Introduction to Folklore
4-weeks (last 4) | Registration closed 9/1/2024
An introductory foray into the always fascinating and often confusing world of folklore. What is folklore? What is not folklore? Is it ephemeral, physical, or both? Do I have folklore? Do you have folklore? Join folklorist Elinor Levy on a journey through the familiar and the new.
Suggested Readings: Toelken, Barry. "Beauty Behind Me; Beauty Before" (AFS Address). The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 117, No. 466 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 441-445 (5 pages)
Bascomb, William. "Four Functions of Folklore," The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 67, No. 266 (Oct.-Dec., 1954), pp. 333-349 (17 pages).
Elinor Levy
Elinor Levy is a native of Oakland, California, and has bounced around the country from California to Indiana, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and now New York. Since 2016 she has explored the culturally rich Hudson Valley and worked with many communities. She has a master’s degree in anthropology from California State University, Sacramento, and a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is a folk artist in her own right as a third-generation knitter on her mother’s side. She just opened her own art studio, Hand in Glove, featuring her textile work with vintage gloves and small automata.