Undergraduate Studies Administrator
Associate Professor

B.A. (Grand Valley)
M.A. (Indiana)
Ph.D. (Indiana)

dperetti@mun.ca
709-864-8778
ED4053, Education Bldg.

Daniel Peretti became a folklorist to understand the ways that narrative, ritual, and festivity affect people’s lives. His focus on mythology and legend seemed the right approach because these are often the most important narratives people tell. Pursuing the idea of mythology in the United States, he began with a look at how the Greek god Prometheus appears in literature and popular culture. He proceeded to a study of Superman through fieldwork and textual analysis. His current projects include case studies of festivals based on legendary figures as well as a long-term exploration of Santa Claus in legend and ritual behaviour.

Recent Publications

Superman in Myth and Folklore. University Press of Mississippi. 2017

“Comics as Folklore” In The Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World, edited by Michael Dylan Foster and Jeffrey A. Tolbert, Utah State University Press, 2016.

“Theories of Myth” In Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, edited by R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms, Sage Publications, 2013.

“Weltzeitmuthen” (Myths of the Ages of the World) Co-authored with Dr. Gregory Schrempp. In the W volume of Enzyklopädie des Märchens.

“Ghost Stories and a Pinecone Tree: The Coordination of Belief, Narrative, and Material Culture” in Contemporary Legend (2008), 94-120.

“A Good Offense: Exploring Cinematic Tale Types” In Pushing Boundaries: Extreme Folklore and Ethnomusicology, edited by Rhonda Dass, J. Meryl Krieger, and Adam Zolkover. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.

“The Ogre Blinded and the Lord of the Rings” In Mythlore (Spring 2007), 133-143.