1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:05,450 Yes, except accept that and thanks the invitation to come and talk about fascinating papers on Friday. 2 00:00:05,450 --> 00:00:10,130 Lots of following through continuing today. Just a quick aside on on on America's one. 3 00:00:10,130 --> 00:00:16,480 That's very interesting. The museum is something which I think is an interesting heritage relic. 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,710 It was quite popular in the 19th century and I was fascinated by the idea of pop stars. 5 00:00:20,710 --> 00:00:32,120 Also museums. That's just an aside. What I'm actually talking about today is about the M.A folklore studies set up two years ago at my university. 6 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:40,030 So I'll talk a bit about the M.A folklore. I'll talk about the content, in particular the model I teach, which is about folklore, 7 00:00:40,030 --> 00:00:45,050 landscape, and hence my presence at this interesting colloquium. 8 00:00:45,050 --> 00:00:50,830 I'll look at some of the broader themes that we run through, all the sessions that we do around folklore landscape, 9 00:00:50,830 --> 00:00:55,030 and then sort of conclude with some pointers where I think it intersects with the 10 00:00:55,030 --> 00:01:00,880 themes that are central to to this this event and the one on Friday as well. 11 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,230 So we set up the same folklore studies two years ago. 12 00:01:05,230 --> 00:01:13,420 It's the only M.A, in fact, it's the only real programme of of higher education studies and folklore in England. 13 00:01:13,420 --> 00:01:18,220 There was an I in folklore a number of years ago at Sheffield run out by what was called sector. 14 00:01:18,220 --> 00:01:21,490 It was Centre for English Culture, Tradition and Language at Sheffield, 15 00:01:21,490 --> 00:01:28,000 but which which was closed down by Sheffield University some 10, 15, fifteen years ago now. 16 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:35,530 So we are the only one English. There is another M.A. in folklore studies in Scotland run out of the Elphinstone Institute from Aberdeen University, 17 00:01:35,530 --> 00:01:42,550 which doesn't stay in Scottish higher education, typical Hamlet and ethnology and folklore which focuses on Scotland. 18 00:01:42,550 --> 00:01:50,200 When we do focuses on Britain, although it allows students to engage with landscapes across. 19 00:01:50,200 --> 00:02:00,040 Across the globe as well, if it meets all the aims and outcomes of the usual things, a postgraduate education programme on this, I mean, 20 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:06,580 the fact that we are the only M-I focussed studies tells you something quite interesting 21 00:02:06,580 --> 00:02:14,740 about the development of higher education in this country in the first place. When you compare it to the fact that there are a folklore studies. 22 00:02:14,740 --> 00:02:18,910 A lot of them in North America and also in northern Europe as well. This is a very interesting stretch. 23 00:02:18,910 --> 00:02:23,440 We won't go into that. See lists, challenges when you try to set up something like this, 24 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,360 because the absence is often interpreted by marketing departments as the fact there is no interest. 25 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:35,330 Which is exactly what happened to me in trying to develop this programme. There was nothing to compare it to. 26 00:02:35,330 --> 00:02:40,730 And so they say, well, you know, there's no interest. Well, in fact, obviously. 27 00:02:40,730 --> 00:02:43,720 BMA has shown a huge interest as we all. All of this here. 28 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:50,830 There's a huge interest, general interest in football, even when people that miss, you know, folklore is we can tell them. 29 00:02:50,830 --> 00:02:53,180 But what you're interested in is photo. 30 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:59,660 So we're kind of tapping in and this this m.a to a very rich seam of people who are coming back into education after 20, 31 00:02:59,660 --> 00:03:06,200 30, 40 years or more to have postgraduate Amazigh as well. 32 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,960 But want to come back because they want to in a sense, 33 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:17,410 understandably validate their interest in an academic way and fo'c'sle the things that they've been interested and passionate about in their lives. 34 00:03:17,410 --> 00:03:21,410 So our folks now, particularly then on my watch. 35 00:03:21,410 --> 00:03:25,420 We have we have several modules, honestly, we have the usual serial methodology modules, 36 00:03:25,420 --> 00:03:33,560 the practical ones when we go through the ethics process of interviewing, participant observation, also general field skills of a folklorist. 37 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:40,000 Then we have modules about migration of beliefs and traditions, both in terms of the migration of British populations overseas, 38 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,040 but also then new migrant populations to Britain and how that enriches British folklore. 39 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:51,280 And that ties tie in a bit with some of the issues raised today about nation, nation, identity and folklore. 40 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,440 Who owns who owns what is British folklore? Today, it's multicultural. 41 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:01,000 What about the legends associations with the landscape? Well, they reflect less upon that. 42 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:10,360 But actually, these are living traditions developed. So there's lots of interesting issues that arise in nation identity and folklore and landscape. 43 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:15,430 And then we also have one which is on contemporary tradition and contemporary legends as well. 44 00:04:15,430 --> 00:04:21,850 And then mine, which is on folklore and landscape. So what is my module about? 45 00:04:21,850 --> 00:04:28,450 Well, it has to sort of General ANX. One of those is to explore the human interaction with the landscape through 46 00:04:28,450 --> 00:04:34,740 custom and ritual of the time and how those are represented in the present. 47 00:04:34,740 --> 00:04:39,730 And the second overarching aim is how has the landscape been defined through a 48 00:04:39,730 --> 00:04:46,300 reimagining of the past and negotiations over its supernatural and mundane ownership? 49 00:04:46,300 --> 00:04:54,190 So there's kind of the overarching aims and outcomes from those studying this module, how that breaks down reality, 50 00:04:54,190 --> 00:05:00,910 the sorts of things we pick up on which are which touch upon the things that were being discussed here and also also what Mary was talking about. 51 00:05:00,910 --> 00:05:06,730 So in my workshops, I'll just tick through briefly. So we have one which is looking at place names and folklore. 52 00:05:06,730 --> 00:05:15,240 And in that, for example, we look at Druid names in the landscape and how they came into popular usage and 53 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,210 their interactions and the influence there of the early modern antiquarians, 54 00:05:19,210 --> 00:05:27,700 such as stupidly, who are providing these Druidic interpretations of prehistoric monuments where they didn't exist before. 55 00:05:27,700 --> 00:05:38,160 How did that language of Druids and Druidry end up in popular folklore and popular place names, which is an interesting, an ultimately unknowable. 56 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:45,130 But we try and look at what are the modes of transmission and transmission of those sorts of names. 57 00:05:45,130 --> 00:05:52,630 Also again, for Mary about Barot names as well, the folkloric names associated with prehistoric barrows. 58 00:05:52,630 --> 00:05:57,140 What did they actually tell us about popular Norway? Do these names come from. 59 00:05:57,140 --> 00:06:05,170 What they mean, how they changed over time. We then look at things like the sacred in the post reformation landscape. 60 00:06:05,170 --> 00:06:13,300 So we look at the pre pre reformation interpretation of the landscape, they say, and particularly the megalithic structures within it. 61 00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:21,210 And then we're looking at a reformation landscape, which Alexander Walsham this has written a very interesting detailed book about. 62 00:06:21,210 --> 00:06:24,070 And there's lots more to explore about the post Reformation. 63 00:06:24,070 --> 00:06:31,570 Romans also talked about this as well as Reformation, Longworth and folklore and how it relates to continuing tradition, custom in the landscape. 64 00:06:31,570 --> 00:06:34,090 So we look at that, but also focus on things like Hangmen Stones, 65 00:06:34,090 --> 00:06:41,780 which the famous Crawford in archaeological circles was fascinated by from his work on the King Ordnance Survey maps. 66 00:06:41,780 --> 00:06:46,210 Are about 20 of these Hangu land stones, and each of them has a very similar legend, 67 00:06:46,210 --> 00:06:52,990 which is the legend of a thief, not me, a sheep thief, sometimes a deer who basically rests his back. 68 00:06:52,990 --> 00:07:01,900 He's got the the stolen animal on a rope around his neck, on his shoulders, and he leans back on the stone to rest who is ill gotten gains. 69 00:07:01,900 --> 00:07:09,530 And the next day he's found dead because he's strangled by the rope as the sheep rests on the other side of the stone. 70 00:07:09,530 --> 00:07:14,920 Twenty of these is a classic example of migratory leisure. Where do they come from? The first dates around the 18th century onwards. 71 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:22,210 So how again did this legend spread? Fascinating to try and understand and explore in the landscape. 72 00:07:22,210 --> 00:07:28,760 We then look at legendary personalities and historic figures in the landscape, from kings to criminals. 73 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:35,380 Obviously, we make a sort of little Kaminey case study there about Robin Hood and not Sherwood 74 00:07:35,380 --> 00:07:39,820 Forest and the ways in which that legend and those legends have been told, 75 00:07:39,820 --> 00:07:46,360 retold both an oral form and a literary form and how it's represented today and how people engage with it. 76 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:53,050 The Robin Hood Festival then helped me lots of re-enacts, lots of people having good fun associated with Tree. 77 00:07:53,050 --> 00:07:57,160 So we'll try to explore these things in the long, derange time. 78 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:02,080 We also look at encounters with supernatural beings and the landscape of silly hauntings, 79 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:12,420 but also the role of the devil in those sorts of popken traditional legendry associations with landscape features, both natural and human. 80 00:08:12,420 --> 00:08:16,570 And I'll talk a bit briefly about that. There was Dich is one of my student projects, for example. 81 00:08:16,570 --> 00:08:25,760 Sussex is a sources and assets, as I am very popular resort, sort of a day out trip for people on the south coast. 82 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:34,270 And looking at them, can how people today understand and explore like and feel about those legendary associations that place names. 83 00:08:34,270 --> 00:08:45,540 And we also look at change. I look at the enclosure movement and how enclosure and massive transformational change in the countryside, 84 00:08:45,540 --> 00:08:49,660 particularly enclosure landscapes, pioneering closure from 18th century onwards. 85 00:08:49,660 --> 00:08:56,550 Sleep John Clares a source their own interpretation of what happens to legends and traditions and people's interactions with the landscape. 86 00:08:56,550 --> 00:09:01,650 In rapid change, when the common fields completely taken away, you have new roads put in obsolete, 87 00:09:01,650 --> 00:09:09,970 hedged surveyor's landscape, moves in old pathways, old associations, but lost with the landscape. 88 00:09:09,970 --> 00:09:11,250 What are what is the long term? 89 00:09:11,250 --> 00:09:20,370 And both the short term consequences that fall folklore and people's interaction with landscape and mechanisation electricity as well. 90 00:09:20,370 --> 00:09:25,350 In terms of how does that inform shaped ways in which we look and interact, 91 00:09:25,350 --> 00:09:33,520 both in an urban environment rapidly elsley urban environment from the 1893 19th century onwards, but also. 92 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:39,890 Ways in which it changes perceptions, change perceptions of night and day in the way we see the landscape. 93 00:09:39,890 --> 00:09:43,720 Night and day, most of them associate landscape only with the daylight hours. 94 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:52,180 But I'll see the landscape does get transformed and shaped and shifted and the travel agents, which are only associated with the Night-Time as well. 95 00:09:52,180 --> 00:09:56,560 And finally, when we're looking at folklore in the open environment, some questions such as, 96 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:02,980 you know, is there such a thing as urban folklore or is it just folklore in the urban landscape? 97 00:10:02,980 --> 00:10:09,270 So we have a good old chew over those sorts of issues. And finally, we look at forecastle landscape in fiction, 98 00:10:09,270 --> 00:10:14,560 focussing of seeing people like Alan Garner's work as well, but also things like Hoogland by David Southpaws, 99 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:18,550 fantastic recreation of a mythical county from the 1970s, 100 00:10:18,550 --> 00:10:25,120 which I think is a wonderful way in which people today are kind of reimagining an imagined landscape, 101 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:34,180 but also one which has a kind of proximity to reality. Underpinning all those things that we're looking at, awesome deep ones. 102 00:10:34,180 --> 00:10:39,610 Obviously, as I already mentioned, we're looking at identity as a concept, both local and national, 103 00:10:39,610 --> 00:10:50,170 the ways in which people interact or do not interact with their landscape or associated with legends or other forms of folklore. 104 00:10:50,170 --> 00:10:57,070 We look at tourism and folklore tourism for landscape places and spaces. 105 00:10:57,070 --> 00:11:02,380 We, for example, do a session on mother ships and Skaife, which is obviously a popular tourist attraction. 106 00:11:02,380 --> 00:11:07,580 We look at how mother ships since Cave is marked it both in terms of its landscape, 107 00:11:07,580 --> 00:11:12,910 but also how the legend of Mother Shipton is marketed in relationship to that landscape. 108 00:11:12,910 --> 00:11:16,090 And we use TripAdvisor as a source. Fascinating for something like that. 109 00:11:16,090 --> 00:11:20,560 Do you go through the comments? What is it that people are going to mother ship items for? 110 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,500 What is the experience as they come out on TripAdvisor without going through 111 00:11:23,500 --> 00:11:28,240 the cost and expense and ethics forms of doing a survey and exit interviews? 112 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:35,620 TripAdvisor is an interesting way of exploring what it is that people are getting out of these places and spaces and how. 113 00:11:35,620 --> 00:11:39,850 How do they come out with what is actually the legends that draws them there? 114 00:11:39,850 --> 00:11:44,860 Is it just because they want to go see the cave? What is it? 115 00:11:44,860 --> 00:11:52,420 How unhealth? What is the extent of them? Of the usual ones of the car park is full and food is too expensive because the usual things. 116 00:11:52,420 --> 00:11:59,290 But that's quite interesting. Thirdly, we also look at the absence of heritage interpretation for of sites which have literary associations. 117 00:11:59,290 --> 00:12:03,490 This comes back to something that both Tallis and Edward Snowden were talking about as well. 118 00:12:03,490 --> 00:12:11,200 There are so many places out there which have still have local elections, still have folkloric associations reported to local people. 119 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:17,920 And some of those also are important to other groups as Rosie talks about what's neo pagan groups, for example. 120 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:23,140 Yet they have no interpretation at all. We look at the ways in which that lack of interpretation does. 121 00:12:23,140 --> 00:12:28,000 It leads to a dwindling decline and ending of those folk rock. 122 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,670 Or does it actually reinvigorated those people? Invest more in it. There is no interpretation. 123 00:12:32,670 --> 00:12:37,370 They're not being guided by that interpretation boards and things like that. 124 00:12:37,370 --> 00:12:45,760 They can sense reinventing or reimagine their experience. That experiential side of their visits to their. 125 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:51,760 And then just want to move on now to looking at some of the ways in which students do they get out of this. 126 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:57,370 This module, what does it add about their own understanding the landscape and focus it? 127 00:12:57,370 --> 00:13:00,630 If we come through best in what we assignment's, this is a case study. 128 00:13:00,630 --> 00:13:07,750 Have to pick up a particular place or space and look at its folklore approximations, 129 00:13:07,750 --> 00:13:12,100 but then also look at how people interact with it, provide historical context. 130 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:16,210 And it's quite interesting what the students have chosen over the last two years. 131 00:13:16,210 --> 00:13:20,480 Some of them, some of them are well known places. 132 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:25,750 I mentioned Devil's Docs. I had a brilliant podcast. We do podcasts, blogs and essays. 133 00:13:25,750 --> 00:13:30,510 They have a choice in this case study. I had a brilliant podcast exploring Devil's Dich. 134 00:13:30,510 --> 00:13:37,360 We had another one which is well known. We had another one about found this island also quite well known for those of mystery defence site. 135 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:43,030 We also had one, but Windsor Great Park Kelly in Brighton Mountain, Glastonbury, and soon I was giants. 136 00:13:43,030 --> 00:13:46,890 So we have all those sorts of ones, which you might call have a national profile. 137 00:13:46,890 --> 00:13:54,550 But then quite a few of the student shows ones which were local to them, which perhaps very few people know about, maybe just as dog walking sites. 138 00:13:54,550 --> 00:13:58,050 But actually, once they started digging, found they had a rich folklore. 139 00:13:58,050 --> 00:14:04,080 There was a re-engagement re understanding of local places of landscape significance. 140 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:08,090 And some one, for example, was some bean holes or swallow holes in Essex, 141 00:14:08,090 --> 00:14:15,390 which had some really interesting history heritage, but largely abandoned militarily, knows much about them. 142 00:14:15,390 --> 00:14:21,190 But there they are. They have been important to people in the past and are open to interpretation today. 143 00:14:21,190 --> 00:14:28,360 Number of wells, as you imagine, wholly wells, abandoned wholly and healing wells cropped up some more high profile than others. 144 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:33,010 We had a really interesting series of blogs about some andwell in Brighton, which. 145 00:14:33,010 --> 00:14:38,360 It was a major tourist visitor attraction in Brighton and Hoath in the 19th century. 146 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:47,420 Real bustling sort of place. But today can largely abandoned. Recent developments render it really quite dull and nondescript. 147 00:14:47,420 --> 00:14:52,730 And yet it has such a vibrant history, such a vibrant history and such vibrant associations. 148 00:14:52,730 --> 00:15:04,310 If you dig back into the past and we've got someone took about Six Hills in Stevenage, which are a series of unusual Roman Roman burial mounds, 149 00:15:04,310 --> 00:15:11,810 unusual sleep in the English landscape and the right in the middle of a housing estate, Newtown, Stevenage. 150 00:15:11,810 --> 00:15:17,990 And again, very rich. And how people engage for that today. You've got these extraordinary ancient monuments, 151 00:15:17,990 --> 00:15:25,760 hills right smack in 1970s housing estates with no interpretation whatsoever and yet knew what happens is that new folklore grows up. 152 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:30,110 There's an old folklore to it and a new folklore grows up by people who don't know what they are. 153 00:15:30,110 --> 00:15:36,830 But any such features that attract new associations, whether it's hauntings or phantom talk, is along the road next play or whatever. 154 00:15:36,830 --> 00:15:41,600 These all actors, local folk for new folklore as well as its prognosis. 155 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:46,190 So just to just to wrap up some general, broad themes, 156 00:15:46,190 --> 00:15:49,610 which I think come out of all this from the experience of running these two years 157 00:15:49,610 --> 00:15:55,100 experience of the students experiencing this and sort of things we on to think about, 158 00:15:55,100 --> 00:15:59,480 because some of them want to go into heritage shops. Some of the ones go into museums and libraries and tourism as well. 159 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:07,940 So we've got to get Mosfilm thinking about these ways in which we situate this in our contemporary world. 160 00:16:07,940 --> 00:16:12,860 So one is about issues, about know practical ones, 161 00:16:12,860 --> 00:16:17,840 about maximising and promoting local what little known spaces and places through folkloric associations. 162 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:24,350 As a practical agenda point more conceptually, but related would be, you know, 163 00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:32,640 is and should folklore itself be considered as landscape heritage open about the actual landscape future itself is. 164 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:43,430 This is a moment of a piece of folklore. A an example of landscape heritage without having the physicality of it time specific to irritation of it. 165 00:16:43,430 --> 00:16:47,800 Thirdly, the value of storytelling is really important. 166 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:54,950 And we do use the diligence map and we do use the telling tales in the module. 167 00:16:54,950 --> 00:16:58,400 So we have been engaging with English heritage work on this and students, really, Joy. 168 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:07,700 And we we use Stand and Drew and the little mini video you did for Stanton Drew and the stone circle there, petrified dancers. 169 00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:15,140 And so we look through that and explore why why English heritage is invested in very positive ways isn't critical. 170 00:17:15,140 --> 00:17:19,730 Why is it in heritage, in investing both money, time and energy, 171 00:17:19,730 --> 00:17:27,290 in engaging people with folklore of their sites when they already have their other history and prehistory, more dominant ones? 172 00:17:27,290 --> 00:17:30,680 So that storytelling is really important, I think, in terms of ownership and re-engagement. 173 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:37,440 And when we talk about photos, multicultural and all those issues about who actually goes out into the rural landscape, 174 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:46,700 all the rise and who owns it and folklore, I think store time is one way of re-engaging or engaging for the first time with people. 175 00:17:46,700 --> 00:17:57,200 And finally, the idea of a visitor attraction, which which leaser in particular is picking up about the ways in which, in fact, fiction, legend, etc., 176 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:58,520 if you get the balance right, 177 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:09,610 can act as a re re energising and re-engagement look of local communities and other communities with local sites, with heritage interest. 178 00:18:09,610 --> 00:18:11,422 So that's me.