What is Folklore Anyway?

20th November 2024 12.15 - 1.30pm, Meeting Room 230, Jessop West, TUOS and online. 

Folklore in Britain, and its study, seems to be increasingly understood by the public - particularly online - as 'ghosties, ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties'...with a bit of witchcraft, paganism and Gothic horror thrown in. Yet, consult any of the 'classic definitions' of folklore and the picture that presents itself is wider and altogether more mundane...and arguably more interesting and significant. In this talk organised by the Contemporary Folklore Research Centre, The University of Sheffield, Prof Richard Jenkins will look at why we are where we are, and what, if anything, we should do about it.

Trained as an anthropologist, Richard Jenkins is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at The University of Sheffield, and a Trustee and Treasurer of the Folklore Society.

Noise and Other Sound Ideas: The Folklore of Pen Tapping.

21st May 2024 1 - 2.30pm, The Arts Tower, TUOS, and online

The making of beats by tapping pens or pencils as if they were drum sticks remains a popular children’s folklore pastime. Yet pen tapping has been labeled “noise” by school teachers and ethnomusicologists alike. This presentation shares video footage of pen tapping as it spontaneously occurred in a children’s after school program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Together we will attempt to trace its history and share images of a folk arts series specially designed to honor its rhythmically African roots.  

Dr. Anna Beresin is professor emerita at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US, and she is honored to be a visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Sheffield’s School of Education. She holds two PhDs from the University of Pennsylvania, one in folklore and one in the psychology of education. Her most recent book is Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation, coedited by Sheffield’s own Dr. Julia Bishop.  Visit Dr. Anna at annaberesin.com. 

Following Druids to the Pub: Ethnography, Ethics and Belief at Historic Sacred Sites in England.

22nd April 2024, 1 - 2.30pm, The Arts Tower, TUOS, and online. 

Claire Slack, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Hertfordshire and Engagement Officer at Wiltshire Museum, will draw upon ethnographic studies undertaken at Coldrum Long Barrow and Glastonbury Tor in 2023 as she delves into the challenges (and celebrations) of ethnographic study at under explored sacred sites in Britain. This seminar will explore ethnography, ethics and belief through the lens of her doctoral research, taking conversations around spirituality, folklore and conservation into open-access long barrows, holy wells, historic buildings and natural sites across England.