Relationships At Dartmouth Folklore

 

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Introduction:

Why Dartmouth Relationship Folklore: In 1978, Dartmouth College began offering admission to female students, and this remote college began to develop a unique and distinct culture surrounding dating and relationships.  Unlike other campuses, at Dartmouth there is no real social scene outside of the campus because there is no club / bar life for students to interact. Due to the club / bar scene absence, fraternities and sororities have come to completely dominate the Dartmouth social experience.  As a result of this unique situation, many aspects of Dartmouth relationship and dating folklore have come to be.

Who is the folk: Our folk group is all current Dartmouth students as well as Dartmouth alumni. Anybody who has attended Dartmouth since the admission of female students has contributed to this folklore and therefore is part of our folk group.

 

Names of Collectors

Names of Informants

Campus Relationship Beliefs

Last Chance Game

Dartmouth 7

Dance Parties

Dartmouth X

Formal

Pong

Tripcest / Floorcest / Teamcest

Dartmouth Decade

Relationship Rhymes

Conclusion:

Dartmouth’s rural setting and tight-knit community have created many unique, campus-wide relationship traditions. Through our interviews with numerous informants we were able to collect common folkloric aspects of the relationship culture at Dartmouth College. All of the items we have presented are campus wide traditions that were passed on to these students as soon as they stepped foot on campus. The widespread and salient nature of this folklore collection proves, without a doubt, that these traditions have been present at Dartmouth College long before we came to campus and will continue to be present long after we are gone.

Collectors:

Marc Bachman, Michael Danielak, Thomas Roulis

Folklore Disclosure Agreements