The mission of folklorists has been described as looking at the overlooked that is, studying the parts of culture that are beneath the attention of other academic disciplines and attaching the same value to the artistry and creativity of ordinary people that is more often applied only to the culture of the elite.1 In New Zealand, however, the study of folklore has been almost non-existent. In surveys of world folklore, New Zealand is almost never mentioned. New Zealand itself is also easy to overlook: small country with more sheep than people, far from the centers of global power and rarely heard from in the world news, a mere punctuation mark at the bottom of the globe (Lealand 1985:63). Given this lamentable state of affairs, Looking at the Overlooked was fitting title for the first-ever academic symposium devoted to the study of folklore in New Zealand, held at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in April 2006. The aim of the gathering was twofold: first, to announce to New Zealanders that there was indeed folklore in their own country, and that it was worth taking seriously; and also to bring together from around the country the professional folklorists, enthusiasts, and academics from variety of disciplines who had expertise in the study of folklore. The symposium was huge success. For full day the seminar room at the Stout Centre was packed with people, singing along with the songs, laughing uproariously at the jokes, and enthusiastically debating questions of both New Zealand folklore and folklore in New Zealand. I have never experienced an academic conference where the level of sustained engagement was so high. The excitement in the room was palpable, even at the end of the day when the wrap-up discussion con-