Diane Tye named Professor Emerita

Dr. Diane Tye has been awarded the title of Professor Emerita.

Diane shaped the Department of Folklore in numerous significant ways. We are very pleased that she was accorded the well-deserved title of Professor Emerita. Congratulations!

Announcing the Department of Folklore Newsletter

The Department of Folklore newsletter celebrates the accomplishments of our faculty, students, and alumni. We share photos and memories from events in the Department and around the community. And, we hear from current students about what they're up to outside of the classroom.

Culture & Tradition: Call for Submissions

Culture & Tradition, founded in 1976 by graduate students from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and Université Laval, annually publishes articles on diverse folklore topics in English or French. We are pleased to announce the revival of Culture & Tradition and invite submissions for consideration. We seek academic essays, reviews, research, and creative submissions related to culture and tradition from undergraduate, graduate students, and emerging professionals.

Culture & Tradition has established criteria and guidelines for all submissions. We encourage members of Indigenous, racialized, queer and trans, Disabled, minority language, and/or other marginalized or underserved communities to apply.

Submissions due: January 15, 2024

Folklore PhD Wins Memorial's 2023 Three Minute Thesis Competition

The Three Minute Thesis is an internationally recognized competition for thesis-based graduate students in which participants present their research and its wider impact in three minutes or less. Israt Lipa has won Memorial's 2023 competition, and is taking her Bangladeshi road safety research to regionals. Read more in the Gazette.

Congrats to All Students Named to the 2021-2022 Dean's List!

Congratulations to all students named to the 2021-2022 Dean's List, as well as the Program Book Prize winners, and receipients of the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence, and the HSS International Student Excellence Award. 

Finding an elective has never been easier

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) has hundreds of courses that have zero or one prerequisite. To make it easy for our students to find electives of interest, we have launched a searchable listing of electives that you can browse by semester and subject. 

Fall Welcome Session for New Students

On Sept. 6, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is hosting a welcome event to help new students get started on the right track. At this interactive event, you'll hear from the Dean and Associate Dean of Curriculum and Programs, learn more about areas of study in HSS, and meet other HSS students! Register now: https://loom.ly/TTXWfYo

HSS Commons Student Space Cozier Than Ever

When we think of university campuses, we picture lecture halls and labs. But what about a space for that time between classes? It is equally essential to have a comfortable space to study or kick back and relax between lectures. The newly refurbished Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Commons, in SN-1107, offers HSS students such a space. Check out this Gazette article on why interim Dean, Dr. Craig, wanted to rejuvenate this space for students. 

Gradcolades 2022

In the last academic year, graduate students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Memorial University won more than 40 awards, 40 grants, and 140 fellowships & scholarships. Additionally, they produced more than 40 publications and creative endeavours. Watch the video celebration of all this success.

A Fine Crowd & Dean's Awards 2022

The 2022 Dean's Awards for faculty and staff were revealed at this year's A Fine Crowd event. The event celebrated the dozen+ awards, 24+ books & volumes and 4 million+ in grants awarded to our faculty members in the last academic year. Read up on this year's Dean's Award winners in the Gazette.

Dr. Joy Fraser featured on BBC's Thinking Allowed podcast

What does it mean that Scotland is known for haggis and deep-fried Mars bars? According to adjunct professor Joy Fraser, a lot! Skip to 15:45 in this BBC Thinking Allowed episode titled "Food Identity and Nation."

Dr. Daniel Peretti shares some research into the legend of Santa Claus

Where did the legend of Santa Claus come from? Folklore prof Daniel Peretti shares his research into the matter in the video above, preceded by Folklore MA Dale Jarvis sharing the origins of some of N.L.'s strangest holiday traditions.

Spooky stories

Folklore grad student Katie Crane has a healthy appreciation for legends, traditions and the stories people tell.  Read more in The Gazette.

A story of frienships

Just graduated folklore MA Alina Sergachov has devoted much of her time over the past year to a complete study of the theatrical phenomenon, Come from Away.

Read more about what she discovered about how theatre can heal in The Gazette.

Farming Folklore

Five incoming graduate students in Memorial University’s Department of Folklore have completed an intensive three-week field school at the St. John’s Farmers’ Market.

A pop-up exhibit entitled “Behind the Vendors: Building Communities,” was held in the market’s community room on Saturday, September 28.  The market was chosen as a location for the field school due to its cultural diversity and how it embodies a different St. John’s than the one commonly viewed in tourism ads. It also reflects how much can be learned about a city through its food.

Read more about the project here.

Meet Daniel Peretti

Daniel Peretti first came to folklore through his love of stories. He believes folklore is a fundamental part of everyday life. Read more about him here.

Meet grad student Nadia Sawar

Born and raised in a small city of Bangladesh, Nadia Sarwar is now studying folklore here at Memorial. Her research is exploring the gallery at the Rooms that was created to honour all Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans who served overseas and on the home front duirng the First World War (1914-1918).

She is particularly interested in how certain ideological and cultural messages are communicated by, and between, visitors and staff.

Read more about Nadia and her research here.

The folklore of theatre

MUN Folklore department grad student Alina Sergachov recently interviewed Come From Away co-creator David Hein for her research project on occupational folklore and the theatre.  Read more in the Gazette.

Meet faculty member and researcher Sarah Gordon

Assistant professor of folklore Sarah Gordon wishes more people would understand that the study of folklore isn’t a study of the past, or of purely old-fashioned things.

"Folklore is new, it’s constantly being created, and it’s adapting to new technologies and communication styles. It’s creepy clowns, it’s the Slender Man, it’s cosplay, it’s Facebook memes and Twitter threads, it’s protest signs and political slogans and survivor testimonial narratives." 

Read more about Sarah and her research on the creation of place through stories, especially among the Indigenous people of northern Canada.

Folklore MA is HSS grad student of the month

Andrea McGuire is graduating this month with an MA in folklore.  Her masters thesis looks at how trust is built during the hitchhiking moment.

Read more about her research here.

A lifetime of folklore

Retired folklore professor Dr. Gerald Pocius received the 2017 Marius-Barbeau Medal by the Folklore Studies Association of Canada (FSAC) at its annual conference.  Read more about the honour here.

California girl

Broadcaster Peter Gzowski may have been known as Captain Canada, but this year’s Memorial University Gzowski intern is a folklore grad who hails from south of the 49th parallel.  Read more about Rebekah Nolan and her love of interviewing here in the Gazette.