Folklore Without Borders

Folklore Without Borders is a network of academics and organisations working to develop greater diversity within folklore. We are holding an international knowledge exchange on folklore theory, methodology and creative practice. The network is focused on the UK, with participants from Estonia, Norway and the United States (US). It connects three groups who work with cultural tradition: academia (research, teaching, impact), individual stakeholders (artists, writers; entrepreneurial folklorists) and cultural industries (museums, galleries, archives; media). This network considers both theoretical and practical ways to make change happen in a number of domains that would not normally have the opportunity to meet.
All of our participants recognise diversity issues in folklore. Some are systemic to Higher Education (HE), creative arts practice and entrepreneurship in the UK (the erasure or under-representation of the minoritized; whether racially, disabled, LGBTQ+, female, particularly at senior career stage), some are specific to the discipline (such as advocacy, representation and agency within folklore research), and some take heightened form in the UK, where interest and involvement in folklore is overwhelmingly white, with an absence of disability, urban, working class voices, diverse genders, races and sexualities.
To facilitate knowledge exchange, the network has international collaborators and two Learned Societies as Project Partners: the Folklore Society and the American Folklore Society. The latter's Cultural Diversity Committee has, since 1994, developed practice and research in diversifying folklore. Knowledge is exchanged on topics such as engagement with local communities and struggles; equality, diversity and inclusion issues around meeting practices; advocacy and acknowledging privilege.
The network problematises the deployment of 19th-century folkloristic concepts, which remain popular, especially in literary and artistic work. For example, in the UK the framing of tradition as survival in the face of modernity often entertains narratives of an 'ancient source' for folklore, despite there being no evidence for this. The network explores whether this serves to code folklore as white and rural, thus consolidating under-representation. It asks what responsibility artists and writers interested in hauntological themes and popular genres such as folk horror have towards diversity. What can be gained by accommodating contemporary thinking, foregrounding folkloristics and history at the intersection of critical race theory, queer theory, transnational, feminist theory/praxis, disability and performance theory?
The network seeks to understand and share the cultural value of folklore. How can the perception of folklore as something available to and practised by all groups enter the practice of those who work with folklore in the UK? A series of digital meetings and three two-day events have been designed to stimulate discussion and generate collaborations, captured by a journal article, a report, conference papers, teaching material, curatorial expertise, an exhibition and a manifesto exemplified by creative outputs. All of this will be discussed on both social media and at international conferences. Our first event focuses on the contemporary challenges of folklore; the second on folklore and the creative economy; and the third on the potential of folklore to unlock cultural assets. All of the network events help us discover ourselves through promoting and discussing rigorous enquiry-led research in folklore. Each event has been designed in collaboration with our Project Partners to maximise their support for the discussion and exchange of ideas concerning diversity. Membership of the network is open to anyone and all physical events are blended to make attendance possible by digital means.