Here, We All Know Your Name

I admit it. I don't try to hide it. I am a Folklore and Mythology concentrator. You may drop your jaw in shock because you never thought a Folk and Myth student actually existed, but it's all right--I'm used to such a traumatic reaction. I've used the same spiel for years: "Yes, I concentrate in the overlooked and under-appreciated field of Folklore and Mythology. Yes, it is interesting. No, I do not know what I'm going to do with a degree in Folklore and Mythology."

Yes, the fact is, I don't know where my career goes from here. But at least I don't spend my free time stressing over it. Unlike many people at Harvard, Folk and Myth concentrators don't stress over issues of potential success. We take things in stride. We know how to enjoy what we study--which is something a lot of other people at this school should learn. Which leads me to discuss an issue of great importance: the Harvard preoccupation with That Which is Serious and Profitable.

Much of this preoccupation can be initially attributed to over-zealous parents. When I came here for pre-frosh weekend, the free Confi guide I received (if you haven't seen it, that is because it's now online) had a picture of two parents who were certifiably freaking out with their eyeballs bulging and their mouths agape in terror. "Our son's concentrating in Folk and Myth" read the caption. My parents didn't react in quite the same way, at least not within my earshot. But they were under the impression, perhaps, that this was all "just a phase," and in due time I would change to a more honorable concentration like social studies or biochemistry. "At least try to have your special field in psychology, or something more applicable," my mom tried to reason with me. My father was less diplomatic: "But you are on the pre-med track, of course."

None of these outbursts, however, seemed to have an effect on me. If anything, my interests became more and more esoteric as I progressed. For example, what was once a Social Anthropology special field became Celtic Languages and Literatures instead. I find myself crawling around the subterranean levels of Widener digging up Gaelic texts about to crumble to dust.

So what, then, constitutes a respectable concentration at Harvard? Certainly not Folk and Myth, probably not anything in the humanities. But certainly something that involves lab work, problem sets and/or the rigorous reading of densely theoretical texts. Nothing that brings you pleasure while doing your homework.

The truth is, Harvard has a serious prejudice against the humanities and an even stronger prejudice against the less-canonized humanities, like Folk and Myth or Film Studies (which doesn't even exist as a concetnration). Let me amend this: Harvard has a serious prejudice against anything that brings immediate pleasure to the academic and doesn't follow an established path to future success. Computer science concentrators have their Microsoft jobs lined up. Biochemistry concentrators proceed directly to medical school. And if it doesn't have that kind of destined security, at least the English concentration has "centuries of academic respectability" written all over it. For too many people, Folk and Myth screams fluff.

But many of the key figures in the study of the humanities (Francis James Child and Albert Lord, for example) helped to found Harvard's Folk and Myth department. Folk and Myth might not directly help a student get into a good medical school, but it fosters an appreciation of other cultures and their influence on the development of Western civilization. And it might even add something to the quest for knowledge for knowledge's sake.

I've even had a number of people tell me: "Folk and Myth. Yeah, I almost did that, but I decided not to, just because I couldn't bear the thought of concentrating in something called 'Folklore and Mythology.'"

But look at Social Studies. It sounds like sixth grade geography. And yet, Social Studies concentrators have the roughest sophomore tutorial around. Folk and Myth doesn't even have the Faculty numbers, budget and status within the College to be a department; technically it's a Committee on Undergraduate Degrees. If Folk and Myth wasn't ridiculed half as much by the Harvard community, don't you think there'd be more first-years choosing it as a concentration?

My frustration with the second-tier treatment of Folk and Myth as a concentration reflects greater trouble in the mind of the average Harvard College student. But ultimately, for most of Harvard, "I enjoy what I study" does not outweigh "it's useful for the future."

In Folk and Myth, life is good. Six-person seminars where we don't try to kill each other. First-name basis with all the professors. Department happy hours. An honors-only concentration. And the best part about it is that I enjoy what I do. Success comes a lot easier when you enjoy what you're doing.

So for you first-years in agony out there--especially those of you deciding this week about advanced standing--don't bypass Folk and Myth as a concentration simply because it sounds flaky. First of all, it makes for a great conversation topic in interviews. As a department, it's also small and intimate, and as a study, it's actually fun. And as for a future career? It's doesn't matter what you concentrate in, so long as you enjoy it.

Winnie M. Li '00 is a Folklore and Mythology concentrator in Eliot House.