Berkeley's internationally recognized Folklore MA Program offers students rigorous training in the discipline. Folklore, conceptualized as informal cultural expression circulating on and across social networks, emerges from the productive dialectic between an individual and the groups to which they belong. The study of folklore/folkloristics enables interrogations of the complex relationships between "traditionality" and "modernity," the historical emergence of informal cultural expressive forms, the dynamics of their circulation(s) on and across social networks, and the importance of folklore and related concepts such as "tradition" and "heritage" in shaping political and social projects.
The Program provides a solid grounding in folklore theories and methodologies through core courses and seminars and offers students a chance to specialize in one of the many related areas in which Berkeley offers particularly strong training.
Many students enter the M.A. Program to gain a broad and deep foundation prior to incorporating folkloristic perspectives in future doctoral training. Others see the degree as preparation for museum or cultural heritage site employment, while others use the training to complement work in cultural analytics and data science. Many take the M.A. as a chance to enhance their scholarly sophistication by exploring a range of topics and perspectives before deciding on a particular career path.
Our goal is to train future leaders who will ensure the discipline’s future vibrancy and bring folkloristic perspectives to other disciplines