Greenville, NC
W: 252-328-6726
H: 252-758-0077
baldwink@ecu.edu
Travel Regions: 7-13
Karen Baldwin received her B.A. from Guilford College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Folklore-Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Baldwin is a past president of the North Carolina Folklore Society and former editor of the North Carolina Folklore Journal. She directs East Carolina University's Folklore Archive, is a past director of the North Carolina Studies Program at ECU and an Associate Professor of English at East Carolina University.
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Code Name “Elvis:” The Ivory-billed Woodpecker—Legend
and Reality (new)
What do Elvis Presley, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster have
in common with the celebrated, rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker?
Dr. Karen Baldwin has tracked the legends of this so-called ghost
bird of the southern swamps. Her illustrated program explores the
rediscovery legends of this wild creature, North America’s
largest woodpecker, which was once an inhabitant of the forest in
southeastern NC. Baldwin’s audience will be encouraged to
share legends and lore about other wild animals, as well.
Exploring Kinlore
Kin and friend are the sources of our most deeply held traditions. In our first folk groups--our families and home communities--we learn how to celebrate and commemorate occasions, when and how well to tell tales, what are the rhythms and flavors of our cultural backgrounds. Dr. Baldwin has made a life's work of studying her own and others' kinlore, and she will share suggestions and techniques for identifying and documenting these privately held, family-based traditions. Using sound and visual illustrations, Dr. Baldwin shares the narrative and oral poetic traditions of her own upper Appalachian kin as well as examples of foodways, folk remedies, and customs from the kinlore of other North Carolinians.
"Snakes in the Collards at the Supermarket" and Other Legends in Contemporary North Carolina
Our modern experience is chockablock full of legends--historical, supernatural,
piratical, technological, gruesome, and humorous. No matter how
many volumes of legends are published, there are even more tales
"told for true" circulating in oral tradition. New legends are generated
in response to the lives we live, and existing legends conserve
historical and cultural memory. Dr. Baldwin explores the types and
functions of legends in our lives, giving numerous examples from
the collections of the East Carolina Folklore Archive and from her
own folklore fieldwork in eastern North Carolina. Audience is invited
to participate in legend-telling.
Requirements for Programs:
- Exploring Kinlore
- slide projector stand, screen and TV-VCR
- Snakes in the Collards...
- Optional equipment: laptop projection set-up.
- Speaker will supply laptop computer and PowerPoint slide program
- Code Name “Elvis”-table for projector and computer,
heavy-duty extension cord, projection screen, lectern
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