The Degree of Master of Arts in Folklore is offered by part-time and full-time study. 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, course work and thesis, or course work and co-operative education work terms. All options are available to full-time and part-time students. However, the work term component of option C cannot be completed on a part-time basis.

   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. Normally, the required courses are:

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

         • At least one of the following: 6060, 6100, 6120, 6130, 6200, 6210, 6220, 6250, 6260, 6360, 6720.

         • At least one of the following: 6070, 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. with comprehensive examination:

      1. Students choosing to do the M.A. with comprehensive examination must normally complete a minimum of 30 credit hours plus comprehensive examination. Normally, the required courses are:

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

         • At least one of the following: 6060, 6100, 6120, 6130, 6200, 6210, 6220, 6250, 6260, 6360, 6720.

         • At least one of the following: 6070, 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. with comprehensive examination option shall normally submit, by the end of the candidate’s second semester, written notification of intention to take comprehensives.

      3. Each candidate selecting this 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.

   3. M.A. with Public and Applied Folklore Co-operative Education work terms:

      1. Students choosing to do the M.A. with Public and Applied Folklore Co-operative Education option must normally complete a minimum of 24 credit hours plus two co-operative education work terms. The required courses are:

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

         • 6740 or 6800 and at least one additional course selected from the following: 6551, 6740, 6760, 6790, 6800.

         • 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.

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

         • 601W and 602W.

      2. The dates for starting and finishing each work term are shown in the University Diary.

      3. A competition for work term employment is organized by the Co-operative Education Services Centre (CESC) in cooperation with the Department of Folklore. Students may also obtain their own work term jobs outside the competition. Such jobs must be confirmed by letter from the employer and approved by the Head of Folklore and by the CESC on or before the first day of the work term. Work term jobs may be outside St. John’s and possibly outside Newfoundland and Labrador. Students who do not wish to accept a work term job arranged by CESC shall be responsible for finding an alternative acceptable to the Head of Folklore and the CESC. By entering the competition, students give permission for the CESC to supply their Memorial University of Newfoundland transcripts to potential employers.

      4. Each work term placement will be supervised by the candidate’s program Supervisor, the on-site Supervisor assigned by the employer and the CESC Co-ordinator. The overall evaluation of the work term is the responsibility of the program Supervisor, on-site Supervisor and CESC Co-ordinator. The work term shall consist of two components:

         • On-the-job Student Performance as evaluated by the on-site Supervisor and CESC Co-ordinator, in consultation with the program Supervisor.

         • A Work Report graded by the program Supervisor in consultation with the on-site Supervisor.

      5. Evaluation of the work term will result in the assignment of one of the following final grades:

         • Pass with Distinction: Indicates EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE in both the work report and work performance.

         • Pass: Indicates that PERFORMANCE MEETS EXPECTATIONS in both the work report and work performance.

         • Fail: Indicates FAILING PERFORMANCE in the work report and/or the work performance.

         If a student fails to achieve a final grade of Pass or Pass with Distinction, and provided the student has not failed to achieve a grade of 'B' or better in any program course, the student may request to repeat the work term component. The request will be considered by the Department Head in consultation with the program Supervisor and must include a proposal for a new work term placement. Only one work term repeat will be permitted in the student’s program. Alternatively, the student may apply for a change of route to the thesis or comprehensive examination program option.

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.):

• Cooperative Education Work Terms
• 601W Work Term I
• 602W Work Term II

• 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 Oral Tradition and Performance
• 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) 864-8401, or by fax to (709) 864-4718, or through the website at www.mun.ca/folklore/munfla.