LFU:online

Students become familiar with the history of folklore studies within the political and scientific context of early twentieth-century Europe, thereby engaging with the history of knowledge production in an emerging scientific field.

Students develop basic skills in database construction, particularly by engaging with questions of historical categorization as well as with serial approaches that move beyond biographical narratives.

Students work with primary sources consisting of the scholarly work produced by folklorists, and learn how to organize serial materials, while engaging with original research based on documentation that remain partially explored.

Folklore studies emerged in the late nineteenth century amid renewed interest in rural life and popular traditions. During the first half of the twentieth century, it expanded into an academic discipline in many universities, before undergoing profound criticism after the Second World War, both for methodological reasons and its close connections with nationalism and authoritarian regimes.

Historians have since examined its development, focusing on institutionalized folklorists working in universities and museums. This course, in turn, also addresses a particular group within this broader history: amateur folklorists and their scholarly production.

The first part of the semester will be dedicated to lectures and weekly text readings, discussed in class, on the history of folklore studies. The second part of the course will consist of workshops-based block sessions, focused on the creation of a collaborative database built on the publications of regional journals and their contributors, most of whom are amateurs. Students will investigate their profile, methods, sources, research topics, and examine the narratives through which they interpreted and represented popular culture. Building the database will provide students with an opportunity to critically reflect on historical categories and historical classification challenges.

Lectures, text reading, collaborative database construction in workshops.

§  Ongoing coursework: preparation of readings, active participation in discussions, and contribution to the database.

§  A 3-to-5-page written assignment focusing on a folklorist identified through work on the database, engaging with the thematic framework developed during the course.

Amelang Katrin, Bendix Regina F., Volkskundliches Wissen: Akteure und Praktiken, Münster Hamburg, Berlin, London, 2009.

Baycroft Timothy, Hopkin David, Folklore and Nationalism in Europe During the Long Nineteenth Century, Leiden, 2012.

Bendix Regina F., Hasan-Rokem Galit, A Companion to Folklore, Malden, MA, 2012.

Dorson Richard M., « Folklore Studies in England », The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 74, 294, 1961, S. 302‑312. 

Dorson Richard M., « Is Folklore a Discipline? », Folklore, 84, automn, 1973, S. 177.

Hobsbawm E. J., Ranger T. O., The Invention of tradition, Cambridge, 1983.

Nikitsch Herbert, « Wissenschaftliche Programmatik und politische Propaganda. Der Verein für österreichische Volkskunde in Wien », in Schürch Franziska et alii, Vereintes Wissen. Die Volkskunde und ihre gesellschaftliche Verankerung, 2010, S. 115‑127.

Rogan Bjarne, « The Institutionalization of Folklore », in Bendix Regina F., Hasan‐Rokem Galit, A Companion to Folklore, Wiley, 2012, S. 598-630.

Lectures and class discussions will be conducted in English. Written assignments may also be submitted in German.