Folklore Institute refers to the

folklore studies Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained curre ...

program of

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

(USA). The Folklore Institute, together with the Ethnomusicology Institute, constitute the larger Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. The Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology is a unit of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Overview

Prior to the establishment (ca. 2000) of the parallel Ethnomusicology Institute and the renaming of the paired units as The Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, the name "Folklore Institute" served as the overarching designation for what was already a full-fledged academic department. This unit had roots going back to the 1940s and was fully established in 1962. After the name change to Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, the designation Folklore Institute referred to the department's folklore faculty, the folklore graduate students that they supervised, and the folklore studies-specific teaching, research, and outreach projects that the department's folklorists pursued. Many generations of professional

folklorists Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

(and some

ethnomusicologists Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

) earned their degrees (B.A., M.A., and/or Ph.D.) from the unit when it was known as the Folklore Institute and in informal discourse the name remains synonymous with the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Prominent scholars in the history of the Folklore Institute include the following distinguished rank faculty: Stith Thompson,

Richard M. Dorson Richard Mercer Dorson (March 12, 1916 – September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson has been called the "father of American folklore"Nichols, Amber M.Richard M. ...

Linda Dégh Linda Dégh (18 March 1918 – 19 August 2014) was a folklorist and professor of Folklore & Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, USA. Dégh was born in Budapest, Hungary and is well known as a folklorist for her work with legends, identity, and ...

Henry Glassie Henry Glassie (born 24 March 1941) College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, has done fieldwork on five continents and written books on the full range of folkloristic interest, from drama, song, and story to craft, art, and archi ...

Richard Bauman Richard Bauman is a folklorist and anthropologist, now retired from Indiana University Bloomington. He is Distinguished Professor ''emeritus'' of Folklore, of Anthropology, and of Communication and Culture. Before coming to IU in 1985, he was the ...

, Beverly J. Stoeltje, and Hasan M. El-Shamy. Over its history, the Folklore Institute has trained very large number of professional folklorists. A small sample of its prominent alumni includes: Alan Dundes, Michael Owen Jones, Dorthy Noyes, Bill Ivy,

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (born September 30, 1942, in Toronto, Ontario) is a scholar of Performance and Jewish Studies and a museum professional. Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University, she is best known for her int ...

Sabina Magliocco Sabina Magliocco (born December 30, 1959), is a professor of anthropology and religion at the University of British Columbia and formerly at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She is an author of non-fiction books and journal article ...

, Regina Bendix, Ronald L. Baker, Simon J. Bronner,

Jan Harold Brunvand Jan Harold Brunvand (born March 23, 1933) is a retired American folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah. Brunvand is best known for popularizing the concept of the urban legend, ...

Dan Ben-Amos Dan Ben-Amos (born September 3, 1934) is a folklorist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he holds the Graduate Program Chair for the Department of Folklore and Folklife. Education Ben-Amos was born in Tel Aviv ( ...

, and Edward D. Ives. Like the Ethnomusicology Institute, the Folklore Institute is led by a Director. One of these two Directors typically also serves as Chair of the department as a whole. Among the long-term projects of the Folklore Institute are Traditional Arts Indiana (a statewide public folklore agency) and the ''

Journal of Folklore Research The ''Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicology. It was established in 1942 and is published ...

''. The Folklore Institute has long organized focused conferences in folklore studies and neighboring fields. Some of these were later published by the institute or in partnership with other publishers.Gregory Schrempp and William Hansen, eds. (2002) ''Myth: A New Symposium''.(Bloomington: Indiana University Press).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Folklore Institute website

Indiana University Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology Records

Overview

References

External links

See also