Folklore - Arts (ba (hons)) in University College Cork, Ireland

Folklore - Arts (ba (hons)) in University College Cork

Ireland has one of the world's largest folklore archives. Folklore has been a vital aspect of Irish identity for hundreds of years, contributing to its literature, history and culture. Folklore, however, is not just in the past or in the countryside, it’s also in the contemporary world and in cities. It remains a significant element in the ongoing cultural process of popular traditions and expressions.

Folklore at UCC introduces the main areas of the discipline, such as narratives, stories, festivals, rituals, tools, technologies and material culture, before developing the theories, ideas and methods of Folklore, including the theories of fieldwork, original research, archives and community identity.

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4. Folklore

About This Course

Explore This Section

1. Fact File
2. Course Outline
3. Course Practicalities

Fact File

• TITLE

  Arts

• CODE

  Subject available through multiple programmes

• SUBJECT TITLE

  Folklore

• COLLEGE

  Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences

• TEACHING MODE

  Full-time

• QUALIFICATIONS

  BA (Hons)

• FEES

  Student Contribution + Capitation: €3,250 See Fees and Costs for full details.

• ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

  Refer to CK101 and CK108 See Requirements for full details.

Course Outline

 

Ireland has one of the world's largest folklore archives. Folklore has been a vital aspect of Irish identity for hundreds of years, contributing to its literature, history and culture. Folklore, however, is not just in the past or in the countryside, it’s also in the contemporary world and in cities. It remains a significant element in the ongoing cultural process of popular traditions and expressions.

Folklore at UCC introduces the main areas of the discipline, such as narratives, stories, festivals, rituals, tools, technologies and material culture, before developing the theories, ideas and methods of Folklore, including the theories of fieldwork, original research, archives and community identity.

Modules

Year 1 Modules:

FL1004 Irish Folklore and Culture:  An Introduction (15 credits)

This module will introduce you to the subject from the beginning. Moving from art to artifice, from the natural to the supernatural, it presents a colourful range of narratives and stories, festivals and rituals, not forgetting the tools, technologies and material culture so essential to human life.

You will be introduced to the study of human culture as it expresses itself through language, behaviour and artefact. This module encompasses stories and storytelling, rituals, popular religion and festivals, material culture and lifestyle.

Year 2 Modules:

We offer 30 Credits, three 5 Credit Modules in Semester 1 and three 5 Credit Modules in Semester 2:

Irish Folklore and History; Festival and Ritual in Popular Culture; Exploring the Otherworld; Popular Belief and Symbols; Folklore and Gender; Archives and Folklore in Ireland; Ethnographic Archives Worldwide

Year 3*/4 Modules:

We offer 30 Credits, three 5 Credit Modules in Semester 1 and three 5 Credit Modules in Semester 2:

Exploring Material Culture and Folklore; Studying Stories, Theory and Method;  Trad and Blues: Musical Traditions and Cultural Contexts; Indigenous Knowledge: Herbs and Healing in Irish Folkore; Fieldwork and Folklore; The Ethnographic Interview: An Introduction

*BA International students spend third year studying in an approved foreign university in a country of the student's major language or subject.  They will return to complete their final year in UCC in year 4.

See the Book of Modules for Folklore for further details on modules.

 

Course Practicalities

 

Expected lecture hours: In Year 1 you will have 3 hours of lectures a week, and tutorials will also be available.

In Years 2 and 3 all modules are two hours per week.

Lectures, Reading Lists and Assignments are made available on Blackboard.

Field trips: Students may be requested to contribute to the cost of field trips if such are organised.

 

 

 

 

Why Choose This Course

 

This is a great programme for learning practical research skills, solid methods and approaches, as well as innovative perspectives

Pádraig Ó'Dálaigh

BA, Folklore

Folklore is one of very few courses that makes culture its main interest. Fewer again do it with a serious anthropological and ethnographic perspective as we do at UCC. Folklore is a unique subject and discipline in this sense alone, in which you will have the opportunity to seriously consider Irish narratives, rituals, festivals, symbols or beliefs. UCC is one of only two universities where you can do this comprehensively.

By studying folklore, you can add the rich tapestry of tradition, culture and everyday life to other disciplines that seem to consider everything else except these. The cultural context and background will fill in the gap in your knowledge like nothing else will. It will help you to understand the role of culture in both past and present societies.

Ireland has one of the largest folklore archives in the world. The Department of Folklore at UCC is a leading institution nationally and internationally for the study of folklore and ethnology. Yet folklore one of the newest academic disciplines, with a wealth of information and knowledge at its disposal.

Culture surrounds us like the air we breathe so why not study it, explore it, test it and research it. This subject is unique in placing culture in the centre of things. It offers opportunities to enter a rich and varied discipline, using unique resources in the archive and outside it, in original research and community settings.

Placement or Study Abroad Information

Study abroad: Folklore has long-established links with folklore departments in Lithunania, France, Iceland, Scotland, Finland and Sweden for undergraduate and postgraduate exchanges. 

Work placement: If you study through the BA or the BA International, you will have the opportunity to avail of a work placement in Year 2. You can find out more here.

Skills and Careers Information

Graduates from this course have gone on to pursue careers in the following areas:

• academia
• media (audio-video)
• primary and secondary school teaching
• archive assistance
• heritage sector (museums, with the Heritage Council)
• translation
• writing
• community-based folklore and arts
• local history projects.

The course also equips you with a range of useful transferable skills for journalism, television production, urban planning and environmental planning.