Alan Dundes

Dr. Dundes studied fairy tales, riddles and proverbs. And also popular culture, including chain letters, light-bulb jokes, bathroom graffiti, the folklore of wishing wells, and Choctaw tongue-twisters. "Folklore furnishes a socially sanctioned outlet for cultural pressure points and individual anxieties." In 2001, he became the first folklorist elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.