The Degree of Master of Arts in Folklore is offered by part-time and full-time study and is a combined course work and research degree. The program normally requires extensive fieldwork research in Newfoundland and/or the Maritimes.

Integral to the teaching of the Department of Folklore is work of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive.

1. Applicants may be admitted to the graduate program if they have an average of at least grade 'B' in no fewer than 36 credit hours in Folklore or in any other discipline in the Humanities or Social Sciences.

2. The M.A. program will normally be completed within six consecutive semesters (i.e., a two-year period). The Degree of Master of Arts in Folklore may be taken by course work and comprehensive examination or by course work and thesis. Both options are available to full-time and part-time students.

   1. M.A. with thesis:

      1. Students choosing to do the M.A. with thesis must normally complete a minimum of 24 credit hours plus a thesis. The required courses are:

         • 6010, 6020, and 6030, normally taken as an integrated foundation in the Fall semester.

         • At least one of the following: 6100, 6120, 6130, 6200, 6210, 6220, 6250, 6260, 6360, 6720.

         • At least one of the following: 6300, 6310, 6350, 6370, 6400, 6410, 6420, 6430.

         • Nine additional credit hours to be selected from courses in the groups listed above or from the other courses offered by the Department.

      2. A brief thesis pre-proposal, including a statement of topic, working title, plan of research, ethics statement, preliminary bibliography, and the name of a preferred Supervisor, shall be submitted no later than the end of the candidate's second semester. A full proposal shall normally be submitted to the Department of Folklore and orally presented before members of the faculty by the end of the candidate’s fourth semester. The written thesis proposal should be made available to faculty members at least two weeks prior to the scheduled date of a student's oral presentation of the proposal. Following approval of the thesis proposal and consultation with the candidate, the Supervisor and thesis topic will be recommended to the Dean.

   2. M.A. without thesis:

      1. Students choosing to do the M.A. without thesis must normally complete a minimum of 30 credit hours plus comprehensive examination. The required courses are:

         • 6010, 6020, and 6030, normally taken as an integrated foundation in the Fall semester.

         • At least one of the following: 6100, 6120, 6130, 6200, 6210, 6220, 6250, 6260, 6360, 6720.

         • At least one of the following: 6300, 6310, 6350, 6370, 6400, 6410, 6420, 6430.

         • Fifteen additional credit hours to be selected from courses in the groups listed above or from the other courses offered by the Department.

      2. Each candidate selecting the M.A. without thesis option shall normally submit, by the end of the candidate’s second semester, written notification of intention to take comprehensives.

      3. Each candidate selecting the non-thesis option shall normally write the comprehensive examination at the end of the candidate's fifth semester in the program. The comprehensive examination will be graded by a comprehensive examination committee appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies on the recommendation of the Head of the Department, in accordance with General Regulations governing the School of Graduate Studies.

Courses

A selection of the following graduate courses will be offered to meet the requirements of candidates, normally after consultation with the Head of the Department or the Graduate Studies Administrator, and as far as the resources of the Department will allow. Courses are structured according to the categories of: Theories and Methods, Issues, Form and Performance, Special Topics, Regional, National and International Heritage, Social Identities, Public and Applied Folklore, Interdisciplinary Perspectives, and Required (Ph.D.):

• Theories and Methods
• 6010 Survey of Folklore Genres and Processes
• 6020 Field and Research Methods
• 6030 Folklore Theories
• 6040 Feminist Theories: Perspectives and Issues
• 6080 Vernacular Theories
• 6090 Ethnology

• Issues
• 6050 Issues in Folkloristics
• 6060 Issues in Folk Literature
• 6070 Issues in Folklife

• Form and Performance
• 6100 Song and Music
• 6120 Ballad
• 6130 Folk Music Canons and Documentary Sound Recordings
• 6200 Folktale
• 6210 Legend
• 6220 Personal Experience Narrative
• 6250 Language and Play
• 6260 Ethnography of Communications
• 6300 Ethnography of Belief
• 6310 Health Systems
• 6350 Custom
• 6360 Traditional Drama
• 6370 Ritual, Festival and Public Display
• 6400 Material Culture
• 6410 Vernacular Architecture
• 6420 Art and the Artifact
• 6430 Food and Culture
• 6720 Folklore and Literature

• Special Topics
• 6511-29 Special Topics in Folklore
• 6550 Special Research in Folklore
• 6551 Indigenous Expressive Cultures in Cross-cultural Encounter
• 6552-69 Special Research in Folklore
• 6570-79 Reading Course in Folklore

• Regional, National and International Heritage
• 6600 Folklore of Newfoundland
• 6610 Folklore of Canada
• 6620 Folklore of the United States
• 6630 Folklore of the British Isles
• 6640 Traditional Culture of Scotland
• 6650 Culture and Traditions of Ireland
• 6660 Folklore of the Francophone Regions
• 6690 International Folklore

• Social Identities
• 6510 Occupational Folklife
• 6730 Folklore and Gender
• 6770 The Global and the Local
• 6780 Ethnicities

• Public and Applied Folklore
• 6740 Public Sector Folklore
• 6760 Archiving
• 6790 Museums: Perspectives and Practices
• 6800 Applied Folklore

• Interdisciplinary Perspectives
• 6700 Folklore and Culture
• 6710 Oral Tradition and Oral History
• 6750 Popular Culture: Theory and Debate

• Required (Ph.D.)
• 7000 Advanced Folkloristics I
• 7100 Advanced Folkloristics II Research and Ethnography

Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) is Canada's foremost repository for recorded and collected items of Newfoundland and Labrador folklore, folklife, language, oral history and popular culture. Established in 1968, it is one of the oldest archives at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The Archive is an integral part of the teaching and research activities of the Department of Folklore at the graduate and undergraduate levels. It is a member of the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives and the Canadian Council of Archives.

The Archive contains diverse materials, donated by more than 11,000 contributors, covering topics such as custom and belief, childlore, material culture and work techniques, song, music, dance, tale, legend, personal experience narrative, poetry, riddles and conundrums, proverbs and foodways. Special holdings include the field notebooks of Maud Karpeles who compiled Folk Songs from Newfoundland (1971); E. R. Seary's collection of research materials on family names; the folklore collections of Herbert Halpert and John Widdowson; the extensive Newfoundland and Labrador song collections of Kenneth S. Goldstein and MacEdward Leach; Lawrence R. Smith's linguistic materials on Labrador Inuktitut and Southern Avalon dialect; 12,000 Canadian Broadcast Corporation recordings; the Lorne Russwurm international collection of country music; and Franco-NL materials from the Centre d'Études Franco-Terreneuviennes. Overall, the collection contains 40,000 audio tape recordings, 4,000 commercial recordings, 20,000 photographs, 2,000 printed documents, 16,000 manuscripts, and 800 video tape recordings.

Further information can be obtained by writing Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive, Department of Folklore, ED-4038, G. A. Hickman Building, St. John's, NL Canada A1B 3X8, or by e-mail to munfla@mun.ca, or by telephone to (709) 737-8401, or by fax to (709) 737-4718, or through the website at www.mun.ca/folklore/munfla.