinary B.A. degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Students interested in this option should consult with the chair of Folklore, and then apply through the director of interdisciplinary studies in 300 Steele Building.
Program of Study
A minor in folklore is available.
Minoring in Folklore
The undergraduate minor in folklore consists of five three-hour courses, as specified in the categories listed below.
• Two courses on genre drawn from ANTH 147, 151; FOLK 334, 375, 470, 484, 487, 502, 550, 560, 571, 585, 610; MUSC 144, 145, 146
• One or two courses on community drawn from ANTH 142, 155, 205, 226, 234; FOLK 130, 230, 340, 342, 587, 589, 684; MUSC 240
• One or two courses on theory from ANTH 120; FOLK 323, 428, 429, 435, 454, 455, 473, 485, 525, 537, 562, 565, 670, 675
From time to time, current or visiting faculty will offer additional courses not listed here. The curriculum will post these on the semester’s course listing and will determine, on a course-by-course basis, which minor requirements each will fill.
Honors in Folklore
Folklore majors who wish to pursue a focused, faculty-advised research project in their senior year may opt for honors, a program that joins motivated students with faculty mentors in student-defined studies of performance and expressive culture. Honors projects are not for the faint of heart; rather, they’re designed for motivated students who wish to explore an issue to a degree not enabled by most undergraduate classes. When pursuing honors, a student dedicates two courses, FOLK 691H and 692H, in consecutive semesters to conducting independent research and writing an issue-oriented thesis. In most instances, the research will be ethnographic, drawing the candidate into intensive fieldwork in a nearby community; honors projects also can be library-based, drawing upon secondary sources or the rich resources of the Southern Folklife Collection.
To qualify for honors candidacy, students must meet the same course requirements as other folklore majors and must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher throughout their senior year. At the close of their junior year, students should contact a faculty advisor (who must be a core member of the curriculum) with whom they would like to work over the following two semesters. With the advisor’s guidance, the student will then design a research project that will culminate in a written thesis to be defended before a committee consisting of the advisor and two readers.
Students who are interested in pursuing honors in folklore should contact the chair of the curriculum in the closing months of their junior year.
Special Opportunities in Folklore
Departmental Involvement
Dedicated to an ethic of public engagement, the Curriculum in Folklore maintains close working ties with a range of programming agencies, educational organizations, and production companies across the region. If students are interested in working with these groups—in realms ranging from festival production to classroom workshops to exhibition design—the curriculum will help facilitate the relationship. It also periodically produces concerts of vernacular music, dance, and narrative for the campus community; students are certainly invited to initiate, or to assist with, these productions.
Study Abroad
The curriculum actively encourages folklore majors to enroll in study abroad programs. Offering first-hand experience in cultural settings other than one’s own, these programs foster the development of cultural perspective, invariably granting new insights into the expressive worlds in which students are most interested. At the same time, they allow intensive language training and often offer compelling course work in folklore. Students interested in studying abroad should contact the curriculum chair and the University’s Study Abroad Office to assess the relevance of available programs and to arrange the transfer of credit hours for their folklore major. The curriculum particularly hopes that students won’t be discouraged by the cost of studying abroad; such study is often affordable even to students who require financial aid. For information about student loans and scholarships for this purpose, students should contact the Study Abroad Office.
Undergraduate Research
The study of vernacular culture, and of the everyday artistries that infuse culture with spirit and meaning, is perhaps best pursued in the real-world laboratories of community. The key to such study is emotional and analytical engagement, fostered through conversation, participation, and the crafting of partnerships that pursue shared understanding. Many folklore courses encourage such engagement by inviting students to conduct fieldwork in the communities in which they’re interested. Indeed, fieldwork might be considered a keystone of most folklore classes.
Students who wish to pursue folklife study outside of conventional classroom settings, or who desire advanced work beyond current course offerings, should consider FOLK 495 or 496. The former invites students to engage in directed field research; the latter encourages them to pursue non-field-based folklife study. Both unfold under the mentorship of a faculty member, and both require the permission of that faculty member in the semester before the class is taken. Students interested in pursuing one of these independent research options must have completed prior course work in folklore or a related social science. To register, students should contact the chair of the curriculum.
Contact Information
Students should consult the chair of the curriculum, Professor Glenn Hinson, in 228 Greenlaw Hall, (919) 962-4065; ghinson@unc.edu.
FOLK
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.
230 [130] American Indian Societies (ANTH 230) (3). Broad survey of contemporary American Indian societies and cultures in the United States. Explores sociocultural and historical diversity of tribes through film, autobiography, literature, current issues, guest speakers, archaeology, and history.
323 [123] Magic, Ritual, and Belief (ANTH 323) (3). Permission of the instructor. 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.
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.
340 [040] Southern Style, Southern Culture (ANTH 340) (4). A journey into the worlds of Southern meaning, exploring aesthetics, faith, race, class, gender, and the politics of culture. In this class, students explore culture through semester-long, group-based fieldwork projects.
342 [090] African American Religious Experience (AFAM 342, ANTH 342, RELI 342) (3). Prerequisite, students must have taken at least one course in AFAM, ANTH, or RELI. Introduction to the diversity of African American beliefs, experiences, and expression from the colonial era to the present. Exploration will be historical and thematic.
375 [176] Food in American Culture (AMST 375) (3). 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.
428 [142] Religion and Anthropology (ANTH 428, RELI 428) (3). Religion studied anthropologically as a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon in the works of classical and contemporary social thought.
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.
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.
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.
455 [155] Method and Theory in Ethnohistoric Research (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.
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.
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 in Ethnographic Research (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.
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.
488 No Place like Home: Material Culture of the American South (3). Seminar will explore the unique worlds of Southern material culture and how “artifacts” from barns to biscuits provide insight about the changing social and cultural history of the American South.
490 [195] Topics in Folklore (3). Topics vary from semester to semester.
495 [198] Field Research (3). Research at sites that vary.
496 [199] Directed Readings in Folklore (3). Permission of the department. Topic varies based on instructor.
502 [141] Myths and Epics of the Ancient Near East (RELI 502) (3). Permission of the instructor. An examination of Babylonian, Canaanite, Egyptian, Hittite, and Sumerian texts from the prebiblical era, focusing on representative myths, epics, sagas, songs, proverbs, prophecies, and hymns.
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.
537 [137] Gender and Practice (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.
550 [148] Introduction to Material Culture (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). Course considers how Southern writers employ folklore genres such as folk tales, sermons, and music and how such genres provide structure for literary forms like the novel and the short story.
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, Theater, and Performance in Everyday Life (COMM 565) (3). Prerequisite, COMM 160 or ENGL 126. This course will explore 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 20th-century musical forms, revealing how music serves as a window on the region’s history and culture.
585 [147] British and American Folk Song (ENGL 585) (3). Explores the forms, functions, and relationships of British and American folk songs, 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). Focuses on the richness and variety of oral traditions that define African American culture, with some emphasis on African origins.
610 Vernacular Traditions in African American Music (AFAM 610) (4). Explores performance traditions in African American music, tracing development from African song through reels, blues, gospel, and contemporary vernacular expression. Focuses on continuity, creativity, and change within African American aesthetics.
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 field work.
675 [175] Ethnographic Method (ANTH 675) (3). Intensive study and practice of the core research methods of cultural and social anthropology.
684 [185] Women in Folklore and Literature (ENGL 684, WMST 684) (3). An exploration of representations of women in oral traditions as well as in literature based on oral traditions.
688 [288] Observation and Interpretation of Religious Action (ANTH 688, RELI 688) (3). 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.
690 [295] Studies In Folklore (3). Topic varies from semester to semester.
691H [095] Honors Project in Folklore (3). Prerequisites, honors candidate and permission of the instructor. Ethnographic and/or library research, and analysis of the gathered materials, leading to a draft of an honors thesis.
692H [096] Honors Thesis in Folklore (3). Prerequisite, FOLK 691H. Writing of an honors thesis based on independent research conducted in FOLK 691H. Open only to senior honors candidates who work under the direction of a folklore faculty member.