Folklore

Overview

Key facts

The Memorial University of Newfoundland provides folklorists with rich opportunities for innovative community partnerships and learning experiences.

In the 40 years since its creation, Memorial's Department of Folklore has built an international reputation as a thriving, imaginative, eclectic, and highly professional department. Ethnographic field research practices are fundamental to folklore studies. 

Excellent library and archive services are also available to graduate students, including the Folklore and Language Archive, the Centre for Material Culture Studies, and the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place.

Training in folklore studies offers valuable preparation for careers in a variety of cultural enterprises, particularly those involving intangible cultural heritage. Graduates of our program teach at universities and colleges in many parts of North America and Europe, not only in folklore departments but also as interdisciplinary appointments in fields such as communications, dance ethnography, English, French, and women's studies. Not all have followed academic careers; our graduates have also gone on to work in museums, archives, print and broadcast media, public sector folklore, and arts administration.

Research

• Folklore faculty and students are engaged in a variety of research activities, including public sector research that contributes to heritage initiatives, educational programming, museum exhibitions, and multi-platform media productions. 

• Current faculty research specialties include the examination of power and ideology in folk practices; dialectology; diaspora studies; and critical regionalism.