Folklore

Folklore

episodes

Interviews with folklorists and scholars of folklore about their new books.

John O’Connor, "The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster" (Sourcebooks, 2024)

March 16, 2024

The Secret History of Bigfoot

John O’Connor
Hosted by Daniel Moran

Bigfoot is an instantly recognizable figure. Through the decades, this elusive primate has been featured in movies and books, on coffee mugs, beer koo…

Imani D. Owens, "Turn the World Upside Down: Empire and Unruly Forms of Black Folk Culture in the U.S. and Caribbean" (Columbia UP, 2023)

February 23, 2024

Turn the World Upside Down

Imani D. Owens

In the first half of the twentieth century, Black hemispheric culture grappled with the legacies of colonialism, U.S. empire, and Jim Crow. As writers…

Suzanne Oakdale, "Amazonian Cosmopolitans: Navigating a Shamanic Cosmos, Shifting Indigenous Policies, and Other Modern Projects" (U Nebraska Press, 2022)

January 28, 2024

Amazonian Cosmopolitans

Suzanne Oakdale
Hosted by Yadong Li

In Amazonian Cosmopolitans: Navigating a Shamanic Cosmos, Shifting Indigenous Policies, and Other Modern Projects (U Nebraska Press, 2022), Suzanne Oa…

Joseph C. Russo, "Hard Luck and Heavy Rain: The Ecology of Stories in Southeast Texas" (Duke UP, 2022)

January 21, 2024

Hard Luck and Heavy Rain

Joseph C. Russo
Hosted by Armanc Yildiz

In Hard Luck and Heavy Rain: The Ecology of Stories in Southeast Texas (Duke UP, 2023), Joseph C. Russo takes readers into the everyday lives of the r…

Jakob Norberg, "The Brothers Grimm and the Making of German Nationalism" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

January 21, 2024

The Brothers Grimm and the Making of German Nationalism

Jakob Norberg
Hosted by Amir Engel

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are probably history’s most famous folklorists. Their collection of folk tales – the Children’s and Household Tales – is one o…

William G. Pooley, "Body and Tradition in 19th-Century France: Félix Arnaudin and the Moorlands of Gascony, 1870-1914" (Oxford UP, 2019)

January 3, 2024

Body and Tradition in Nineteenth-Century France

William G. Pooley
Hosted by Rachel Hopkin

The moorlands of Gascony are often considered one of the most dramatic examples of top-down rural modernization in nineteenth-century Europe. From an …

Matthieu Felt, "Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan" (Harvard UP, 2023)

December 29, 2023

Meanings of Antiquity

Matthieu Felt
Hosted by Jingyi Li

Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan (Harvard UP, 2023) is the first dedicated study of how the oldest Japanese myths, record…

Greg Bailey, "The Brahmavaivarta Purana (Ganesa Khanda): Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology" (Motilal Banarsidass, 2022)

November 23, 2023

The Brahmavaivarta Purana (Ganesa Khanda)

Greg Bailey
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Greg Bailey discusses his new translation of the Gaṇeśa Khaṇḍa of the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa, one of the few texts dedicated solely to the popular elep…

Stuart McHardy, "The Nine Maidens: Priestesses of the Ancient World" (Luath Press, 2023)

October 26, 2023

The Nine Maidens

Stuart McHardy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Listen:

When King Arthur was conveyed to Avalon they were there. When Odin summoned warriors to Valhalla they were there. When Apollo was worshipped on Greek …

Anne Duggan, "The Lost Princess: Women Writers and the History of Classic Fairy Tales" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

October 14, 2023

The Lost Princess

Anne Duggan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The Lost Princess: Women Writers and the History of Classic Fairy Tales (Reaktion, 2023), Dr. Anne Duggan presents a recovery of the lost, plucky …

Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl, "If You Should Go at Midnight: Legends and Legend Tripping in America" (UP of Mississippi, 2023)

October 13, 2023

If You Should Go at Midnight

Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl
Hosted by Yadong Li

Across today’s America, countless people will embark on an adventure. They will prowl among overgrown headstones in forgotten graveyards, stalk throug…

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill, "The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland" (Manchester UP, 2023)

October 9, 2023

The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill's edited volume The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland (Manchester UP, 2023) is about other worlds and the superna…

Michelle Karnes, "Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

September 30, 2023

Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World

Michelle Karnes

Marvels like enchanted rings and sorcerers’ stones were topics of fascination in the Middle Ages, not only in romance and travel literature but also i…

Sarah Clegg, "Women's Lore: 4,000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi" (Apollo, 2023)

September 2, 2023

Women's Lore

Sarah Clegg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Listen:

Creatures like Lilith, the seductive first wife of Adam, and mermaids, who lured sailors to their death, are familiar figures in the genre of monstrou…

Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates, "Noah's Arkive" (U Minnesota Press, 2023)

August 24, 2023

Noah's Arkive

Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates
Hosted by John Yargo
Listen:

At a moment when the world has tipped over into irreversible violence and corruption, a divinity contacts a righteous man. The man is directed to buil…

Shelley Ingram and Willow G. Mullins, "Wait Five Minutes: Weatherlore in the Twenty-First Century" (UP of Mississippi, 2023)

August 21, 2023

Wait Five Minutes

Shelley Ingram and Willow G. Mullins
Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Listen:

The weather governs our lives. It fills gaps in conversations, determines our dress, and influences our architecture. No matter how much our lives may…

Brenda E. F. Beck, "Hidden Paradigms: Comparing Epic Themes, Characters, and Plot Structures" (U Toronto Press, 2022)

July 27, 2023

Hidden Paradigms

Brenda E. F. Beck
Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Listen:

Brenda Beck discusses her lifelong work on a Tamil folk legend, resulting in a graphic novel, an English translation and Hidden Paradigms: Comparing E…

Sarah L. Hall, "Sown in the Stars: Planting by the Signs" (UP of Kentucky, 2023)

July 3, 2023

Sown in the Stars

Sarah L. Hall
Hosted by Candy Boatwright
Listen:

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to p…

David Shulman and Heike Oberlin, "Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Mantrankam and Anguliyankam" (Oxford UP, 2019)

April 27, 2023

Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam

David Shulman and Heike Oberlin
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Kūṭiyāṭṭam, India’s only living traditional Sanskrit theatre, has been continually performed in Kerala for at least a thousand years. David Shulman an…

David J. Halperin, "Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO" (Stanford UP, 2020)

March 24, 2023

Intimate Alien

David J. Halperin
Hosted by David Kunsman

In his book Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO (Stanford University Press, 2020), David J. Halperin explores the phenomena of UFO's through a…