Joseph C Harris

Joseph C Harris is a Francis Lee Higginson Research Professor of English and Research Professor of Folklore at Harvard University. His office is located in Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia (1961), a B.A. from Cambridge University (1967), an M.A. (1963), and a Ph.D. (1969) from Harvard.

His research focuses on Old English, Old Norse-Icelandic literature, and folklore studies. He has authored influential works such as Child’s Children: Ballad Study and Its Legacies (2012) and Speak Useful Words or Say Nothing: Old Norse Studies (2008). His scholarship bridges medieval philology, oral performance traditions, and cross-cultural narrative analysis. Recent articles explore the Rök Stone’s Anglo-Saxon interpretations and the vocal performance of Old Norse poetry.

Harris’s work emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to medieval texts, integrating linguistic, archaeological, and cultural perspectives. His publications reflect a deep engagement with textual transmission, mythological symbolism, and cross-cultural literary exchanges.