A Feminist Reclamation of Folk

The Feminist Lecture Program is proud to welcome back Folklorist, Artist and Lecturer extraordinaire Lucy J Wright for this unique insight into the world of Feminist Folk;

Traditions are good for us. Coming together with others, marking the passage of time, celebrating rites of passage—in our increasingly secular society, these things can be key factors in a life well lived.

Women were historically neglected by the early folklorists, who tended to privilege male informants and more spectacular, public practices that typically sidelined women. However, this is not to say that women didn't have traditions of their own, or that they did not play an important role—if overlooked—in the history of the English folk movement.

As an artist and researcher who has spent more than ten years exploring lesser-known folk arts and customs—especially those led by women and other marginalised people—I’m aware that the benefits of tradition might feel counterintuitive to many of us raised in the times and places that we were. Traditions are sometimes presented and enforced as a kind of straitjacket, tightly laced, to hold us down, keep us in our places. But traditions shouldn’t be dogmatic or suffocating. They should be infinitely stretchy and expansive, like gentle creative prompts—springboards for imagination and connection, which invite us to join in, join together and make things our own.

In this presentation, I’ll talk about some of my recent projects, ‘Dusking’ and ‘Hedge Morris Dancing’, which have sought to enact a more inclusive invitation to participate in seasonal folk customs, particularly for those who are currently excluded from the mainstream spaces and narratives of English folklore. We'll discuss what we need to do to ensure that the traditions—of care, of equity and interspecies kinship—we're passing to the next generation and we’ll also look at my recently updated ‘Folk is a Feminist Issue’ manifesta, a thirteen-point call to action for a more progressive folk agenda.

We are committed to making our sessions as accessible as possible. If you are unable to pay the full amount for this class, please reach out to us via email at [email protected] and we will provide you with a discount code.