Introduction to Folklore
4-weeks (last 4) | This course is completed
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 joined Arts-Mid Hudson in September 2016 as the Folk Arts Program manager. A native of Oakland, California, she has bounced around the country from California to Indiana, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and now New York. Previously, she served as director of the Northwest Jersey Folklife Project. She has a master’s degree in anthropology from California State University, Sacramento, and a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington. As a third-generation knitter on her mother’s side, she is a folk artist in her own right.