Robert A. Georges, 1933 – 2022
We are saddened by the news that AFS Fellow Robert A. Georges has passed and share this remembrance from Simon Bronner:
“I am saddened to report the death on January 31, 2022, of folklorist Robert A. Georges, who spent most of his career teaching folklore at UCLA. Among his areas of teaching-research were folklore theory and method, mythology, Greek-American folklore, and folktales. His article “Toward an Understanding of Storytelling Events” was a foundational essay in the performance studies movement.
He collaborated with Michael Owen Jones on two widely known textbooks: Folkloristics: An Introduction (Indiana University Press, 1992) and People Studying People: The Human Element in Fieldwork (University of California Press, 1980).
His major work in Greek-American folklore is: Greek-American Folk Beliefs and Narratives (Arno, 1980)
He also was the editor of: Studies on Mythology (Dorsey Press, 1968) and American and Canadian Immigrant and Ethnic Folklore: An Annotated Bibliography (Garland, 1982).
His dissertation on Greek-American Folk Beliefs and Narratives was published by Arno Press in 1980.
A special issue of Western Folklore was dedicated to him in 1997 and included a comprehensive bibliography of his publications. The introduction by Stephen Wehmeyer outlines his career from his birth in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. ‘Bob’ as he was known, earned his B.S. in English and French from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1954. He received his MA from the University of Pennsylvania in English and American Literature in 1961 where he studied with MacEdward Leach. He went to Indiana University to receive his PhD in folklore in 1964. He taught folklore at the University of Kansas in 1964 before leaving for UCLA in 1966, where he was a integral member of doctoral program in Folklore & Mythology. He retired as professor emeritus of folklore and English in 1994.
He served as president of the Fellows of the American Folklore Society and vice-President of the California Folklore Society.”
We sometimes make mistakes, and we are happy to correct any errors that you may come across on our site. If you find an error, please let us know using the “submit a correction” link.