User:Steve Stanzak

I am a PhD student in folklore and medieval studies at Indiana University. My graduate training is in the theories and methods of folkloristics and I have a wide range of interests in the discipline. My primary research focus is vernacular religion in medieval Europe, particularly those folk practices associated with Christianity. I approach these topics largely through narrative materials such as legend and myth. My current research deals with medieval saints' legends. In my work, I treat these legends as negotiations between folk, institutional, and literary models of sanctity. My M.A. thesis considered the way that Chaucer's The Prioress's Tale reworks different genres of sacred narratives that implicate issues of fertility and faith. One of my current projects looks at the bizarre vita of Christina the Astonishing, a medieval saint with the ability to fly.

Beyond my interests in the medieval period, I also conduct research on folklore theory and the intellectual history of the discipline. I have a particular fascination with early models of culture and cultural development developed in the nineteenth century, such as the competing theories of unilinear cultural evolutionism and degenerationism. My interest in children's folklore links to my work with these early models of cultural development. Previous research of mine has considered the intersection of these theories of culture with Victorian conceptions of childhood as they are represented in literature of the time period. I've also done work with contemporary children and vernacular culture on the internet. My current work in this area focuses on yo' momma jokes performed on YouTube.