Current Concentrators |
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updated 02/28/08 |
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Our Concentrators: Kelly Faircloth ('08)
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Sarah Arshad ('09) |
Kevin Burrows ('10) |
Below: hear about the concentration, and the range of interests that can be pursued, in the words of some of our concentrators! |
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Kelly Faircloth ('08) liked the looks of Folk and Myth from the day she got
the Handbook for Concentrators in her freshman packet. When she saw
Warren House and met the exceeding friendly people of the
concentation, she decided it was the place for her. Born in Georgia,
she finally settled on folklore of the American South as her special
field, and she hopes to write her thesis on the oral traditions
surrounding Sherman's March to the Sea. Most of her summer 2007 will
be spent driving around Middle Georgia in her dad's pick-up truck,
searching for Sherman's bowties.
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Jhosh Friedman ('08): The Folklore & Mythology program at Harvard appealed to me because the culture of Warren House (the homeland of Folklore & Mythology) welcomes undergraduates warmly and encourages diversity in academic interests. There is a tradition of helping undergraduates to pursue what they most wish to study. In allowing me great freedom of inquiry, the Committee has trusted me to choose the courses that I think are best for me as my topic of study matures. In supporting my pursuit of a deep interest, the Head Tutor has helped me to navigate the different departments across the University and to overcome institutional obstacles in my quest to use more than one discipline in my scholarship. I am now studying issues of orality in Gregorian chant, to which I bring scholarly tools I acquired in the departments of Music, Classics, and Comparative Literature. |
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Jonah Kanin ('08): I am a junior in the concentration and my special field is 'Jewish Folklore'. I am focusing on the Jewish folklore creature the 'Golem', a man formed from clay and water and brought to life through mystical kabbalistic rituals and knowledge. I am also interested in all kinds of Jewish folklore as well as other religious folklore and of course folklore in general (for example I explored WWE pro wrestling as a folkloric performance form in the context of dance and then gender). |
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Sarah Arshad ('09): Flipping through the Handbook For Students before I arrived on campus, I started to realize the breadth of what Harvard had to offer. And I was intrigued. At first I would jokingly tell my friends I wanted to concentrate in Folklore and Mythology, now knowing what it was, but my interest led me to visit the department. I found it so friendly and helpful that I realized how important having a small concentration, where people would know my name and care about what I wanted to do, was to me. And so I decided to continue with it, even though my interests don't seem at first to match. I wish to learn more and do research on some type of medieval medicine and the effects of different cultures on medicine and vice versa, and am considering studying the interplay of the Muslims and Christians in medieval Spain and looking at the effects on their different cultures on their medical practices. |
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Brian Kennedy ('09): I am currently a sophomore concentrating in Folklore and Mythology with a special field in Celtic Studies. I am primarily interested in the “mythology” portion of the field, focusing on literature dating from ancient times to the Middle Ages. Last year, I took classes in Latin and Old Irish and was unsure whether I wanted to concentrate in Classics or Folk and Myth. I decided that I could get the best of both by concentrating in Folk and Myth and getting a citation in Latin. I am currently in the highest level of organized Old Irish instruction, and I am also taking classes in the mythology and literature of the Celts. Over the summer I visited Connemara and took a class on the Modern Irish language offered by the National University of Ireland. In the fall I enrolled in the upper level Modern Irish course with the Celtic Department. Over the summer I hope to perform an independent research project (with faculty guidance) on the effects of the Viking raids on Early Irish mythology and literature. I plan to continue my studies in Early Irish language and literature in graduate school. |
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John Dillon ('09): I joined the Folklore and Mythology program for two reasons. First, the concentration allows for a certain amount of academic flexibility. Within the boundaries of folklore and mythology, it is possible for the student to tailor a course of study that matches his particular interests. I am very interested in Irish poetry and in essence have been able to create a concentration in Irish poetry through the Folk and Myth department. I have been able to take a combination of Modern Irish language, Latin, and English literature courses. In Folk and Myth you do not have to settle for a concentration that only partly matches your interests; you can directly pursue them. Secondly, I feel that, in general, the education that I am receiving in a smaller concentration such as Folk and Myth is better than that which I would have received in a larger concentration. Most of the courses I have taken have fewer than ten students, all are taught by professors, and all of the professors in the program care about each student. I am currently working on a project concerning a Cambodian dance troupe in Lowell, Massachusetts. I am looking at the means by which a diasporic community creates an identity while dealing with the confluence of two cultures, Cambodian and American.
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