Folklore News Archives

Items referring to events of interest to folklorists will be saved for an indefinite period of time in Western States Folklore Society's News Archives. The most recently expired items will always appear on top.

The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) announces the launch of the online finding aid for the first 32 years (1965 – 1997) of the CAFAM archives, located at UCLA Library Special Collections. For further information, visit the Online Archive of California (OAC) Website’s CAFAM page.

The Society’s 71st Annual Meeting was held April 20-21, 2012 at the California State University, Sacramento.

Society for Ethnomusicology, Northern California Chapter (SEMNCC): 2010 Conference

The Society for Ethnomusicology's Northern California Chapter (SEMNCC) will hold its 2010 conference at the Music Center of the University of California, Santa Cruz on Saturday, March 6. The program for this one-day event includes:

• a documentary film by UCSC faculty member Linda Burman-Hall on Balinese death rituals
• a multi-media presentation from the Music of Bhutan Research Center
• a hands-on West Javanese gamelan workshop by master teacher Undang Sumarna
• research presentations on taiko, world music pedagogy, flamenco, blues, and hip hop
• a concluding concert by the UCSC Central Asian Ensemble.

Each year, SEMNCC hosts a one-day conference featuring the most recent ethnomusicology-related work of academics, independent scholars, and musicians in Northern California.

Registration for the conference begins at 9am, $5 for students and $10 for all others for the day; parking is $3. More information is available on the Chapter's website.

SEAing SouthEast Asian American Studies Conference: Call for Papers

The third tri-annual interdisciplinary Southeast Asians in the Diaspora conference will take place at San Francisco State University. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to sizable populations of Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong, Indonesian, Lao, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, and Vietnamese Americans. This conference will foreground the large Southeast Asian American communities of the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, and the Pacific Northwest, as well as continue to build momentum and grow just as the Southeast Asian American demographics increase in size and visibility here in the U.S. and in particular, on the West Coast. For further information, visit the SouthEast Asian American Studies Conference page.

USU offers folklore fellowship for fall 2009

The Folklore Program at Utah State University is pleased to announce a fellowship for the graduate study of folklore, to be awarded to an incoming student for the first time in the Fall of 2009. Working toward the completion of a thesis and master’s degree in the USU English Department, the recipient of the fellowship will pursue research and study in one of the many, varied aspects of folklore. The value of the fellowship is $14,000. The final deadline for applications this year has been extended to June 15, 2009.

Anyone interested in applying for the Folklore Fellowship should contact both Professor Steve Siporin, director of the Folklore Program (steve.siporin@usu.edu) and Professor Keith Grant-Davie, the English Department’s director of Graduate Studies (keith.grantdavie@usu.edu). In addition, prospective students must submit an application through the School of Graduate Studies, specifying on the graduate school form that they are interested in the Folklore Program. This application form, plus three letters of recommendation, school transcripts, test scores, and a writing sample will complete the needed materials. To find School of Graduate Studies application forms, go to: http://www.usu.edu/graduateschool.

The English Department Web site (http://newenglish.usu.edu/newgraduates.aspx) has specific information on the application process. For information about the Folklore Program, please visit http://folklore.usu.edu.

Folklore study at Utah State University has a distinguished history, beginning with the team of Austin and Alta Fife in the 1960s and continuing with the leadership of William A. Wilson and Barre Toelken from the 1970s to the 2000s. This inaugural fellowship adds another dimension of excellence to an important American center for the study of folklore.

Questions? Contact: steve.siporin@usu.edu

The 28th Inter-University Conference of Folklore Research

The conference will be held at the University of Haifa on Tue.- Wed., May 19- 20, 2009. The conference theme is Folklore and Ideology.

The study of folklore was first introduced in a national-ideological context, and since then could hardly be distinguished from its different ideological functions. The discussion of the affinities between folklore and ideology includes the different social and cultural functions of folklore; the changing ideological contexts in which folklore arises and under which in turn it is defined; the beliefs underlying the subject-matter; the genres and artistic forms that embody these beliefs; the ideological tensions which characterize it; the traditional and subversive world-views it represents; the ideological interpretations that are implicated in its various uses, as well as the place of the field itself, folklore and folkloristics in a post ideological world.

The conference will address these topics, as well as others relating to the affinity between folklore and ideology. Abstracts up to one page long are to be sent along with personal details and contact information to the conference committee at: tsafisebba@gmail.com. Abstracts will be accepted until February 25th 2009.

Folklife Program Manager position open at Oregon Historical Society

The Oregon Historical Society is currently recruiting for a Folklife Programs Manager to join the Public Service team. The Folklife Programs Manager is responsible for developing folklife programming for implementation by OHS, a key element of the OHS outreach programming plan. The Folklife Program Manager must work with the Director of Public Services and with other OHS programs to develop a comprehensive plan that weaves together all elements of the institution, to support collaborative programs with other institutions in Oregon, and to act as an emissary to the arts and culture community. The successful candidate will have a previous track record of working cooperatively with diverse groups from all parts of the community and exercise judgment in representing OHS and its programs. In addition, The Folklife Program Manager will supervise other folklife staff, volunteers, interns, and independent contractors, and other staff in support of the folklife programs.

Required Skills and Experience: A Master’s degree in folklore is required, and a minimum of 3-5 years experience in developing and implementing a variety of public sector folklore programs for different audiences and age groups, utilizing a variety of media. Supervisory, grant writing and project management experience is required. Successful candidate will have excellent written and oral communication skills, and should be a strong Microsoft Office Suite user.

Qualified candidates can submit cover letter, resume and salary history to: Jobs@ohs.org

Folklore Professorship position open at Indiana University

The Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University invites applications for a tenured Associate or Full Professorship in the Folklore Institute, to begin in the fall of 2009. We welcome applicants who have well-established research and teaching records and are currently engaged in scholarship central to the discipline of folklore. Our preference is for candidates with ethnographic, theoretical, and teaching concentrations in folklore and vernacular culture in contemporary Europe and European Diasporas. We are especially interested in scholars who are prepared to teach foundational concepts and theories of the discipline to graduate students and who relate their specific ethnographic research foci to broader regional concerns, theoretical problems, and disciplinary histories. Applicants must have the Ph.D. and should show evidence of a continuing research agenda and a demonstrated commitment to excellence in teaching. Indiana University and the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology are especially eager to receive applications and nominations of women, minorities, and members of other underrepresented groups. Applications, including letter of application, curriculum vitae, writing sample, and contact information for three references should be sent to: Professor Sandra Dolby, Chair, Search Committee, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, 504 N. Fess Ave., Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47408. Review of applications will begin on September 15, 2008, and continue until the position is filled. Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer.

Dorothy Noyes wins 2005 Fellows of AFS Book Prize

The winner of the 2005 AFS Fellows Book Prize is Fire in the Plaça: Catalan Festival Politics after Franco by Dorothy Noyes of The Ohio State University, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press (2003).

The Prize Committee described the work as follows:

Fire in the Plaça: Catalan Festival Politics after Franco by Dorothy Noyes is an exhilarating study of the Patum festival in Berga, Catalonia. Folklorist Noyes traces the development of the Patum from Corpus Christi festivity, to political critique under Franco, through its silences and repressions in the transition to democracy, to the challenges of consumerism and the globalized economy of the present. The festival is both sensory experience and symbolic representation, and Noyes engages the festival both as observer and participant. She reads the festival over the shoulders of her informants who in turn reread the festival over hers. She deftly weaves the verbal arts—songs, taunts, weather rhymes—into the overall “religion” of the Patum. Introspective, reflexive, historical, sociological, psychological, political, and ironic, Fire in the Plaça is a multi-layered text that sparkles with observations and commentaries on a rite central to Bergan and Catalonian community and identity. It is an important contribution to the ethnography of Europe and to the analysis of ritual and festival worldwide.

Barre Toelken and Enrique Lamadrid Share Chicago Folklore Prize

Folklorists Barre Toelken, professor of English at Utah State University, and EnriqueLamadrid of the University of New Mexico, were the recipients of last year's prestigious Chicago Folklore Prize. The award, given at the 2004 American Folklore Society meetings in Salt Lake City October 13-17, was for Toelken most recent book, The Anguish of Snails, and Lamadrid’s HermanitosComanchitos. “These outstanding books underscore the tremendous importance of native American and ethnic studies to the field of folklore and beyond,” said University of Chicago’s Philip V. Bolman in his announcement of the award. The Chicago Folklore Prize is the oldest award of its kind and the most prestigious award for scholarly work in the field. It is given annually by anonymous judges for the best folklore book throughout the world.

Dov Noy awarded 2004 Israel Prize

Dov Noy, one of the world's foremost authorities on Jewish folklore has been awarded the 2004 Israel Prize. The Israel Prize, the most highly regarded award in Israel, was first awarded in 1953 by the Minister of Education Ben-Tzur Dinor, and has been awarded every year since then on the eve of the Israeli Day of Independence, which this year fell on April 26. Recipients of the Israel Prize can be individuals or groups that have demonstrated excellence or broken new ground in a certain field. They must be Israeli citizens. The prize is presented to the recepient before the Knesset, Prime Minister, President, and Supreme Court of Israel.

Dov Noy came to Israel from his native Poland in 1938, and currently resides in Jerusalem. He served in the British army during the WWII and after the war continued his education at Hebrew University, Yale, and Indiana University. In 1956 Dov Noy founded and until 1983 served as a director of the Haifa Ethnological Museum and Folklore Archives, including the Israel Folktale Archives. In 1968 he founded Hebrew University Folklore Research Center. Dov Noy taught at Hebrew University, where he was the chair of the Hebrew Literature Department and at Bar Ilan, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Yiddish. Dov Noy was a visiting professor at dozens of universities around the world, including Toronto, Harvard, UCLA, Berkeley, Pennsylvania, Oxford, Boston, Sao Paulo, Melbourne. He wrote and edited more than 200 books and papers in several languages. In the last several years Dov Noy organized Yiddish summer courses and expeditions in Ukraine and Moldova.