Paper short abstract:

How has natural history influenced the knowledge history of folklore? My paper will give a historical perspective on the “methodological” commons in these knowledge fields that are normally seen as separated and divergent.

Paper long abstract:

Methods with a deep connection to natural history seem to have played an important role in informing the methods and genres of what became the study of folklore in Norway. The Norwegian Folklore Archives contains the works of pioneers of what can be called both a folkloristic discipline and a folkloristic movement. This pioneering work was closely connected to the collection work of naturalists at natural history museums.

I am interested in investigating these connections in the 19th century, taking Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s (1812-1885) work, which shows a concurrent parallel interest in both folklore and natural history, as a point of departure.