Folk 100: Foundations of our Fields

This is the year of FOLK 100, marking a century of graduate training in Folklore and Ethnomusicology studies here at Indiana University.

In 1926, six graduate students completed their MA theses under the supervision of IU Distinguished Professor of English and Folklore, Stith Thompson.

In 1965, Stith Thompson — along with Distinguished Professor Richard Dorson — helped establish the Department of Folklore.

In 2000, we became the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

FOLK (all caps) is our IU-wide department code, and it represents our entire department, celebrating our excellent emeritus and current faculty, staff, alumni, and current graduate and undergraduate students.

FOLK 100: Foundations of our Fields will explore where we started and how we got here by examining key foundational moments: intellectual, theoretical, methodological, and/or topical moves in the last 100 years that shaped the way we study and practice folklore and ethnomusicology today. We cannot cover the range and breadth of the exceptional scholarship done by our faculty and graduates in a one-day symposium, of course, so we will focus on the first 50 years. Speakers at this symposium include current and emeritus faculty and department alumni.