Kaplan, Ann

Folklorist Ann Kaplan was born in 1972 in Washington D.C. After growing up in Alexandria, Va., she attended Mary Washington College, where she earned a B.A. degree in anthropology in 1994. Kaplan completed her graduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning an M.A. in folklore in 2000. While at UNC-CH, she worked as a research assistant with the Southern Oral History Program. She has also worked as an independent folklorist with diverse communities in North Carolina, including fishers and farmers of the North Carolina Coastal Plain, Jewish residents of eastern North Carolina, and Latinas in the North Carolina Piedmont. Kaplan serves as director of the Orange County Arts Commission in Hillsborough, N.C.