Campus Folklore Project

The Haunting of Higher Ed: How Campus Folklore Is A Microcosm For the Ways in which America is Haunted by its Historical Sins

Horror and folklore both love origin stories. The idea that evil has a root cause, a single event you can point to, is a comforting thought because if there’s a clearcut origin then there must be a just as clear cut end. Yet in the world of sequels and franchises, the opposite proves true in horror. In both horror and folklore rather than a simple way to confront and exorcise evil, these origin stories most often reinforce the idea that if a place is haunted, it will continue to be haunted forever, that there is no exorcising evil. 

This project is interested in exploring several threads. How is campus folklore shared and how does it evolve over different years and generations? What historical context is there for the folklore? In what ways does the campus folklore build on or ignore and erase the foundations and history of the school---the Indigenous people whose land was stolen? The enslaved people who built the school’s structures? The enslaved people who were sold to pay for buildings and programs? Generally speaking, what is the campus haunted by and does their folklore purposely erase the horrors that enabled the structure and institution? Who is centered in the folklore and how is their story reflective of or dismissive of the local and native populations? How is campus folklore a reflection of, connected to, the local or regional folklore? What can we make of this when we consider the history of the town, city, region? Do students transmit any or all of this folklore back to their hometowns, what does that look like, what variants come out of this?

Here is what I am envisioning for this project:

• 12 chapters

• At least 9 of which will represent own voices

• I would like to contribute a chapter on my campus but if it becomes a choice between my work and a better representative chapter, I will choose that one

• A collective introduction

• Just what it says- an introduction we write collectively. So authors not only write their own chapter descriptions but we work together to ensure that we cite the scholarship we see as foundational.

• A collective conclusion

• Where each contributor drafts where they think the field goes from here informed by their work.

• Committed to pursuing a publisher who has proven they are ethical and representative,

• If this collection proposal goes to a publisher later found to be unethical we will pull the collection.

• This means that this will probably be a slow moving project as we take the time to getting it right, all of it.

With all this in mind, if you’re interested in contributing, please reach out Karrȧ Shimabukuro khkshimabukuro@gmail.com

Share a paragraph about who you are, why you’re interested in this work and a paragraph about what your project/contribution would be.