Roger D. Abrahams

Roger D. Abrahams (born June 12, 1933) is a prominent folklorist whose work focuses on the expressive cultures and cultural histories of the Americas, with a specific emphasis on African American peoples and traditions. He is the Hum Rosen Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught in the Department of Folklore and Folklife. He is 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.

Roger D. Abrahams is an accomplished folklorist and author.

Abrahams was one of three children born to Robert D. Abrahams and Florence Kohn Abrahams, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His education includes 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 Literature and Folklore in 1961.

Abrahams' long and successful career began almost immediately after attaining his Ph.D., first serving at the University of Texas as instructor (1960–63), assistant professor (1963–66), and then associate professor (1966–69) in the Department of English. He became a full professor in 1969 in the departments of English and Anthropology and remained there for ten years. While serving as professor, Abrahams also held other prestigious positions while teaching at the university. In 1968, he served as University’s Associate Director for the Center for Intercultural Studies in Folklore and Oral History for two years. In 1974, he became the department’s chairman at the university for five years. He also taught at other universities. After teaching in Texas, he served as the Alexander H. Kenan Professor of Humanities and Anthropology at Scripps and Pitzer Colleges in Claremont, California, where he remained for six years. After this position, he returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught Folklore and Folklife until his retirement in 2002 and was named the Hum Rosen Professor of Folklore and Folklife.

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