Tok Thompson was born and raised in rural Alaska. At the age of 17, he began attending Harvard College, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. In 1999 he received a Master’s degree in Folklore from the University of California, Berkeley, and three years later received a PhD in Anthropology from the same institution, all the while studying under the late great folklorist Alan Dundes.
After receiving his PhD, Tok engaged in a two-year postdoctoral position with the Centre for Irish-Scottish Studies at Trinity College, Dublin, where he helped launch a new M.Phil. in Translation Studies. He also researched Irish language traditions in County Fermanagh on behalf of the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and the District Council of Fermanagh.
In the Fall of 2006, Tok came to USC, where he has been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in folklore and related topics. He is now a Professor of Anthropology and Communications. Additionally, he has taught folklore as a visiting professor at universities in Northern Ireland, Iceland, and Ethiopia. While still in graduate school, he co-founded the journal Cultural Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Folklore and Popular Culture, which he co-edited for 15 years. From 2013-2017 he was the editor for Western Folklore. Recent publications include The Truth of Myth, a textbook for Oxford University Press on World Mythology (with Gregory Schrempp), and a casebook entitled Posthuman Folklore
Tok has spent each summer commercial fishing in Cook Inlet, Alaska, since he was eleven years old. He currently captains The Dancing Sky. In his spare time he is a singer/songwriter/musician of some renown, having toured and recorded as a solo act and with various rock bands for decades, with some of his songs receiving international airplay.
