Lore and Lunch

Lore and Lunch is an online monthly reading and discussion group led by members of the Contemporary Folklore Research Centre. Everyone is welcome: You don't have to be a centre member, no formal qualifications or academic background is needed - just an open attitude and interest in folklore studies. Attendance is flexible: come to as many or as few sessions as you like, depending on what suits you, or which topics interest you most. Don't worry if you haven't had time to read everything in detail, you are still welcome to join the discussion.


Next Lore and Lunch:  Thursday 27th June 2024

Please join us online when our radio programme for discussion will be:


My Albion, Episode 1: The Cuckoo, written and presented by Zakia Sewell. 

Available on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000pffx


 We are creating a mailing list for the Lore and Lunch reading group. If you'd like to be added please complete this Google Form

Otherwise: Send us an email and we will send you a googlemeets link.  If you sign up to our Newsletter, you will also get information about our future activities and dates.

2023 - Semester 2 Readings

9 March 2023: Week 1 - Introducing Folklore as a subject for study.

Houlbrook, C. (2014). The Mutability of Meaning: Contextualizing the Cumbrian Coin-Tree. Folklore, 125(1), 40–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43297732

5 April 2023: Week 2 - Looking at how folklore is understood and represented as a discipline, what it might mean to be a folklorist or to ‘take folklore seriously’. 

Kitta, Andrea, Lynne S. McNeill, and Trevor J. Blank (2021) " Talking Folklore: Getting Others to Take the Discipline Seriously while Remaining a Serious Folklorist." Advancing Folkloristics, p. 202. (available online via library)

4 May 2023: Week 3 - Folklore and Calendar Custom and Ritual in the modern west

Bannister, Catherine. 2022) "Making a Modern May Queen: Guiding and the Gendering of Identity." In Scouting and Guiding in Britain: The Ritual Socialisation of Young People, pp. 107-127. Cham: Springer International Publishing. (available online via library)

1 June 2023: Week 4 - Tradition as a key concept in folklore - continuity and change…

Bronner, Simon J. (2000) “The Meanings of Tradition: An Introduction.” Western Folklore, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 87–104. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1500154.