American Folklore Society News

What can you do with a folklore degree? Over six dozen folklorists, writing from their own experiences, show us. What Folklorists Do examines a wide range of professionals—both within and outside the academy, at the beginning of their careers or holding senior management positions—to demonstrate the many ways that folklore studies can shape and support the activities of those trained in it. As one of the oldest academic professions in the United States and grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, folklore has always been concerned with public service and engagement beyond the academy. Consequently, as this book demonstrates, the career applications of a training in folklore are many—advocating for local and national causes; shaping public policy; directing and serving in museums; working as journalists, publishers, textbook writers, or journal editors; directing national government programs or being involved in historic preservation; teaching undergraduate and graduate students; producing music festivals; pursuing a career in politics; or even becoming a stand-up comedian. A comprehensive guide to the range of good work carried out by today's folklorists, What Folklorists Do is essential reading for folklore students and professionals and those in positions to hire them. Audio book narrated by Walter Brown. Produced by Speechki in 2021.

Juneteenth Texas reflects the many dimensions of African-American folklore. The personal essays are reminiscences about the past and are written from both black and white perspectives. They are followed by essays which classify and describe different aspects of African-American folk culture in Texas; studies of specific genres of folklore, such as songs and stories; studies of specific performers, such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Manse Lipscomb and of particular folklorists who were important in the collecting of African-American folklore, such as J. Mason Brewer; and a section giving resources for the further study of African Americans in Texas.

An unprecedented number of folklorists are addressing issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality in academic and public spaces in the US, raising the question: How can folklorists contribute to these contemporary political affairs? Since the nature of folkloristics transcends binaries, can it help others develop critical personal narratives? Advancing Folkloristics covers topics such as queer, feminist, and postcolonial scholarship in folkloristics. Contributors investigate how to apply folkloristic approaches in nonfolklore classrooms, how to maintain a folklorist identity without a "folklorist" job title, and how to use folkloristic knowledge to interact with others outside of the discipline. The chapters, which range from theoretical reorientations to personal experiences of folklore work, all demonstrate the kinds of work folklorists are well-suited to and promote the areas in which folkloristics is poised to expand and excel. Advancing Folkloristics presents a clear picture of folklore studies today and articulates how it must adapt in the future.

"This book shows how folklore -- magic, miracles, and tales of enchanted princesses and genial giants -- is still alive and well in the modern mass media.... contains a wealth of facts and observations with which to conjure." -- Journal of Communication "Dégh brings her decades of expertise in folk narrative to bear in this well-researched, provocative study of the interrelationship between traditional processes of folk narrative performances and modern mass media.... Highly recommended... " -- Choice "Spanning folk cultural developments as old as feudalism and as new as today's TV ad, American Folklore and the Mass Media demonstrates how vital folklore remains, how often it absorbs -- rather than being absorbed by -- the most dramatic technological innovations and social realignments." -- Carl Lindahl "... all six essays are meaty and informative contributions to vital folkloric issues..." -- Contemporary Legend

A landmark volume exploring the public presentation and application of folk culture in collaboration with communities, Public Folklore is available again with a new introduction discussing recent trends and scholarship. Editors Robert Baron and Nick Spitzer provide theoretical framing to contributions from leaders of major American folklife programs and preeminent folklore scholars, including Roger D. Abrahams, Robert Cantwell, Gerald L. Davis, Archie Green, Bess Lomax Hawes, Richard Kurin, Daniel Sheehy, and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. Their essays present vivid accounts of public folklore practice in a wide range of settings—nineteenth-century world's fairs and minstrel shows, festivals, museums, international cultural exchange programs, concert stages, universities, and hospitals. Drawing from case studies, historical analyses, and their own experiences as advocates, field researchers, and presenters, the essayists recast the history of folklore in terms of public practice, while discussing standards for presentation to new audiences. They approach engagement with tradition bearers as requiring collaboration and dialogue. They critically examine who has the authority to represent folk culture, the ideologies informing these representations, and the effect upon folk artists of encountering revived and new audiences within and beyond their own communities. In discussions of the relationship between public practice and the academy, this volume also offers new models for integrating public folklore training within graduate studies.

"American Folklore Scholarship is rich reading, outlining the intellectual genealogy of American folklore and delivering many interesting historical tidbits. Folklore teachers will want to use this book in their introductory theory classes, while doctoral students will want to memorize the book before their qualifying exams." --Folklore Forum "... a welcome overview of the discipline in North America and the practitioners who established it." --American Anthropologist In this classic text, Zumwalt examines the split between literary folklorists and anthropological folklorists. The former looked at literary forms for folklore; the latter looked at the life and unwritten culture of the people. This struggle shaped the study of folklore in the U.S.

With culinary nationalism defined as a process in flux, as opposed to the limited concept of national cuisine, the contributors of this book call for explicit critical comparisons of cases of culinary nationalism among Asian regions, with the intention of recognizing patterns of modern culinary development. As a result, the formation of modern cuisine is revealed to be a process that takes place around the world, in different forms and periods, and not exclusive to current Eurocentric models. Key themes include the historical legacies of imperialism/colonialism, nationalism, the Cold War, and global capitalism in Asian cuisines; internal culinary boundaries between genders, ethnicities, social classes, religious groups, and perceived traditions/modernities; and global contexts of Asian cuisines as both nationalist and internationalist enterprises, and "Asia" itself as a vibrant culinary imaginary. The book, which includes a foreword from Krishnendu Ray and an afterword from James L. Watson, sets out a fresh agenda for thinking about future food studies scholarship.