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Gift to Center for Folklore Studies Funds Ohio Field Schools

July 15, 2016

Gift to Center for Folklore Studies Funds Ohio Field Schools

folklore people

The Center for Folklore Studies has received a $100,000 grant from The Columbus Foundation to support two Ohio Field Schools. These credit-bearing, four-to six-week opportunities will take place in May 2017 and 2018 and will engage students in surveying, documenting, collecting and exhibiting Ohio folklore and cultural scenes. The May 2017 class will take place in the Appalachian Ohio region.

Cassie Patterson, assistant director, Center for Folklore Studies, explained that this service-learning class will allow students to gain hands-on experience and develop ethnographic research skills that are relevant to students in all disciplines. Students will spend one to two weeks in the classroom at Ohio State, where they will learn about their community partners by reading, listening to recordings, and discussing traditions of Ohio folklore specific the region. During the first weeks of the course, students will tour the folklore archives, learn about archival methods, discuss interview and fieldwork best practices and participate in an equipment-training workshop.

The rest of the course will be spent on site in Southeastern Ohio, where students will work on a project that is responsive to the needs of our community partners. Students will be immersed in hands-on training by taking field notes, interviewing people from the community, following up on suggested contacts and documenting material culture.

portsmouth bridge mural

(Photo: Bridge mural in Portsmouth, OH)

The class focuses on collaborative projects with communities, as well as environmental and cultural factors along the Ohio River.

“We have been investigating the intersection of culture, environment and economics, and using the Ohio River as a guide,” Patterson explained.

After visiting the field schools, students will put the materials they have collected into the Folklore Archives. The project will be free, open and available to the public.

 

By Samantha Ruwe, ASC Communications Student 

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