Curious about what your resident folklorists get up to besides parsing the relationship between vernacular and institutional authority, memorizing the ATU index of folklore motifs, or pondering who “the folk” really are?
Welcome! We are Lachlan and Elsa, two student ambassadors in the Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies MA. Since we have a recent blog about the folkloristics program, we thought we’d show you a glimpse into some aspects of the practical components of our programme; what kinds of resources we have for studying folklore here in Tartu and some of the trips we’ve taken to apply theory to the real world!
Let’s go! :~)
This Autumn semester, we had class seminars held at the Estonian National Museum, the Estonian Literary Museum, the Viljandi Culture Academy, the Heimtali Museum on Estonian textiles and craft history, and the personal house of Anu Raud, internationally renown tapestry artist and founder of Heimtali Museum. The NEFA folklore club organised the “Autumn School” near Lake Peipsi, which included a visit to the Kalevipoeg Museum.
Visiting Anu Raud
Clockwise from top left: taking a walk, stacking wood, and being gleeful at NEFA’s Autumn School. Photos by Nora Kreen. Celebrating Kadripäev with NEFA, photo by Mathilda Matjus. NEFA is open to students of all majors and is English-friendly!
In November, our faculty and fellow classmates participated in the HUMA Autumn School Conference held at the University of Tartu library, where we could practice presenting our research and future thesis topics of interest.
Viewing textiles at the Heimtali Museum and Lorraine presenting at the HUMA “Autumn School” Conference
We have had a busy itinerary for the Spring semester as well. Our class “Methods of Data Collection and Analysis” is organising guest lectures at the Estonian National Museum, where we saw the exhibit “Who Claims the Night?” (Kellele kuulub öö?) This exhibition will close on 24 February, with a PARTY (get tickets here)!
Lachlan and I are taking “Applied Crafts Research and Heritage of Crafts,” based at the Viljandi Culture Academy, our program’s second site and primary location of the Applied Heritage and Crafts stream. Yesterday, along with our professors, master crafters Ave Matsin and Kristi Jõeste, we visited the private workshop of artisan Monika Hint, who works with offcut waste and natural materials such as wood and bone.
Admiring mittens knitted by Kristi Jõeste, Monika Hint demonstrating using pump drills on bone. Photo credit: Lachlan Bell
Later in the semester, we will take two class trips to Tallinn alongside our classmates joining us from the EDuMAH programme, to visit both the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre and the Ukrainian Culture Centre, and meet with professionals working within the cultural heritage sector. We will also have a Winter Conference in March, which will be another chance to practice our presenting skills and sharpen our research questions (come see Elsa present on “invisible neighbors” in Norway!).
Aaaand that’s all for now folks! After this year we’ll be doing fieldwork and internships, study abroad and travel, and eventually defending our theses and projects! Thanks for joining us on this quick visit to our side of campus. We hope we’ve piqued your interest in some of our favorite museums and inspired you to join NEFA (you really should). Now back to examining UNESCO policy and visiting the archive…
~Elsa and Lachlan
Cover image: Nora Kreen
Unless otherwise captioned, pictures by Margaret Lyngdoh
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