Anthropology Commons^™

Ferrell, Ann Katherine, B. 1972 (Fa 1381), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1381. Interview conducted on 11 December 2019 by Ann Ferrell with Michael Ann Williams, who discusses her education and academic career as a folklorist and vernacular architecture historian. From 1987-2018, Williams was a faculty member in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University.

Barnes, Mada (Fa 1317), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1317. Paper titled "Farming Lore" by Mada Barnes for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Barnes provides brief farming lore collected chiefly from farmers in the Monroe County, Kentucky area. Some categories include: Chickens and eggs, Cattle, Snakes, Hunting and fishing... Informant names are provided and sometimes an address.

Licentious Legends: A Folklore Podcast, Alexandra L. Haynes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Licentious Legends was created out of a need to both understand and educate about sexual contemporary legends; not just what they are and what defines them, but the effect that they have on those who experience them. The purpose of this podcast is not to shame, but to take what has been found and educate about the joys and dangers of these legends. These legends range from the everyday (such as "The Hook"), to legends about a young man killing himself with a plunger. In an effort to gather as many examples as they could, Faye interviewed several of their …

Documenting Tradition: Images From The Kentucky Folklife Program Archives (Fa 777), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 777. Photographs and captions used for a 2013 exhibit at the Kentucky Museum, Western Kentucky University, titled "Documenting Tradition: Images from the Kentucky Folklife Program Archives" featuring images form the KFP Archives that were transferred to WKU in 2013.

Mccartt-Jackson, Sarah, B. 1982 (Fa 1290), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1290. Student collection titled “’Clogging’s Just Clogging’: The Richard McHargue Cloggers and Approaches to Vernacular Percussive Dance Study” in which Sarah McCartt-Jackson conducts an interview with Richard McHargue, a clogging instructor from Richmond, Kentucky. The interview contains McHargue’s early dancing memories, clogging terms, and opinions about the contemporary state of clogging. The collection also contains a partial transcript, fieldnotes, interview questions, content index, photographs, and the recorded audio interview on CD.

Death Ends A Life Not A Relationship: The Embodied Mourning And Memorializing Of Pets Through Material Culture, Gemma N. Koontz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many individuals develop strong bonds with their pets, viewing them as close “furry” friends or family. When these beloved companions die, both their relational and physical absences are deeply felt. Lacking socially recognized rituals to mourn and memorialize their pets, owners turn to and adapt traditional “human practices,” primarily that of keeping meaningful or significant items of the deceased.

Using both personal experiences and perspectives from multiple fields, this thesis discusses the life-cycle of the human-animal bond, examines the types of items owners keep or create, and how these are used to facilitate both mourning (the outward expression of grief) …

Brennan, Mary Kate (Fa 1284), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1284. Student interview conducted by Mary Kate Brennan with renowned Appalachian poet Jim Wayne Miller. Brennan’s focus throughout the interview is on “the cultural sensitivity and awareness that permeates Miller’s poetry.” Miller also touches on what he considers to be the central themes of his work, the struggles and triumphs of communities within the Appalachian region, and pride in cultural heritage. The collection contains a detailed index, interview summary, transcription, index cards with questions, and a reel-to-reel audio tape of the interview.

Harper, Laura (Fa 1277), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1277. Student paper titled “Beliefs, Planting and Weather Signs, and Place Names” in which Laura Harper gathers together a number of practices and ideas based on traditional folklore wisdom. Harper collected the information from family members and neighbors. The paper includes handwritten note cards arranged by theme.

Tuell, Gwynne (Fa 1279), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1279. Student paper titled “Folktales and Sayings” in which Gwynne Tuell gathers together a small number of materials relating to popular beliefs, proverbs, and superstitions.

Kohlmeyer, Kandy (Fa 1278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1278. Student paper titled “Texas Legends” in which Kandy Kohlmeyer gathers together two tales, one known as “The Legend of Armicosa Mission” and the other “The Legend of the Vision.” In her brief preface, Kohlmeyer explains that she collected the tales from a Mexican woman named Francis Garcia while Kohlmeyer was on vacation in Alice, Texas.

"La Llorona": Evolución, Ideología Y Uso En El Mundo Hispano, Raquel Sáenz-Llano

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies the evolution, ideology and use of the myth of La Llorona through time in the Hispanic World. Considering this myth as one of the most known traditional narratives of the American continent, I begin by providing visual, ethnohistorical and ethnographical insights of weeping in Mesoamerica and South America and the specific mention of a weeping woman in some Spanish chronicles to say how western values were stablished in “the new continent” through this legend. I suggest that during the postcolonialism the legend did not tell anymore about a mother that cries and search a place for their …

Williams, Pat (Fa 1270), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1270. Student paper titled “Jump Rope Rhymes” in which Pat Williams gathers together an assortment of grade-school rhymes and chants. Williams collected material from friends and family members, and the paper includes a brief biography of each informant.

Parker, Sandra (Fa 1269), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1269. Student paper titled “Dormitory Stories” in which Sandra Parker collects variants and subtypes of a popular urban legend regarding a student’s death on Western Kentucky University’s campus. Parker provides a brief historic background on the tale and addresses common motifs present in a majority of the narratives. Parker gathered stories from two other WKU students.

George, John R. (Fa 1267), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1267. Student paper titled “Buried Alive” in which John George collects variants of a popular urban legend regarding a young woman who was buried alive with a valuable piece of jewelry, most often alarge diamond ring. George gathered stories from residents who lived in several counties throughout Kentucky.

Dailey, Jan (Fa 1268), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1268. Student paper titled “The Dorm Death: An Analysis of a Tale” in which Jan Dailey collects variants and subtypes of a popular urban legend regarding a student’s death on WKU’s campus. Dailey provides a brief historic background on the tale and addresses common motifs present in a majority of the narratives. Dailey gathered stories from multiple students living on WKU’s campus.

Watkins, Ronald (Fa 1266), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1266. Student paper titled “An Historic-Geographic Study of the ‘Face in the Wall’” in which Ronald Watkins attempts to locate the exact origins of a popular folktale. Ronald examines fifty variants of the same narrative and outlines traits found in each tale. The paper includes summaries of archetypes, characters, settings, and facial features of the apparition. Watkins gathered his stories from a volume title Indiana Folklore written by Ronald Baker in 1969.

Drake, Marilyn (Fa 1265), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1265. Student paper titled “A Historic-Geographic Study of Tale Type 990” in which Marilyn Drake attempts to locate the origins of a folktale about a woman buried with a ring on her finger. The paper examines subtypes, variants, and archetypes of the tale and includes motifs present in each narrative. Drake collected her folktales from informants in south central Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and England.

Future Of Appalachian Culture, Emily Hilliard, Travis Stimeling, Michael Kline, Carrie Kline, Trevor Mckenzie, Nancy Abrams, Torey Siebart, Chris Haddox, Mehmet Oztan, West Virginia University Press

Exhibit Panels

Appalachia is often associated with its traditional arts and culture, but that does not mean that we are stuck in the past. Local traditions often play a crucial role in galvanizing forward-thinking cultural institutions, involving artists and workers alike in making new futures that are still distinctively Appalachian. This section of the exhibit highlights this kind of work from the West Virginia Humanities Council, Arthurdale Heritage, and more, connecting to a traditional past to new traditions yet to be forged.

How Ghost Stories Shape The State Of Mississippi And The People, Ana Lauren Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many people chose to brush off the stories and when asked about them they would skip around the story to talk about the history of a place. Those who embraced the stories were not only knowledgable about the stories but also the history. They tended to give both sides with equal enthusiasm and seriousness. Over the years Mississippians have learned about their neighbors through the stories that they told around the campfire or at sleepovers. These stories have been passed down from one generation to the next and have a way of not only identifying a place but also a …

The Everyday Sacred : A Symbolic Analysis Of Contemporary Yucatec Maya Women's Daily Realities, Crystal Sheedy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As a collaborative effort between myself and the Maya women with whom I worked, who live in Xocén, this dissertation seeks to illuminate the sacred world of Maya women, as well as dismantle the insidious narrative that younger generations of Mayas are losing their culture. Instrumental to this process is the use of decolonial methods (Lawless 1993) and descriptive theoretical premises (Geertz 1973; Turner 1967, 1969) that allowed me to analyze Maya women’s discursive speech, referred to as both chismes and heridos in Spanish, which can be translated as gossip, as well as the speech genre of u t’àan nukuč …