- Ph.D., Indiana University, 2002
- B.A., Williams College, 1993
Ray Cashman
Professor, Folklore and Ethnomusicology
Director, Folklore Institute
he/him
- rcashman@indiana.edu
- (812) 856-2774
- 800 E. 3rd St., 213
- Office Hours
Education
Research interests
- Ireland, UK, North America
- oral traditions, the ethnography of communication, performance studies
- vernacular history, social memory, nostalgia
- tradition and traditionalization
- politics of culture and identity
- sense of place and place-making
- rites of passage, calendar custom, vernacular religion
- material culture, observances, and beliefs concerning death
- theory, methodology, and ethics of fieldwork and ethnography
Courses recently taught
- Irish Folklore
- Folklore Theory in Practice
- History of Ideas in Folklore Study: Tradition
- American Regional Cultures
- Folklore and Language: The Ethnography of Speaking Folklore
Awards & Distinctions
- Co-Editor of the “Irish Memory, Culture, and Place” and the “Encounters: Explorations in Folklore and Ethnomusicology” book series for IU Press; past Editor of the Journal of Folklore Research
- Elected Fellow of the American Folklore Society, 2019
- Elected Social Science Representative, American Conference for Irish Studies, 2019-2022
- Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture, for Packy Jim: Folklore and Worldview on the Irish Border, awarded by the American Conference for Irish Studies, 2017
- IU Trustees Teaching Award, 2016-2017
- Elected to the Executive Board of the American Folklore Society, 2010-2013
- The Chicago Folklore Prize, for Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border, awarded by the American Folklore Society and the University of Chicago, 2009
- Donald Murphy Prize, for Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border, awarded by the American Conference for Irish Studies, 2009
- Frederick W. Conner Prize in the History of Ideas for “Critical Nostalgia and Material Culture in Northern Ireland,” 2005
Other publication highlights
- “Neighborliness and Decency, Witchcraft and Famine: Reflections on Community from Irish Folklore” in Journal of American Folklore 133/530 (2020)
- “Folklore, Politics, and Place-making in Northern Ireland” in
The Routledge Handbook of Landscape and Memory, ed. Sarah De Nardi, Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Hilary Orange, Danielle Drozdzewski, and Steven High. New York: Routledge Publishing (2019) - “The Hungry Grass: Folklore and the Undead Past in Post-Famine Ireland” in Reading Ireland 4/1 (2018)
- “Genre as Ideology-Shaping Form: Storytelling and Parading in Northern Ireland” in Genre, Text, Interpretation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Folklore and Beyond, ed. Kaarina Koski and Ulla Savolainen. Helsinki: Studia Fennica Folkloristica, Finnish Literature Society (2016)
- “Tradition, Self Expression, and Social Critique: A Voice from the Donegal Border” in Béaloideas: The Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society 83 (2015)
- “Situational Context and Interaction in a Folklorist’s Ethnographic Approach to Storytelling” in Varieties of Narrative Analysis, ed. James Holstein and Jaber Gubrium. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (2011)
- “Critical Nostalgia and Material Culture in Northern Ireland” in Journal of American Folklore 119/472 (2006)
- “The Heroic Outlaw in Irish Folklore and Popular Literature” in Folklore 111/2 (2000)
The College of Arts