010106 SE Folkore and Belief (2025S)

This course examines the relationship between folklore and belief. Students will gain foundational knowledge of key concepts in folklore studies (folklore, folk, orality, variant, formula, folklore genres, tradition, context, performance, relationship between an individual and a collective etc.). The history of genre classification will be explored, tracing its developments from the Brothers Grimm’s distinction between Märchen and Sage to contemporary perspectives, thus highlighting how belief has been a crucial concept in folklore studies, particularly regarding folklore prose. This will also illuminate the longstanding connections between folklore studies and religious studies, tracing them from the examination of relationship between mythology and folklore to the study of new and alternative religions. Consequently, the course will also focus on contemporary genres alongside traditional ones, demonstrating why belief remains a vital concept for understanding both traditional and contemporary oral narratives and how it can serve as a vehicle that connects them.

After the successful completion of the course the students will have:
• Gained insight into the basics of folklore studies and its history.
• Gained understanding of the relationship between folkloristics and religious studies.
• Gained deeper insight into the history of genre classification in folklore studies.
• Gained deeper knowledge of the concept of belief in folklore studies, its role as a classification criterion and how it has changed throughout the history of the discipline.
• Gained understanding of folklore as a source for “popular religion”, “folk religion”, “folk demonology”, “lower mythology”, “vernacular religion”.
Lectures will be interactive and they will focus on discussion based on the reading material (articles and short primary sources). Students would benefit the most by being prepared for the class and actively participating in class discussion.