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Artist
Roger Abrahams
3+ albums
about
Roger David Abrahams (June 12, 1933 - June 20, 2017) was a prominent folklorist and balladeer with The Foc'sle singers. His work focused on the expressive cultures and cultural histories of the Americas, with a specific emphasis on African American peoples and traditions. He was the Hum Rosen Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught in the Department of Folklore and Folklife. He was the author of a large number of books, among which Everyday Life: A Poetics of Vernacular Practices is a recent title. Having earned his Ph.D. there, Abrahams returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 after teaching previously at the University of Texas and at Scripps College and Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He was the founding Director of Penn's Center for Folklore and Ethnography, a research and public outreach unit associated with the Department of Folklore and Folklife. He was awarded the Kenneth Goldstein Award for Lifetime Academic Leadership by the American Folklore Society (AFS) in 2005. and is also an AFS Fellow. Abrahams was one of three children born to Robert D. Abrahams and Florence Kohn Abrahams, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His education included Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where he obtained a B.A. with Honors in English in 1955; Columbia University in New York, where he obtained a M.A. with Honors in Literature and Folklore in 1959; and University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained a Ph.D. in