Current Initiatives
Folklore Without Borders
Folklore Society council members Dr Matthew Cheeseman and Dr Paul Cowdell have been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to run a research network through 2024.
The network aims to understand how to embed greater equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within UK folklore. It hosts an international knowledge exchange on folklore theory, method, and creative and curatorial practices.
You are invited to join it!
The network is focused on the UK and has already begun. Most of its initial members are from England, with participants from Wales, Scotland, Norway, and the United States.
We’re conceiving of UK folklore as an assemblage collecting researchers, practitioners, creative industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and communicators, all working across three domains: academia (researchers, teachers), independent stakeholders (practitioners, artists, writers; entrepreneurs), and cultural industries (museums, galleries, archives; media).
All our participants recognise diversity issues in folklore. Some are systemic to Higher Education (HE), creative arts practice and entrepreneurship in the UK (the erasure or under-representation of the minoritized; whether racially, disabled, LGBTQ+, female, particularly at senior career stage), some are specific to the discipline (such as advocacy, representation, and agency within folklore research), and some take heightened form in the UK, where interest and involvement in folklore is overwhelmingly white, with an absence of disability, urban, working class voices, diverse genders, races, and sexualities.
To facilitate knowledge exchange, the network has two Learned Societies as partners: the Folklore Society and the American Folklore Society. The latter’s Cultural Diversity Committee has, since 1994, developed practice and research in diversifying folklore. There are three further partners: the Folklore Library and Archive, the Folklore Museums Network, and Bloc Projects, a contemporary art gallery.
The network seeks to understand and share the cultural value of folklore. How can the perception of folklore as something available to and practised by all groups enter the practice of those who work with folklore in the UK? A series of six digital meetings and three two-day events are designed to stimulate discussion and generate collaborations.
All of the network events help us discover ourselves through promoting and discussing rigorous enquiry-led research in folklore. Membership of the network is open to anyone, and all physical events are blended to make attendance possible by digital means.
If you’d like to join, please email m.cheeseman@derby.ac.uk for more information. We’d also be particularly interested if you know of, or have examples of diversity, equity, and inclusion in UK folklore.
Thank you!
Courses in Folklore Studies
Here’s a selection of courses and classes on folklore studies at various different levels, ranging from learning for fun to Masters and PhD.
A History of Folklore: an online course from The Folklore Society
Ever wondered where ‘folklore’ comes from? Who were the founders of our subject and how does their influence still shape what folklorists do today? Where are folklore studies going now?
Then come and join in a new 10-week A History of Folklore course run by The Folklore Society in partnership with Oxford Continuing Education, with course tutors Prof. David Hopkin and Dr Paul Cowdell:
- add depth to your folklore research/practice
- learn from experts
- join the thriving community of folklore enthusiasts
Weekly online lectures start Thursday 23 January 2025, 14:00-15:00 GMT, and continue until Thursday 27 March.
Cost: £285 plus optional £30 to gain academic credits (CATS).
Further details and booking here: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/a-history-of-folklore
PhD in Folklore, Contemporary Legend, Film & Media, at Sheffield Hallam University
PhD opportunities in folklore, contemporary legend, film & media at the Centre for Culture Media and Society (CCMS), Sheffield Hallam University. More details
MA in Folklore Studies at University of Hertfordshire
Exciting news for anyone in England wanting to turn their interest in folklore into an academic qualification: the University of Hertfordshire offer a Folklore Studies MA, which runs both part-time and full-time. For further details on the programme of study and how to apply: https://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/ma-folklore-studies
Post-graduate studies in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, at The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen
Taught M.Litt, Research M.Litt and PhD programmes in folklore and ethnomusicology: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/programmes-study/index.php
University of Edinburgh, School of Celtic and Scottish Studies
MA in Scottish Ethnology: full time, 4 year programme: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees/index.php
‘Learn for Pleasure,’ Online Short Courses taught by Mark Norman
Mark Norman offers two regular online short courses–‘Introduction to British Folklore’ and ‘Intermediate British Folklore’ on the ‘Learn for Pleasure’ platform. For more information, course dates and registration, visit https://learnforpleasure.com/tutors/mark-norman/