Our discipline emphasizes fieldwork methods to investigate how societies function. Fieldwork involves documenting and learning about people’s lives, expressions, and beliefs in context. Through the study of different social groups and cultures, students gain skills in observation, analysis, documentation, reporting, and multicultural understanding.

This major prepares you for a range of careers, including those involving the arts, education, historic preservation, communication, and cross-cultural understanding. 

When students enter the program, they plan an individualized program of study with our undergraduate advisor. Whether pursuing a major or minor, they can focus on either folklore or ethnomusicology, or some combination of the two. Students earning degrees in Journalism in The Media School or from the Jacobs School of Music are also eligible to pursue an outside-field major in Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Contact the undergraduate advisors of those departments for more information.

The B.A. degree requires a minimum of 120 credit hours. Coursework consists of general B.A. degree requirements and a minimum of 30 credit hours in Folklore and Ethnomusicology courses.

Learn more in our Student Portal