The Society was founded in 1986 by Dr Cecilia Scallan Zeiss, then senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of South Africa hence its original name, Scallan Society for Folklore Studies. The Society was launched on 13 October 1986 at a General Meeting, where the Constitution was first adopted and the first Chairman, CT Msimang and other members of the Executive Committee were elected. On 13 November 1986 the Executive elected office bearers among themselves as follows:

Dr Cecilia Scallan Zeiss	Secretary and Editor	English Department: Unisa
Dr Peter Buchholz	Vice Chairman	German Department: Unisa
Mr HC Groenewald	Treasurer	then of Censal, H.S.R.C
Dr Pamela Dembo van Schaik	Additional Committee	English Department: Unisa
Father Fergus Barret	a founder member with Cecilia Zeiss was co-opted as Advisor to the Executive	St. John Vianney Seminary

The Society is a multidisciplinary association of individual scholars and researchers in folklore and related disciplines. From the onset it was strongly felt that Southern African scholarship could benefit from such a society since there are many interrelationships between various disciplines, but these are not always appreciated owing to the compartmentalised and specialised system of academic activity in the subcontinent. SAFOS approaches folklore in a broad manner to encompass all the human sciences which reflect the transition from oral to written transmission. The related disciplines include comparative literature, religion, law, archaeology, theology, linguistics especially sociolinguistics, cultural anthropology, history, African studies, musicology particularly ethnomusicology, mythology, etcetera. The Society accordingly serves as a common platform for academic investigation and explanation of parallels, similarities and differences between various cultures. The assertion is that, as is the case with linguistics, one ought to find universals and universal tendencies in folklore as well. Since folklore is also a performing art, and in the Southern African context, still very much a living lore, it is felt that academic debate is not enough. The Society also envisages physical involvement by way of making and analysing audio-visual recordings and other forms of fieldwork.