Frequently Asked Questions

Folklorists work in a broad range of industries and occupations. The main focus is on the study, interpretation and presentation of informal cultural expressive forms that circulate on and across social networks. An excellent insight into "what folklorists do" is available in the book, What folklorists do. You might be able to find this book at your local library.

Application to the MA program in folklore is for fall only. Applications are available through the graduate division website.

Please see our program page about the Designated Emphasis for curricular and QE/disserationa requirements. In short, students enrolled in any Ph.D. program in the humanities or social sciences at Berkeley are eligible to apply to the Designated Emphasis in Folklore, which provides a solid foundation in the field. Upon successful completion of the dissertation, the student's diploma and transcript will include the designation "Ph.D. in [major] with a Designated Emphasis in Folklore."

To be admitted to the program, applicants must already be accepted into an existing Ph.D. progrm at Berkeley. (Master's students and students at other institutions are not eligible.) Graduate students are strongly urged to apply by their third semester, but applications will be considered at any time prioir to completing the qualifying examinations.

Consult with the graduate handbook for a list of these courses. Also, discuss with the Graduate Advisor possible courses that may provide the proper methodological grounding for your thesis research. Below is a small list of courses that have been used in the past to fulfill this requirement.

ANTH 227 Historical Archaeology Research
ANTH 235 Museum Methods
ANTH 250J Ethnographic Field Methods
ANTH 270B Fundamentals of Language in Context
EDUC 280C The Conduct of Ethnographic Inquiry
ETH STD 250 Ethnography: Theories and Methods
GWS 250 Queer Translation
HIST 283GG Historical Method and Theory
HISTART 203 Material Culture: The Interpretation of Objects
HIST 280B Jews and Archives
LING 245 Anthropological Linguistics
MUSIC 244A Tools of Ethnomusicological Research
NWMEDIA 200 History and Theory of New Media
NWMEDIA 290 Locative Media
SCAND 213 Scandinavian Folklore History, Theory, Methods
SOCIO 273E Research Methods: Participant Observation
THEATER 202 Methodologies in Performance Studies

There is an excellent history of the Berkeley folklore program, authored by Charles Briggs, that provides a great overview of the program's history.

A history of the field of folkloristics in the United States can be found in Rosemary Levy Zumwalt's book, American Folklore Scholarship: A Dialogue of Dissent

Yes, please send us the following and we will add you to the list:

(a) a headshot, preferably with the dimensions 800 x 600 pixels

(b) the year you graduated, the degree, and your thesis or dissertation title

(c) a brief blurb of what you studied in the program, and what you now do

(d) a url link to your current homepage if you have one (no social media pages such as Facebook)

Please send this information to the archivist or the director of the folklore program.

Please visit our "Give to Folklore" page. 

For substantial gifts, please contact the director of the folklore program.

Please contact the director of the folklore program or the archivist about any proposed donation. We have very limited space, and there may be better venues for your particular collection.

The folklore archive is located across from the entrance to the Phoebe Hearst museum in the Anthropology and Art Practice Building. Enter the building from the south-east entrance. The large double doors directly ahead of you is the Folklore Archive. Hours of operation are posted there and on the archive page of our website.

Yes. The archive is a treasure trove of jokes, riddles, recipes, memes and xeroxlore, as well as descriptions of everyday life and practices in California.

Yes, but they are (a) hard to find and (b) not necessarily tuned to the specifics of your classes. If you would like to help us make things less hard to find in the archives, consider joining our digitization project, where we are using scanning, OCR, and machine learning processes to ensure that the archival materials, including spells, chants, incantations and curses that are applicable to a wide range of classes, can be accessible to you and future students! Visit the archive page for more information!

The number of fallen trees you are encountering is likely caused by adolescent California Coastal Trolls. An interesting exploration of climate change, ecological threat and trolls may be found in the Norwegian documentary film, Trollhunter, which is broadly available for streaming.