Timothy R. Tangherlini

Timothy R. Tangherlini serves as the Elizabeth H. and Eugene A. Shurtleff Chair in Undergraduate Education and Professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. A distinguished folklorist and ethnographer, he has pioneered computational approaches to folklore studies, bridging traditional humanities scholarship with cutting-edge digital methods.

His research expertise spans multiple interconnected domains:

• Digital humanities and computational folkloristics
• Danish and Scandinavian cultural traditions
• Network analysis of narrative structures
• Machine learning applications in cultural analysis
• Conspiracy theory formation and transmission
• Korean cultural studies and K-Pop analysis

Tangherlini's work focuses on how stories circulate across social networks and how individuals use narratives to negotiate ideology within their social groups. He has been instrumental in developing the field of Culture Analytics, co-directing a three-year program at the NSF's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics and leading the NEH's Institute for Advanced Topics in Digital Humanities on Network Analysis for the Humanities. His research combines ethnographic depth with computational sophistication, creating novel methodologies for analyzing large cultural corpora.

His scholarly contributions have earned him significant recognition:

• Fellow of the American Folklore Society
• Fellow of the Royal Gustav Adolf Academy (one of Sweden's Royal Academies)
• Elizabeth H. and Eugene A. Shurtleff Chair in Undergraduate Education

Tangherlini has secured substantial funding from prestigious organizations including the NEH, NSF, NIH, AFOSR, Mellon Foundation, Nordic Council of Ministers, and Google. His work on conspiracy theories, K-Pop choreography analysis, and historical Danish folklore has garnered media attention, demonstrating the public relevance of his research. With extensive international experience including appointments at the University of Copenhagen, University of Iceland, and Harvard University, he maintains a global scholarly perspective while contributing significantly to undergraduate education at Berkeley.