Lowell Brower

Languages: English, Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda

Research and Teaching Interests:  The folklore of emergency & post-conflict expressive culture; internet folklore & online communities; supernatural storytelling & occult belief; contemporary legends, rumor panics & conspiracy theories; memetic warfare; African verbal traditions; Upper Midwestern culture; the folklore of migration; the folklore of nationalism; campus cultures & student traditions; foodways; the folklore of cows & cattle culture.

About: Lowell Brower is a fourth-generation Wisconsinite, thrilled to be coming back home to join the UW-Madison Folklore Program after teaching and advising as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University from 2018-2022. Working at the intersection of Folklore, African Studies, Anthropology, Internet Studies, and Refugee and Migration Studies, Lowell’s research focuses on verbal traditions, communal storytelling, cultural re-imagination, and ‘the folklore of emergency’ amid violence, displacement, and profound social rupture. A speaker of Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda, Lowell has conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in communities throughout Tanzania and Rwanda. Lowell’s other research interests include Upper Midwestern culture, supernatural legends, rumor panics, and the weaponization of folklore in digital spaces. Lowell’s current book project is entitled “Once Upon a Time in the Land of Never Again: Storytelling and Survival in Post-Genocide Rwanda.” Lowell earned a PhD in African and African American Studies from Harvard University, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in English, and African Languages and Literature (with a Folklore Certificate!) from UW-Madison.

Courses Taught:

• Introduction to Folklore
• Internet Folklore and Online Communities
• Supernatural in the Modern World
• Badgerlore: Campus Culture and Student Traditions
• The Folklore of Emergency / The Anthropology of Crisis
• The Folklore of Migration and Displacement
• Foodways
• Fieldwork and Ethnography in Folklore

Education:

PhD – Harvard University

MA – Harvard University

MFA – University of Washington

BA – UW-Madison

Social Media:

TikTok: @drlowbrow

Bluesky: @drlowbrow.bsky.social