This event honors the retirement of dedicated faculty member and frequent Chair of Folklore and Mythology, Professor Stephen A. Mitchell. An expert in Scandinavian and Old Norse folklore, Professor Mitchell’s contributions to historical folkloristics and Scandinavian studies is monumental and award-winning. His wide-ranging scholarship has explored topics including heroic sagas and ballads, Swedish literature, Scandinavian drama, Harvard lore, memory studies and performance, and magic and witchcraft in medieval Scandinavia. Beyond his scholarly achievements, Professor Mitchell’s service to the university and his commitment to Harvard student life are equally noteworthy, including tenure as Master of Eliot House (1991-2000), Chair of Folklore & Mythology, curator of the Milman Parry collection, former Resident Tutor of Pforzheimer House, and Director of the popular Viking Studies in Scandinavia course abroad in the Harvard Summer School. Professor Mitchell’s award-winning book on Scandinavian magic, Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages and his current efforts to compile a new reference work on magic, satisfy student and scholarly appetites for understanding magic and enchantment, providing grounded, historicized ways of understanding the continuities of the present turn to older practices as antidotes to a seemingly disenchanted present. In honor of Professor Mitchell’s illustrious career and his dedication to the students of Folklore & Mythology, the 2025 Folklore and Mythology symposium celebrates and centers scholarship on magic and legend, from close colleagues in the U.S. and abroad, from former students, and from local colleagues at Harvard.
Presented by the Committee on Degrees in Folklore & Mythology, the Provostial Fund for the Arts & Humanities, the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and the Scandinavian Program. Free and open to the public; for a preliminary program, please see event page.
LOCATION:Barker Center 110 (the Thompson Room) STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20250405T040000Z DTEND:20250406T035959Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR