ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Undergraduate Program: The Certificate
Graduate Program: Special Committee Ph.D.
or Ph.D. minor

The Folklore Program began offering courses in Fall 1983. The Program's approach is comparative and interdisciplinary, with a concern for genre, theory, performance, ethnography, archiving, and responsible public presentation of folklore through exhibits, festivals, media productions, and other modes of representation.

Offerings in American folklore, including American Indian Folklore, place a special emphasis on the surrounding region. The University has one of the largest concentrations of foreign language and area studies programs in the nation and the Folklore Program is particularly strong in African, Asian, and European folklore.

The Program is the teaching arm of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, a regional humanities institution focused on the languages and folklore of the Upper Midwest's diverse peoples.

Undergraduates and Special Students may earn a Certificate in Foklore. Undergraduates also may design an individual major with a folklore concentration by consulting with the Program's advisor. Graduate students may earn a Ph.D. minor or, if accepted by a willing department, fashion a special committee Ph.D. in Folklore.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

Photo by Jeff Miller
© UW Communications

Scandinavian folklore students take notes.

There is no formal major in Folklore at the present time but undergraduates may apply for an individual major in folklore. Undergraduates are strongly encouraged to take folklore as a second major. A Certificate in Folklore is also available to student working toward a baccalaureate degree in any of the UW–Madison's schools and colleges and to Special Students.

Undergraduates interested in a B.A. or B.S. Degree in the College of Letters and Science with an individual major in folklore should consult the Director of the Folklore Program and the appropriate Dean in Academic Affairs. By the end of the sophomore year or the beginning of the junior year, students should develop an individual major in folklore in consultation with a faculty advisor and the College Committee on Individual Majors. Applications are accepted up to the end of the sixth week of the fall and spring semesters.

For more information contact:

Assistant Dean, Individual Majors
Student Academic Affairs
104 South Hall
Madison, WI 53706
Office: (608) 262-2644

James P. Leary
Director, Folklore Program
305 Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Office: (608) 265-3514
Email: jpleary@wisc.edu

Earn a Certificate in Folklore

The Certificate in Folklore requires twenty-one credits and is available to any student working toward a baccalaureate degree in any of the UW–Madison's schools and colleges and to Special Students.
The purpose of the certificate is to acquaint students with the nature of folklore, its study, its public presentation, and its relations to a range of human experiences, intellectual currents, and professional endeavors. Students subsequently must fill out an application form and receive approval from the Director of the Folklore Program. The Certificate in Folklore is awarded once a student submits a transcript showing that he/she has completed the required courses. Students must select a coherent group of courses in consultation with the Folklore Program's advisor:

Christine Garlough
Assistant Professor
Communications Arts
6132 Vilas Communication Hall
821 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706-1497
(608) 262-8760
Email: clgarlough@wisc.edu

UW–Madison Folklore Program
305 Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Office: (608) 265-3514fF
Email: folklore@mailplus.wisc.edu

Course Requirements for the Folklore Certificate
The required twenty-one credits must include at least one course from each of the following four clusters. At least four courses must be at the 300 level or above.

Introductions to the Field
Genres of Folklore
Folklore and Cultural Areas
Issues, Theories, Methods

Introductions to the Field:
100 Introduction to Folklore
230 Introduction to American Folklore

Genres of Folklore:
103 Introduction to Music Cultures of the World
200 The Folktale
211 Global Language Issues
220 Introduction to Folk Narrative
237 Heroes, Rogues, and Scoundrels in Global Perspective
339 Studies in Folk and Ethnic Genres in Performance
352 Shamanism
359 Myth
450 The Ballad
451 The Supernatural in the Modern World
460 Folk Epics
539 The Folklore of Festivals and Celebrations
655 Comparative World Costume
716 Seminar in Musical Instruments of the World

Folklore and Cultural Areas:
102 Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies
210 The African Storyteller
270 The Hero and Trickster in African Oral Narrative
279 Introduction to Turkish Folk Literature
320 Folklore of Wisconsin
326 Introduction to Asian Performance
329 Introduction to African American Performance
342 In Translation: Mythology of Scandinavia
345 In Translation: The Scandinavian Tale and Ballad
346 In Translation: The Icelandic Sagas
347 In Translation: Kalevala and Finnish Folklore
353 Javanese Performance I
370 Rom (Gypsy) Culture in Russia and East Europe
374 Indian Folklore
401 Musical Cultures of the World: Africa, Middle East, Iran, India
402 Musical Cultures of the World: East and South East Asia
403 Musical Cultures of the World: China, Korea, and Japan
404 Music of South East Asia: Tradition, Innovation, Politics, and Religion
405 Structures of African Oral Narratives
411 African Poetry
431 American Indian Folklore
436 Anthropology of the Holocaust
437 American Indian Women
440 Scandinavian American Folklore
443 Sami Culture, Yesterday and Today
444 Slavic and East European Folklore
445 Russian Folklore
450 In Translation: Native American Oral Literature
453 Javanese Performance and Repertory
517 The Irish Tradition
518 The Scottish Tradition
521 Introduction to Turkish Folk Literature
535 American Folk and Vernacular Music
540 Local Culture and Identity of the Upper Midwest
612 Prison Narratives of the African Diaspora
630 Seminar on American Folklore
640 Topics in Ethnographic Textiles
875 Topics in Turkish Oral Narrative and Poetry

Issues, Theories, Methods:
344 Anthropological Approaches to Folklore
410 Folklore Studies in Historical Perspective
428 Gender and Expressive Culture
471 Oral Traditions and the Written Word
490 Field Methods and the Public Presentation of Folklore
491 Practicum in Public Folklore
510 Folklore Theory
512 Material Culture Analysis: The Arts and the Consumer Society
515 Proseminar in Ethnomusicology
520 Ethnic Representations in Wisconsin
530 Topics in Folklore
560 Folklore in a Digital Age
639 Field School: Ethnography of Wisconsin Festivals
720 Bibliography and research Methods: Ethnomusicology
915 Seminar in Ethnomusicology
970 Seminar in Folklore

Independent Study:
399 Directed Study in Folklore for Undergraduates*
699 Independent Study in Folklore-Graduate

*Directed study may be used to satisfy one cluster requirement only with the approval of the certificate advisor and the Folklore Program director.

Course descriptions are available in the UW–Madison Undergraduate Catalog, which is provided free of charge to enrolled students on campus and at new student orientation. Those who wish to purchase a catalog may do so by telephone or mail.

GRADUATE PROGRAM

A graduate degree in folklore is not offered to graduate students. Graduate students may create a Special Committee Ph.D. in Folklore or pursue an Option A Ph.D. minor in folklore or develop an Option B Ph.D. minor with coursework in folklore and at least one other department outside the major.

Special Committee degrees are one-of-a-kind degrees built around unique needs of individual students and may permit individual degrees in new and emerging fields or combinations of disciplines.

Students choosing an Optional A Ph.D. minor select an advisor from the Program's faculty, in consultation with the Director of the Folklore Program. These options are outlined in the Graduate School Bulletin. Students are expected to achieve a B or better in four folklore courses at the 300 level or above. At least one must be selected from the following courses in the theory, history, and methodology of folklore: 410, 490, 510. Additional courses may be selected from these or others at the 300 level and above.