Colloquium to discuss folklore

If students have ever wondered what folklore is beyond fairy tales and legends, the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology has an answer.

Chris Roush, special projects and public relations coordinator for the department, suggests students attend the department’s first colloquium of the year.

“Public Folklore, Public Universities and Public Service” will begin at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Performance and Lecture Hall at the Indiana Avenue Church of Christ.

A happy hour will follow the program at Yogi’s Grill and Bar.

Two seasoned folklorists will discuss their experiences working in the public arts sector, the various venues in which folklore is preserved and presented and how those settings are changing.

Brent Björkman, director of the Kentucky Folklife Program at Western Kentucky University, and Jon Kay, director of Traditional Arts Indiana, will jointly deliver the presentation.

The folklore department organizes a series of themed talks every year.

Roush expects attendance for this colloquium to be a little higher than usual.

“We expect around 50 for this one, though considering the topic, we may have more as it seems to be a wider-ranging topic than some of the other colloquiums we’ve had,” Roush said. “It seems that the more specific the title or topic, the fewer people attend.”

Faculty are hoping to see some new faces at this year’s colloquium.

“So often we hear people say they don’t really know what folklore is,” Roush said. “It would be great for new people to come check it out.”

Jason Jackson, an associate professor of folklore who helped arrange this fall’s series, said some students might neglect coming to folklore events because they aren’t students in the department.

He said they might not think the talks would be relevant to them, but that is not true.

“This talk would be of value to students in a number of different fields beyond just folklore and ethnomusicology,” Jackson said. “It will be highly relevant for students interested in areas such as public history, arts administration, public affairs and
anthropology.”

— Ashley Jenkins