Symbiosis

Ray Browne was born in Millport, Alabama, in 1922, and was educated at the University of Alabama, Columbia University, and the University of California at Los Angeles. As founder of the Popular Culture Association (1970) and of the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green University. Browne was an early advocate of applying serious study to popular culture. <P< Browne also played an important role in widening the definition of popular culture to include the study of artifacts and other material aspects of culture. He authored, coauthored and edited a number of important works including Popular Culture and Curricula (1969), Popular Culture and the Expanding Consciousness (1973), Rituals and Ritualism in Popular Culture (1980), Symbiosis: Popular Culture and Other Fields (1988), and Digging into Popular Culture (1991). Browne also served as editor of the Journal of Popular Culture, the Journal of American Culture, and the Journal of Regional Cultures. He served as director of the Popular Press and chair of the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green University.

Roy B. Browne died on October 22, 2009.

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