Alan Dundes, (September 8 1935 – March 30, 2005) was a folklorist at the University of California at Berkeley. His work was said to have been central to establishing the study of folklore as an academic discipline. He wrote 12 books, both academic and popular, and edited or co-wrote two dozen more. One of his most notable articles was called "Seeing is Believing" in which he indicated that Americans value the sense of sight more than the other senses.

Dundes collapsed while giving a graduate seminar. Shortly before his death, he was interviewed by filmmaker Brian Flemming for his documentary, The God Who Wasn't There. He prominently recounted Lord Raglan's 22-point scale from his 1936 book The Hero, in which he ranks figures possessing similar divine attributions. An extended interview [http://homepage.mac.com/brianflemming/iblog/images/DundesInterviewExcerpts.mov is on the DVD version of the documentary.

Works

• (Ed.). Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies.
• Pagter, Carl R. (Co-author). Never Try to Teach a Pig to Sing.
• (1964)."The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales".
• (1969). A Folkloristic Reflection of the Future Orientation in American Worldview".
• (1971). "A Study of Ethnic Slurs".
• (1972). "Folk Ideas as Units of Worldview".
• (1975). Folk Comparisons of Ethnicity and National Character".
• (1980). Interpreting Folklore. Indiana University Press.
• (1984). A Portrait of German Culture Through Folklore.
• (Ed.) (1984). Readings in the Theory of Myth. University of California Press.
• (1987). Studies of Sick Humor Cycles & Stereotypes. Ten Speed Press.
• Pagter, Carl R. (Co-author) (1987). More Urban Folklore from the Paperwork Empire. Wayne State University Press.
• (Ed.) (1989). A Casebook. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
• (Ed.) (1990). In Quest of the Hero. Princeton University Press.
• (Ed.) (1991). Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore. University Press of Mississippi.
• (Ed.) (1992). A Casebook. University of Wisconsin Press.
• (1993). Folklore Matters. University of Tennessee Press.
• (Ed.) (1994). A Casebook. University of Wisconsin Press.
• Edmunds, Lowell (Co-ed.) (1995). A Folklore Casebook. University of Wisconsin Press.
• Pagter, Carl R. (Co-Author) (1996). Yet More Urban Folklore from the Paperwork Empire. Syracuse University Press.
• (Ed.) (1996). A Casebook. University of Wisconsin Press.
• (1997). From Game to War and Other Psychoanalytic Essays on Folklore. University Press of Kentucky.
• (1997). A Freudian Folkloristic Essay on Caste and Untouchability. Rowman & Littlefield.
• (Ed.) (1998). A Casebook. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
• Pagter, Carl R. (Co-author) (2000). A Further Collection of Photocopier Folklore. Syracuse University Press.
• (2002). Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics. University Press of Mississippi.
• (2003). The Shabbat Elevator and Other Sabbath Subterfuges. Rowman & Littlefield.
• (2003). Folklore in the Qur'an. Rowman & Littlefield.
• (2003). Essays by a Freudian Folklorist. The University of Wisconsin Press.
• (2004). A Straightforward Study of Lineal Worldview in American Folk Speech".
• (Ed.) (2005). Recollecting Freud. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.

External links

• About Folklore: Alan Dundes Obituary

1935 births | 2005 deaths | Folklorists | American anthropologists

Alan Dundes