Folklore

College of Letters and Science
Program Office: 232 Kroeber Hall, (510) 642-3406

Chair: Charles Briggs, PhD (Department of Anthropology)
Program Website: Folklore Graduate Program

Overview

This program is designed to provide graduate students with a competent knowledge of both the materials of folklore and the various methods of studying these materials. The program is an interdisciplinary one in which faculty members from both the humanities and the social sciences participate. The scope of the courses is international. However, students may specialize in a particular genre, e.g., folktales, or in a particular area such as Russian folklore.

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Major

There is no undergraduate major in folklore.

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Preparation for Graduate Study

The best preparation for the graduate program in folklore is a strong undergraduate record in one of the broad fields with which folklore is closely affiliated. Since it is a study of the humanist expression which is handed down by tradition rather than by writing, it is related to all departments that deal with literature, art, music. Since folklore also deals with the entire traditional culture of mankind as manifested in customs and beliefs, it has close affiliations with anthropology, design, history, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and sociology. Consequently, a good undergraduate record in any of these disciplines is highly desirable though not necessarily required.

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Graduate Program

The requirements for the MA in folklore include 20 units of which at least 10 must be graduate level (200 number) in folklore, and an MA thesis based upon field work or some other research project. (No course credits are allowed for the thesis.)

Students must take at least one course in two of the following three areas: Folk narrative, folk or ethnic music, folk or primitive art.

As an introduction to the discipline, students must take Anthropology 160, The Forms of Folklore.

In addition, all students are required to take the interdisciplinary Folklore 250A-250B, Folklore Theory and Techniques.

The student must also demonstrate proficiency in reading at least one foreign language. German is perhaps the most useful language for folklore studies, but French, Spanish, or some language intimately connected with the MA thesis may be approved to satisfy the language requirement. Questions on the requirements for the MA in folklore should be addressed to the graduate adviser, Folklore Program, in 205 Kroeber Hall.