Folklore Studies Spring 2008 NEWSLETTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOLKLORE PROGRAM VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4

WE BRAKE FOR TALE TYPES WE’RE ON THE WEB! www.uoregon.edu/~flr/ UO Folklore Travels Far and Wide in 2008 NEWSLETTER EDITOR For UO folklore faculty and Casey Schmitt students, the 2007–8 academic ASSOCIATE EDITOR year has proven to be a time Alistair Bersch of travel and transition for the CONTRIBUTORS program, of prominent appear- Daniel Wojcik, Nathan Georgitis, Don Stacy, Kelley ances and notable successes at Totten, Summer Pennell, academic conferences across Ziying You, Suzanne Reed, the continent. Encouraged by Emily Afanador, Sharon Sherman the positive reception of a large showing at the 2007 meeting About Our Program of the Western States Folklore The University of Oregon’s Society (WSFS) in Los Angeles, Folklore Program is one of California, the folklore Ducks the nation’s most progres- sive centers for folklore capitalized on the attention in studies. The interdisciplinary 2008. Attending and presenting nature of the program al- at various scholarly gatherings lows independent-minded in previously unprecedented students to design their own programs according to their numbers, students and faculty interests. Each year, students members have enjoyed warm and faculty members present responses, honors, and awards, at conferences nationwide, culminating in a dominant publish articles, and produce award-winning films. The performance at the 2008 program is also home to the WSFS meeting, and reminding Randall V. Mills Folklore Ar- members of the discipline of chives, which houses nearly Oregon’s prominent place in the From left to right, UO alum and University of Wisconsin– 20,000 documents and films. future of American and interna- Madison associate professor Robert Glenn Howard, UO tional folkloristics. graduate student Robert Dobler, UO associate professor The year of travel was kicked Daniel Wojcik, and Peter Jan Margry of the Meertens off during the fall term by the Institute, Netherlands, stand before the historic Château Frontenac in Quebec City, Canada, while attending the attendance of the majority of 2007 joint annual meeting of the American Folklore the program’s core faculty at Society and the Folklore Studies Association of Canada. the joint annual meeting of the American Folklore Society (AFS) and the Folklore Studies Association of Canada in Quebec. Between October 17 and 21, faculty members Daniel Wojcik, Sharon Sherman, Carol FOLKLORE PROGRAM Silverman, Doug Blandy, Philip Scher, and John Fenn presented and attended 1287 University of a series of papers, workshops, and discussion sections on a wide variety of Oregon folklore topics (see full list of presentations on page 4). Joining the UO faculty Eugene OR 97403-1287 was second-year graduate student Robert Dobler, who presented a paper enti- tled “Ghosts in the Machine: Mourning the MySpace Dead.” While distance Program Secretary: Cathy O’Grady (541) 346-3911 Continued on page 2 [email protected] Notes from program director Daniel Wojcik The 2007–8 academic year has been an exciting and eventful time for UO folklore studies, as our program continues to thrive and expand. After years of groundbreaking effort by Barre Toelken and Sharon Sherman, the Folklore Program continues to be recog- nized for its interdisciplinary approach, ethical fieldwork practices, and engagement with contemporary theory. In the past few years, our program has grown to become one of the most interdisciplinary and progressive centers for the study of folklore, cultural heritage, and vernacular culture in the United States. With forty-five participating faculty members, and more than twenty-five current graduate students (and nine incoming students in fall 2008), we are now one of the largest and most acclaimed folklore programs in the world. Once again, the academic year has been both busy and productive, and this newsletter documents some of the many accomplishments and awards that our faculty, students, and alumni have attained. Although these are described in detail in the following pages, a few of the highlights include a strong contingent of our faculty presenting papers at the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, and the majority of our graduate students presenting papers at the Western States Folklore Society conference at UC Davis. Other important developments include the wonderful support we have received for our collaboration with the UO Libraries’ University Archives and Special Collections to enhance the visibility and accessibility Daniel Wojcik of the important holdings of the Randall V. Mills Archive of Northwest Folklore. This past year, our faculty received a number of impressive awards, and their publica- tions, presentations, and global travel in support of folklore studies have further enhanced our international reputation. Our students have been equally accomplished in their presentations, and have taken great initiative in the development of the “Archive Hour” series, an exhibition at the DIVA Center, and other public presentations. We also have hosted a number of lectures, presentations, and film events on campus that have been highly successful and usually filled to capacity with enthusiastic crowds. In this issue, we also highlight the accomplishments of some of our alumni. Additional updates about the successes of our alumni and students may be found on our web page. Despite all this good news, the program has one ongoing need—increased financial support for our students. This past year, most of our students have been successful in receiving support across campus from other departments, some of which now favor folklore students over other students. But this is not enough—although we are working with the UO administration, we also need your generosity to support our students and to strengthen our program. Please contact us if you would like to help. We have a number of events and projects planned for 2008–9; visit our web page for Folklore Program information and upcoming events at www.uoregon.edu/~flr. Feel free to contact us with any news or updates, and please visit us if you are in town. It has been extremely rewarding to be part of this exciting moment in the history of UO folklore studies, and I thank all of you who have made this a productive and fulfilling year.

Continued from page 1 Folklore travels Faculty members also enjoyed warm recep- and airfare prevented other Oregon tions, collaborating on high-profile projects students from attending, Dobler reaped the with recent UO folklore graduates such as benefits of his efforts, receiving the presti- Elena Martínez, Alysia McLain, and Carol gious Don Yoder Prize for the Best Student Spellman. Paper in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife During the spring term, other Folklore for his presentation, and returned home Program members began to hit the roads to enthusiastic congratulations in Eugene. as well. On the weekend of April 10–13,

2 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M Assistant Professor Lisa Gilman and Yet the crowning achievement of 2008 second-year grad student Emily Afanador for UO folklore took place on the campus attended the annual Pop Conference held of University of California at Davis, at the in Seattle at the Experience Music Project Western States Folklore Society conference, museum, this year focusing on music and themed “Folklore Engages Modernity.” its relationship to conflict and change. The Sending a nineteen-member contingent folklorists were able to bring fresh and (the largest of any school in attendance), pertinent perspectives to a conference that UO folklore received rave reviews for its brought together music critics, performers, many panels and independent presenta- anthropologists, sociologists, freelance tions (listed on page 4), while engaging in writers, and various pop music enthusiasts. vibrant discussion with prominent folklor- Gilman presented her recent research in ists from across the country. At the soci- a paper titled “American Soldiers’ Ipods: ety’s annual business meeting, the UO’s Layers of Identity and Situated Listening David Ensminger was elected student vice in Iraq,” evidencing an influence of president of the WSFS board (taking over music upon soldier mentality beyond the the job from graduating UO student Casey commonly documented use of heavy metal Schmitt), while Daniel Wojcik continued and gangsta rap. his work as current board president. The UO contingency, affectionately nicknamed “Team Folklore,” felt extremely proud of their combined work and supported one another while attending the presentations of other scholars to get a taste of the work being done at other schools. “I got great support and encouragement from Team Folklore and other folklorists at the conference,” said first-year graduate student and presenter Ziying You. “I appreciate that greatly. I am so happy that I have chosen our program here UO folklore students, faculty, and alumni represent at the UO, and to be a member “Team Folklore” at the 2008 meeting of the Western of such a great team. I love Team States Folklore Society in Davis, California. Folklore! We are the best in the During the same weekend, first-year western states!” graduate student Suzanne Reed and recent The excitement and enthusiasm graduate Elaine Vradenburgh attended garnered over the past year’s travels will the annual meeting of the Association of certainly carry over into 2008–9. Plans Western States Folklorists (AWSF) in Port are already in place for students and Townsend, Washington. Reed was awarded faculty members to travel to and present the AWSF Bea Roeder Scholarship Award at the 2008 AFS meeting in Louisville, to attend the meeting, dedicated to the Kentucky, and to conduct fieldwork from building of community among public- as far away as the mountains of Peru and sector folklorists and the study of cultures the rural regions of China. As the UO within the western United States. First-year Folklore Program continues to expand and graduate student David Ensminger also develop, its students and faculty members attended a separate conference on ethno- are taking the lead within the field, making musicology in Vancouver, Washington, their presence known both nationally and where he lectured on the subject “Rede- internationally. fining the Body Electric: The Queering of Punk and Hardcore.”

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 3 AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY MEETING WESTERN STATES FOLKLORE SOCIETY MEETING The 2007 meeting of the American Folklore Society, held from October 17 to 21 in Quebec, The University of Oregon was a dominant force Canada, featured presentations, workshops, at this year’s Western States Folklore Society and panel discussions by a large number of the conference, “Folklore Engages Modernity,” which UO Folklore Program’s core faculty, alumni, and took place April 10–12 in Davis, California. current graduate students, including the following: Presentations included the following:

“Promising Joy: Certifying the Bob Ross Expe- PANEL: Ideology and Protectionism in Chinese rience” (Doug Blandy, UO folklore faculty) Folkloristics (Chair: Sharon R. Sherman) “Romani Music, Balkan States, and the “The Political and Ideological Use of Folklore in Dilemmas of Heritage” (Carol Silverman, UO folk- Modern China” (Ziying You, UO folklore) lore faculty) “Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: Ethics, “The Biopolitics of Culture and Heritage: Case Ownership, and Protectionism” (Sharon R. Studies from the Caribbean” (Philip Scher, UO Sherman, UO folklore faculty) folklore faculty) PANEL: Searching for Subcultures: Resistance, PANEL: Technology, Vernacular Religion, and Community, and Identity in Art and Music (Chair: Visual Cultures/La tecnhologie, la religion vernac- David Ensminger) ulaire et les cultures visuelles (Chair: Daniel “Audible Hands, Dexterous Voices: A Film Wojcik) About Five Turntablists from Eugene, Oregon” “Ghosts in the Machine: Mourning the (Andre Sirois, UO journalism) MySpace Dead” (Robert Dobler, UO folklore) “The Independent Record Store as Opposi- “Apparitions and Traditions of Miraculous tional and Contested Space: A Case Study of the Photography” (Daniel Wojcik, UO folklore faculty) House of Records” (David Gracon, UO journalism) “Visual Vitriol: Punk Gig Fliers as Urban Folk WORKSHOP: Editing Digital Video/Atelier: Art” (David Ensminger, UO folklore) Montage de vidéos numériques (sponsored by the Public Programs Section and the Folklore PANEL: Apocalypse Culture Now: End Times and Visual Media Section), conducted by Alysia Tradition in Image, Technology, and Vernacular McLain (Juneau-Douglas City Museum, UO Belief (Chair: Daniel Wojcik) folklore alum), Sharon R. Sherman (UO folklore “Doom Town: Pulp Comics and Vernacular faculty), and Carol Spellman (Oregon Historical Eschatology in the Religious Tracts of Jack T. Society, UO folklore alum) Chick” (Robert Dobler, UO folklore) WORKSHOP: Introduction to Digital Audio Field “Apocalyptic Visions and Vernacular Traditions Recording/Introduction à l’enregistrement sonore of Revelatory Photography” (Daniel Wojcik, UO numérique en situation de terrain (sponsored by folklore faculty) the Archives and Libraries Section), conducted “When Prophecy Fails—or Not: Theories of by John Fenn (UO faculty) and Andy Kolovos Prophetic Failure and the Importance of a Folklor- (Vermont Folklife Center) istic Perspective” (Kevin Taylor, UO folklore) “Blogging the End Times: Ritual Deliberation FILM SESSION: From Mambo to Hip-Hop in Participatory Media” (Robert Glenn Howard, (Chair: Elena Martínez, UO folklore alum) University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty, UO folk- Discussion by Steven Zeitlin (City Lore), Elena lore alum) Martínez (City Lore, UO folklore alum) and Sharon R. Sherman (UO folklore faculty) PANEL: Place, Space, and Play: Community in the Twenty-first Century (Chair: Robert Glenn Attending but not presenting was current UO Howard) folklore graduate student Nathan Georgitis. “Into the (Liminal) Wild: Landscape, Liminality, and the Supernatural Encounter in Folklore, Film, and Beyond” (Casey Schmitt, UO folklore)

4 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M

“‘Contact Us’: How Individuals Affirm Belief Attending but not presenting were current and Sustain Community on the Internet” (Kate UO folklore graduate students Summer Pennell, Ristau, UO folklore) Ashley Gossman, Robb Norton, and Gail Stevenson, as well as UO folklore alumni Susan PANEL: Representation, Ethics, and Visual Fagan and Moriah Hart. Communication (Chair: Kelley Totten) At the Western States Folklore Society’s “Images of Africa: Documentary Photography annual board meeting, held on the evening of and the Ethics of Cultural Preservation” (Elaine April 12, current UO graduate student David Vradenburgh, UO folklore alum) Ensminger was elected to succeed UO graduate “Collaborative Documentary and Vernacular student Casey Schmitt as student vice president Photography” (Al Bersch, UO folklore, and Leslie on the society board. Daniel Wojcik remains Grant, Parsons School of Design) society board president. “‘Souvenirs at Sea’: ‘Local’ Crafts and Cultural Representation on an Ecotourism Cruise Ship” (Kelley Totten, UO folklore)

FILM: All Mixed Up: A Cultural Exploration of Mixed Tapes and CDs (Don Stacy, UO folklore)

PANEL: Heritage and Change “Changing Sameness: Cosmopolitan Influ- ences in Malian Griot Tradition” (written by Emily Afanador, UO folklore, presented by Angela Montague, UO anthropology) “Are We There Yet: Investigations into the Expectations of Cultural Tourism” (Angela Montague, UO anthropology)

Recent graduates Kate Ristau (left) and Casey Schmitt (right) join Professor Dianne Dugaw and Associate Professor Daniel Wojcik at commence- ment ceremonies in June, 2008

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 5 Chinavine Project Fosters International Collaboration With each passing year, it seems the UO be very interested in what they are doing Folklore Program’s interaction and collabo- in Shandong. We think that their folk art ration with Chinese folklorists grows more collection is remarkable and significant, and more. Professors Sharon Sherman and and so we began to partner with them.” As Doug Blandy have each traveled to China a result of that partnership, last year Blandy in recent years to attend conferences and and Congdon visited four villages in Shan- conduct fieldwork. In April 2007, the Folk- dong province. Fieldwork from that trip lore Program helped to host a visit and is currently exhibited on Chinavine.org, series of presentations at the University a website of Oregon by prominent Chinese folklor- modeled ists Lihui Yang and Deming An, and in fall after 2007 admitted its first graduate student Folkvine. from China, Ziying You. In 2008 Doug org, an Blandy helped put another link in the interac- chain connecting UO folklore and China tive site with his work on Chinavine. featuring A collaborative effort in the preserva- Florida’s tion of Chinese folk art, Chinavine is a folk artists, project involving collaborators from the created Cultural Heritage Alliance at the Univer- through the sity of Central Florida (UCF), the Center collabora- for Community Arts and Cultural Policy tion of the at the University of Oregon, and the Folk Univer- A kite museum in Weifang, China. Art Institute at Shandong University of Art sity of and Design (SUAD). Goals for the project Central Florida Cultural Heritage Alliance, include documenting and interpreting members of the faculty, and students in China’s tangible and intangible cultural film, digital media, English, humanities, heritage, and creating a Chinese folk art art, and anthropology. website for English-speaking audiences, Blandy, along with Myra Tam, research capitalizing on the anticipated interest in assistant for the UO Center for Commu- China generated by the 2008 Olympics nity Arts and Cultural Policy and graduate in Beijing. The project uses a collabora- student in arts management, as well as tive research model developed by Blandy, five representatives from both Oregon and associate dean for academic affairs of the the University of Central Florida, recently UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts, returned from a twelve-day trip to Shan- and Kristin Congdon, UCF professor of film dong province, where they shared progress and humanities, exploring the ways this on the project with collaborators at SUAD collaborative approach to cultural interpre- and performed additional fieldwork in both tation can expand to incorporate partner- Shandong province and Beijing. While in ship across countries, and to reach common Shandong province, they went to Weifang, understandings around mutual interests. a village known for its kite making; in The Chinavine project was motivated Beijing, they met with several scholars, and by Blandy’s visits to SUAD three years visited with acclaimed folk artisans living ago, when he became aware of efforts in the Beijing area, including artists who by the Folk Art Institute to preserve and make silk flowers, mythological figures, maintain folk art in Shandong province, kites, yo-yos, masks, and bristle dolls repre- both for local and international audiences. senting Peking Opera characters. “Because of my own interest and Kristin’s For more information and to view field- interest,” explained Blandy, “we thought work from the project, visit Chinavine.org. that English-speaking audiences would

6 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M Archives Initiative Moves Forward In September 2007, the University of cultures through outreach and public Oregon Libraries and the Folklore Program programs; and to provide professional launched a two-year initiative to improve training in archive management to graduate the management of the Randall V. Mills students in folklore studies. Archive of Northwest Folklore. A working The working group has identified the group of UO librarians, members of the implementation of the Archivists’ Toolkit, folklore faculty, and students will work to a data management system for archives, as make the archive’s rich and unique collec- a primary goal. The Archivists’ Toolkit will tions more widely available for instruction, allow the Mills Archive to export collec- research, and outreach in the UO commu- tion guides to a searchable, online data- nity and beyond. The initiative meets the base of descriptions of regional primary UO Libraries’ strategic aims of becoming sources called Northwest Digital Archives “an active and visible partner in reshaping (nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu), and to export learning and scholarship” on campus and basic collection records to the UO Libraries “extending the research infrastructure” catalog. With this infrastructure in place, of the university (UO Libraries Strategic the Mills Archive will be in a good posi- Directions 2005–2007). The collaboration tion to initiate digital preservation and also serves the libraries’ diversity goals, access projects that will preserve original which include improving “the campus materials and create access to digital surro- climate for diversity by diversifying hold- gates. Another objective of the project is to ings and broadening access to library mate- implement the Ethnographic Thesaurus, a rials” and creating “barrier-free access to its new controlled vocabulary for describing collections by enhancing both intellectual ethnographic collections that will help and physical accessibility for all communi- users locate materials on topics of interest. ties” (UO Libraries Diversity Plan, 2007). The working group has recently succeeded The initiative also supports the mission of in cataloging the Mills Archive book collec- the Mills Archive to support instruction tions in the UO Libraries catalog, inte- and research in the Folklore Program and grating access to these materials with other the field of folklore studies; to preserve library collections. This effort included and provide access to cultural heritage the cataloging of Randall V. Mills’ personal documentation for the public and members library, which is especially strong in Amer- of documented communities; to foster ican wit and humor. community and appreciation of diverse

VISUAL VITRIOL DIVA Show Highlights Punk Culture At the University of Oregon, students and faculty members have developed a reputa- tion for questioning the bounds of folk and alternative culture and engaging their audi- ences with exciting and informative presen- tations. In March, this tradition continued as the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts Punk fliers grab the attention of a passerby at the DIVA (DIVA) Center in central Eugene presented Center in downtown Eugene, Oregon the community with The Secret History of Ensminger. In addition to the presentation Punk Rock: Visual Vitriol, a monthlong exhi- of posters and fliers, the opening weekend bition of punk rock posters collected over included a roundtable discussion featuring the last three decades by event organizer and UO folklore graduate student David Continued on page 8

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 7 Continued from page 7 Punk culture of key national and local participants, including Roxy from the Epoxies punks and academics, the debut screening (Portland), Tim Hinely from Dagger of the documentary film Chronicles from fanzine (Philadelphia and Portland), the Zero Hour: The Punk Legacy (copro- Colin Sears of Dag Nasty (Wash- duced by Ensminger and fellow UO folk- ington, D.C.), Karen McFarlane from lore grad student Ashley Gossman), and an the Funhouse Strippers (San Fran- afternoon DIY (do-it-yourself) workshop. cisco and Salem), and University of On Friday, March 7, over 650 visi- Oregon faculty members John Fenn tors attended the DIVA Center, browsing and Daniel Wojcik. the room where Ensminger had arranged The session was followed by several hundred photocopied posters in a screening of Chronicles from grids on the wall. Drawn from a collection the Zero Hour. Made up of live of over 3,000 pieces, the materials were footage of the bands TSOL and the segmented in terms of creator, time period, Circle Jerks, and interviews with region, and subject matter, including skate- members of MDC, Chumbawamba, boarding, women’s bands, and queer bands. Strike Anywhere, Lifetime, Paint it Asked why he chose these particular group- Black, The Epoxies, Dag Nasty, and ings, Ensminger said he wanted to show Alloy, the film served as “a kind of the participatory and multicultural aspects tribute to these people’s stories,” of punk, specifically drawing attention Ensminger said, and sometimes to female gender and queerness. “I think “functioned like conversion narra- this diversity was a fact on the ground,” tives, but also dealt with issues like he said, “although much overlooked in creating a sense of cultural space and navi- the discourse and history of punk, written gating politics.” mostly from a white, middle-class point of The roundtable, video screening, work- view.” shops, and poster show were combined The following day featured workshop with the intention of creating a “living presentations on aspects of DIY culture. installation,” where visitors could interact Local musicians Nate Wallace and Eric on a number of different levels. The gallery, Eiden talked about DIY music recording, Ensminger said, is “simply a site: one that and UO journalism graduates David we can imagine in any number of ways.” Gracon, Kelsey Wallace, and Andre Sirois The show at DIVA was one of many presented on zine making, clothing modi- exhibitions of Ensminger’s collection, fication, and turntablism-mixology, respec- which has traveled extensively throughout tively. That evening, Ensminger hosted the United States and Europe. For more a roundtable discussion about punk as a information, visit the Center for Punk Arts historic DIY subculture, featuring a number on the web at visualvitriol.wordpress.com.

Graduate students (from left to right) Ashley Gossman, Gail Stevenson, and Summer Pennell display their “Team Folklore” pride.

8 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M SYMBOLS, SLIDES, AND SASQUATCH Mills Archive Institutes the “Archive Hour” The Randall V. Mills Archive is space for students of folklore and related rumbling with activity this year. Aside programs. Beginning in winter term, archi- from the usual meeting of graduate-level vists Al Bersch and Kelley Totten kicked courses and visits from students, faculty off the program members, and outside scholars, the archive with a slide show has suddenly become home to a series of presentation biweekly discussions and well-attended about Russian academic presentations as well. Old Believers With the institution of the Randall V. living in Oregon, Mills “Archive Hour,” UO folklore has originally written created a new academic community, and prepared in providing the opportunity for students 1973. On April and faculty members alike to give public 21, Casey Schmitt presentations of their work or to pull presented his projects from the archive for discussion. paper “Into the Graduate student Robert Dobler Located in a remote wing of the fourth four (Liminal) Wild: reviews the Sasquatch files during a of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, the archive Landscape, Limi- presention for the Archive Hour. has, for many years, remained one of the nality, and the university’s best-kept secrets. The largest Supernatural Encounter in Folklore, Film, folklore archive in the Pacific Northwest, and Beyond,” previously delivered at the it houses over 4,000 separate collections Western States Folklore Society confer- of folklore and ethnographic fieldwork ence in Davis, California. On May 7, Robert reports, including numerous video docu- Dobler unpacked the Sasquatch files housed mentaries at the archive, giving an overall history of and over Sasquatch research in West Coast states. On 7,000 May 21, Emily Afanador gave a talk titled slides of “Rocking the Boat: Gender Dynamics in visual folk- Indie Rock Bands,” and showed a portion loric mate- of her forthcoming documentary video rials. With following local co-ed rock bands. thousands Impressed with the popularity of of cata- Archive Hour presentations, student archi- logued oral vist Kelley Totten remarked that regular histories, meetings in the archive encourage not only stories, a greater awareness of its materials, but also jokes, more interaction among folklore students religious and faculty members as they view each Students and faculty members gather beliefs, other’s work. “The archive has potential as for the Archive Hour. songs, a great place to build a scholarship commu- customs, nity for the folklore students,” she said. foodways, and images (to name only a few “By having a regular event, it gives us a of a vast array of materials and documents), chance to meet and share our work and get the archive has been a valuable resource feedback on our projects—outside the class- since its establishment in 1966. In 2008, it room, but still in a more formal academic reestablished itself as a meeting place and setting.” forum as well. For more information, or to catch the Folklore graduate students initiated next Archive Hour event, check the events Archive Hour in an endeavor to highlight section of the Folklore Program website: the archive for a broader audience and http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~flr/welcome/ provide a semiformal academic meeting events.htm.

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 9 RECENT AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS oñ ROBERT DOBLER was awarded the Don Women in Society for her video project Yoder Prize for the Best Student Paper Whatever Happened to Zulay? This in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife for video will add to research on women, his presentation “Ghosts in the Ma- gender, and transnationalism by pre- chine: Mourning the MySpace Dead” at senting how an indigenous woman the 2007 meeting of the American Folk- from Quichuqui, Ecuador, operates lore Society in Quebec. within a global environment, moving between worlds as an entrepreneur. To oñ Graduate student DAVID ENSMINGER saw view a trailer for the film, visit www. his work printed in several publica- ravencreek.org/Zulay. tions this past year, including a film paper, which appeared online in The oñ Professor CAROL SILVERMAN was award- Adirondack Review (adirondackreview. ed a Center for the Study of Women in homestead.com/ensminger.html), and Society research grant for her project the first chapter of his forthcoming “Gender, Race, and Family: Issues of book on punk fliers, printed in the Irish Education and Sexuality among Balkan zine The Devil on 45. This summer, Romani Migrants in New York City.” one of Ensminger’s folklore interviews oñ The companion article to DON STACY’s is set to appear in the zine Artcore, due film All Mixed Up: A Cultural Explora- out this summer in England. tion of Mixed Tapes and CDs (of the oñ SUZANNE REED was awarded the Associ- same name) will be published in the ation of Western States Folklorists Bea upcoming special edition of the Folk- Roeder Scholarship Award at the an- lore Forum. nual AWSF meeting. Bea Roeder was a oñ KELLEY TOTTEN received a graduate stu- public folklorist who dedicated her ca- dent research grant for her project “Per- reer to helping others and studying cul- formance and Visual Representation in tures within the western United States, Craftswomen’s Souvenir Production” and the award honors her memory. from the Center for the Study of Wom- oñ Master’s student KATE RISTAU presented en in Society. The grant will enable her the paper “Furthur: Taking a Ride on to undertake a research project next fall Kesey’s Subcultural Heterotopian Bus” in the central highlands of Peru, where at the Society for Utopian Studies in she will explore women’s artistry, in- Toronto, Canada on October 4–7, 2007. novation, and agency in creating sou- venirs for tourists. oñ Associate Professor PHILIP SCHER re- ceived both a Fulbright Fellowship and oñ Associate Professor DANIEL WOJCIK a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship received a 2008 Summer Research for the 2008–9 academic year to con- Award from the Office of Research and duct research in Barbados. Sponsored Programs for his project, “Outsider Art and Vernacular Tradi- oñ In a tie vote, CASEY SCHMITT and ROBERT tions: Trauma, Creativity, and Healing DOBLER each received the Alma John- in the Lives of Visionary Artists”; and son Graduate Folklore Award from a College of Arts and Sciences Program the University of Oregon. Dobler was Grant (spring 2008) for organizing a recognized for his paper “Stonehenge series of events (films, lectures, and in America,” while Schmitt received discussions) on the topic “Track Town recognition for his research piece “En- Traditions and the Culture of Run- counter at the Crossroads: A Cross-Cul- ning.” In winter 2008, he was awarded tural Folk-Religious Motif Examined.” an Oregon Humanities Center Teaching The annual award is granted to the best Fellowship for his course Apocalypse UO graduate-level folklore project, pa- Culture: Contemporary Perspectives on per, or video. Apocalyptic and Millennialist World- oñ Professor SHARON SHERMAN received a views. grant from the Center for the Study of

10 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M ALL TOGETHER NOW! Visiting Lecturer Draws Large Crowd On Thursday, October 25, the UO Folk- come together in intentional communi- lore Program welcomed Timothy Miller, ties. Although they typically receive little professor of religious studies at the Univer- publicity, thousands of those communities sity of Kansas, to present “Communes are alive and well today.” In his presenta- Live! The Quiet Presence of Intentional tion, Miller reviewed the history of such Communities in America (and Especially communities in the United States, paying in Oregon),” a lecture, slide show, and special attention to ecovillages, artists’ discussion session open to the students, communes, countercultural groups, and faculty members, and the greater commu- lesbian communes currently active in and nity, presented in Gerlinger Hall’s Alumni around Oregon. Publicity for the event Lounge. Miller has been studying inten- drew a standing-room-only crowd and tional communities for nearly twenty-five sparked lively inquiry and discussion, years and earned recognition through his proving that interest in communes and several books on the subject, including subcultures thrives in both the UO Folk- The ’60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond lore Program and the greater Lane County (1999); The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth- community. Century America: 1900–1960 (1998); The Associate Professor Daniel Wojcik, Hippies and American Values (1991); having studied and taught on subculture American Communes, 1860–1960: A Bibli- and utopian movements for many years, ography (1990); When Prophets Die: The was instrumental in facilitating Miller’s Postcharismatic Fate of New Religious visit. Support for “Communes Live!” was Movements (1991), and America’s Alterna- also provided by the Arts and Administra- tive Religions (1995). tion and Environmental Studies programs, “For more than three centuries,” writes the Departments of English, Religious Miller, “a few idealistic Americans have Studies, and Sociology, and the UO rejected the ideal of rugged individu- Libraries Special Collections and alism in favor of cooperation and have University Archives.

Graduate student Summer Pennell (top right) poses with informants at the Eugene Asian Celebration.

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 11 Folklore Program Faculty and Affiliated Faculty

DOUG BLANDY (ARTS AND ADMINISTRA- LISA GILMAN (ENGLISH, FOLKLORE) TION, FOLKLORE) is currently the dean of continues to focus much energy on her academic affairs for the School of Archi- project on gender, performance, and poli- tecture and Allied Arts, a professor and tics in Malawi. Her article analyzing a program director in the Arts and Admin- Malawian political rally using a genre istration Program, and the director of the framework, “Complex Genres, Intertextu- Institute for Community Arts Studies at ality, and the Analysis of Performance,” the University of Oregon. As director of will be published in an upcoming issue the institute, he inaugurated the online of the Journal of American Folklore. She advisory CultureWork. In addition, he is also investigating the musical practices teaches and advises students at both the of men and women in the United States graduate and undergraduate level who military during their service in the Iraq have an interest in arts administration war. She recently presented on this topic and community arts. His research attends at three academic conferences: the Society to community arts, civil society, program for Ethnomusicology, the Pop Conference accessibility, and art education. He at Seattle’s Experience Music Project, and provides service to professional organiza- the Music of War conference at Stonehill tions internationally, nationally, regionally, College. She continues to enjoy teaching a and locally. number of courses, including Introduction DIANNE DUGAW (ENGLISH, FOLKLORE) to Folklore, Folklore and Sexuality, Folk- has presented lectures and performances lore and Gender, and Folklore Fieldwork. at colleges, libraries, conferences, and And as always, she gains great pleasure festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada. from her work advising M.A. students in Current work has been the Folklore Program. focused on Anglo-American PHILIP SCHER (ANTHRO- ballads and folk songs. POLOGY, FOLKLORE) is an asso- During the summer of 2007, ciate professor and has worked Dugaw conducted research at Oregon since 2002. His for two projects; the first area of focus is the Caribbean, essay, “The Singing Boswell: with primary research inter- Musical Converse and the ests in the politics of cultural Function of Songs in the identity, popular and public Eighteenth Century,” is an culture, and transnationalism. examination of the singing Secondary interests are the and songs of Scottish literary Caribbean diaspora to North figure James Boswell, while America and Europe, West the other discusses songs Africa, folklore, and contempo- and singing in the United rary critical theory. His latest States in the early 1800s work concerns the implica- for an introduction to The Folklore/Cinema: Popular Film tions for anthropology of the Isaiah Thomas Collection of as Vernacular Culture, edited by copyright and legal protec- Sharon R. Sherman and Mikel Ballads, a special bicenten- tion of expressive culture and J. Koven (Logan: Utah State nial publication of the Amer- University Press, 2007). folklore. In 2008, he received ican Antiquarian Society. a Fulbright Fellowship and This collection presents a John Simon Guggenheim more than 300 songs printed and sold in Fellowship for the 2008–9 academic year to Boston at the time of the War of 1812 and conduct research in Barbados. presents a remarkable view of the singing, song culture, and attitudes of ordinary citizens at that early moment of the new republic in the United States.

12 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M SHARON SHERMAN (ENGLISH, FOLK- Oxford University Press. She presented LORE) has recently presented at the 2007–8 papers this year at the annual confer- meetings of both the American Folklore ences of the American Folklore Society, Society and the Western States Folk- the Society for Ethnomusicology, and lore Society, while continuing to advise the Gypsy Lore Society, and was invited graduate students and teach several of her to deliver a paper at a conference on most popular courses, including Film and the Hungarian Dance House Movement Folklore, Video Fieldwork Production, (Indiana University) and at a conference and Magic, Myth, and Religion. on Interpreting Emotions in Slavic In 2007, she published a new Cultures (University of Illinois). book, Folklore/Cinema: Popular DANIEL WOJCIK (ENGLISH, Film as Vernacular Culture, DIRECTOR OF THE FOLKLORE coedited with Mikel J. Koven for PROGRAM) continues to teach Utah State University Press, and a range of folklore courses and also received a grant from the advise the increasing numbers of Center for the Study of Women students interested in UO folklore in Society for her forthcoming studies. His essay, “Pre’s Rock: film project, Whatever Happened Sharon Sherman Pilgrimage, Ritual, and Runners’ to Zulay? (a trailer for which Traditions at the Roadside Shrine may be viewed at www.ravencreek.org/ for Steve Prefontaine,” was published as a Zulay). In addition, she has completed Inti book chapter in Shrines and Pilgrimage in Raymi en Quinchuqui, a twenty-six-minute the Modern World: New Itineraries into the film on the indigenous syncretic festival Sacred, edited by Peter Jan Margry (Univer- of Otavaleños in Ecuador. Forthcoming sity of Amsterdam Press, 2008) and was articles include “Film and Women’s Folk- highlighted in Oregon Quarterly (Summer lore” in the Encyclopedia of Women’s Folk- 2008). His article, “Outsider Art, Vernac- lore and Folklife, edited by Liz Locke and ular Traditions, Trauma, and Creativity” Theresa A. Vaughn for Greenwood Press. was published in Western Folklore (Winter CAROL SILVERMAN (ANTHROPOLOGY, 2008), and he has two articles forthcoming: FOLKLORE), professor of anthropology and “Avertive Apocalypticism: Using Spiritual folklore at the University of Oregon, and Techniques to Avert Worldly Catastrophe” head of the Department of Anthropology in the Oxford Handbook of Millennialism, has several publications appearing this year ed. Catherine Wessinger (Oxford Univer- related to her specialty on Romany culture sity Press, 2009); and “Marian Apparitions, in Bulgaria and Macedonia and in the Visionary Technology, and Traditions of American diaspora. They are “Trafficking Miraculous Photography” in Nova Religio: in the Exotic with ‘Gypsy’ Music: Balkan The Journal of Alternative and Emer- Roma, Cosmopolitanism, and ‘World gent Religions (2009). He was awarded a Music’ Festivals,” in Balkan Popular summer research grant from the UO Office Culture and the Ottoman Ecumene, ed. of Research and Sponsored Programs for Donna Buchanan (2007, Scarecrow Press); his project on “outsider art,” local tradi- “Transnational Cocek: Gender and the tions, trauma, and healing; and he was Politics of Balkan Romani Dance,” in appointed to the Membership Committee of Balkan Dance: Essays on Characteristics, the American Folklore Society. Performance, and Teaching, ed. Anthony Shay (2008, McFarland Press); “Bulgarian Wedding Music between Folk and Chalga: Politics, Markets, and Current Direc- tions,” in Musicology 7 (2007); her book Performing Diaspora: Cultural Politics of Balkan Romani Music is forthcoming from

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 13 Participating faculty Spotlight on Affiliated INA ASIM, HISTORY Faculty MARTHA BAYLESS, ENGLISH As the UO Folklore Program grows and CARL BYBEE, JOURNALISM AND expands, we are constantly gaining new COMMUNICATION partners and affiliates from other campus EDWIN L. COLEMAN, II, ENGLISH departments who find folklore studies to MATTHEW DENNIS, HISTORY be in direct and pertinent relationship to their own fields and research. Through ANNE DHU MCLUCAS, MUSIC association with the Folklore Program, JAMES FOX, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND these individuals gain support for offering UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES classes and engaging inquiries that might ALISA FREEDMAN, EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES otherwise be overlooked while greatly AND LITERATURES broadening and enriching the theoretical MARION SHERMAN GOLDMAN, SOCIOLOGY and academic perspectives and opportuni- LORI HAGER, ARTS AND ADMINISTRATION ties available to folklore students. While KINGSTON HEATH, HISTORIC PRESERVATION this year we turn the spotlight on a small sampling of these individuals in recogni- KENNETH I. HELPHAND, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE tion of their important contributions to the Folklore Program in 2008–9, we will SHARI M. HUHNDORF, ENGLISH feature different faculty members each year LAMIA KARIM, ANTHROPOLOGY in forthcoming issues. Full biographical KATHLEEN ROWE KARLYN, ENGLISH and research information for other affiliated BRIAN KLOPOTEK, ETHNIC STUDIES faculty members may be found online at darkwing.uoregon.edu/~flr/faculty/fac.htm. MARK LEVY, MUSIC INA ASIM (ASIAN KENNETH LIBERMAN, SOCIOLOGY STUDIES, HISTORY) is the DAVID LUEBKE, HISTORY program director of the MICHAEL MAJDIC, MEDIA SERVICES Asian Studies Program at the University of Oregon. DEBRA MERSKIN, JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION Her authored works include Kluge Gattin, gute JEFFREY OSTLER, HISTORY Mutter—oder Revolution- DOROTHEE OSTMEIER, GERMAN AND ärin? Frauen und Frauen- SCANDINAVIAN bildung in Vorstellungen PRISCILLA OVALLE, ENGLISH und Biographien chinesis- ELIZABETH PETERSON, UO LIBRARIES cher Reformer des frühen 20 (2002) and Religiöse Ina Asim DONALD PETING, ARCHITECTURE Landverträge aus der ELLEN REES, GERMAN AND SCANDINAVIAN Song-Zeit (Religious Land Contracts from LELAND M. ROTH, ART HISTORY the Song Dynasty) (1993). She is currently JANICE RUTHERFORD, ARTS AND researching and writing “From Protocol to ADMINISTRATION Fashion: The Decline of Sartorial Regula- GORDON SAYRE, ENGLISH tions in the Ming (1368–1644)” and “Using the Past to Serve the Present: Aspects of ANALISA TAYLOR, ROMANCE LANGUAGES Political Legitimation in Ming China.” This KARTZ UCCI, ART past year, she taught the 300-level survey ELIZABETH WHEELER, ENGLISH What Is Asia: Theoretical Debates, and this STEPHANIE WOOD, CENTER FOR THE STUDY summer will teach a survey on the Beijing OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY Olympics. Another favorite folklore-related STEPHEN WOOTEN, INTERNATIONAL course that she plans to offer again in the STUDIES near future is History 410/510, Food in Chinese Culture.

14 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M MARTHA BAYLESS (ENGLISH, FOLKLORE) against the governor of the state of Oaxaca, has a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and a neoliberal politics, and anti–human rights Ph.D. in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic forces in a weaponless rebellion that began from the University of Cambridge. Her in 2006. book, Parody in the Middle Ages: The Latin ANNE DHU MCLUCAS (MUSICOLOGY AND Tradition, examines parody and “unof- ETHNOMUSICOLOGY) received her Ph.D. in ficial” humor in the context of medieval music at Harvard University in 1975, and religion. She is currently working on a has had appointments at the Smithsonian study of medieval thought of purity and Institution, Wellesley College, Harvard corruption, to be followed by a book on University, Colorado College, Boston the lost popular narratives of Anglo-Saxon College, and the University of Oregon, England. She has taught courses on oral where she served as dean tradition, humor and of the School of Music from vulgarity, and medieval 1992 to 2002 and is now approaches to nature. chair of the musicology and JOHN FENN (ARTS ethnomusicology faculty. AND ADMINISTRA- Her research special- TION, FOLKLORE) has ties include Scottish and played an integral role American folk song, Native in creating and guiding American ritual music, the progress of the theater music of Britain Mills Archive Library and America, including Initiative Project, while music for pantomime and teaching courses in melodrama. She is the ethnomusicology and author or coauthor of three pioneering a graduate- books and editions, and is level course in public currently writing a book on folklore for the univer- oral tradition in American sity in 2007 and 2008. music as well as a Music in John Fenn He currently holds a the USA (MUSA) edition visiting appointment in of one hundred of the best- arts and administration, teaching courses known folk songs recorded from 1920 to related to art and media as well as serving 1950. Her recent articles include “Silent as a research adviser for M.A. students. Music: The Apache Transformation of a Fenn’s professional affiliations include the Girl to a Woman,” in Musical Childhoods Society for Ethnomusicology, the American and the Cultures of Youth of 2000; The Folklore Society, and the Association for Song Repertoire of Amelia and Jane Harris, Western States Folklorists. with Emily Lyle and Kaye McAlpine, of GABRIELA MARTÍNEZ (JOURNALISM 2002; and “Mescalero Ceremonial Music.” AND COMMUNICATION) is an international JULIANNE H. NEWTON (JOURNALISM AND award-winning documentary filmmaker COMMUNICATION), associate professor who has produced, directed, or edited more of visual communication, is an award- than ten ethnographic and social docu- winning scholar, editor, photographer, and mentaries, including Ñakaj, Textiles in the teacher. She is author of The Burden of Southern Andes, Mamacoca, and Qoyllur Visual Truth: The Role of Photojournalism Rit’i: A Woman’s Journey. Her experience in Mediating Reality and coauthor of Visual as a documentary maker and researcher Communication: Integrating Media, Art, gives Martínez a unique and broad and Science. Her visual ethics publications approach for the teaching and sharing of span scholarly, professional, and public theoretical knowledge as well as practical forums, and her documentary photographs production skills. Her latest documentary have been shown in more than fifty exhibi- is titled Women, Media, and Rebellion in tions in three countries. She was editor of Oaxaca, and examines the key role played by Oaxacan women in the social struggle Continued on page 16

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 15 Continued from page 15 Faculty spotlight with the State of Oregon as a helicopter pilot (a profession he maintained part- Visual Communication Quarterly in 2001–6 time throughout his time with the folklore and serves on the editorial boards of the graduate program). Geoff plans to continue Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Explora- his education beyond a master’s degree in tions in Media Ecology (EME), and Visual 2010, after working abroad for a year. Communication Quarterly. ELAINE VRADENBURGH graduated from the Folklore Program in March 2008 and has since moved to Olympia, Washington. Recent Graduates She currently works at the Henderson KATE RISTAU graduated from Illinois House Museum in Tumwater, Washington, State University, majoring in English and where she curates and edits programs minoring in Spanish. She is primarily for a heritage series that screens on local interested in intentional communities, community television. Elaine also interns vernacular belief, and Internet communi- at the Seattle International Film Festival ties. Her thesis, “Sacred Networks: How in the education department and hopes Catholic Communities Affirm Belief and to begin a new documentary project this Sustain Community on the Internet,” was summer. She is distributing her M.A. film completed in spring 2008 and formed a project, Making Music, Building Bridges, basis for her 2008 Western States Folklore through the Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Society conference presentation. Center. Sales from the film have raised over $500 for the Zimbabwe Community Devel- CASEY SCHMITT earned a B.A. in opment Project. English and classical humanities from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004. His current work focuses on loca- tion in narrative and the life-death limen. 2007–8 Graduate In 2007, he served as archivist for the Students Randall V. Mills Archive and received the Alma Johnson Graduate Award, while in EMILY AFANADOR combines studies in 2008 he served as student vice president folklore, music, and journalism to explore on the board of the Western States Folklore gender in rock music. Her forthcoming Society. His thesis, “Wilderness, Wild Men, documentary follows local co-ed bands and the Liminal Landscape: An Explora- to explore tion of Supernatural Space in the Oregon how gender Folk Tradition,” considers traditions of dynamics “othering” in narrative representation. are negoti- In 2009, he hopes to begin doctoral work ated within expanding on this research. bands via songwriting AMY SHIELDS completed her M.A. and decision- during the winter term of 2008 with a making, and thesis titled “Minions, Monsters, and how gender Professional Profanity: Restaurant Life from is coded and a Performer’s Perspective.” Working with encoded the Department of English and the Arts though perfor- Archive Hour attendees listen to Emily Afanador’s and Administration Program, Amy used presentation on gender dynamics in indie rock bands, mance and her thesis to explore theoretical connec- “Rocking the Boat.” audience tions between performance and place, with reception. primary research focused on the occupa- tional culture of restaurant workers. AL BERSCH is interested in vernacular photography, alternative documentary GEOFFREY VALLEE finished his thesis, practices, and local industries. His work “The Nature Pilgrim: Spiritual Journeys includes an ongoing collaborative docu- into the Wilderness,” in 2008. After gradu- mentary about logging and forestry in ation, Geoff will begin full-time work southeastern British Columbia, and the

16 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M foundation of Grotto Gallerie, a free-floating interested in nonprofit arts organizations artist space. He received a B.F.A. in photo- that use personal experience narratives in journalism from Rochester Institute of their work. Technology. NATHAN GEORGITIS is a librarian at the BETH DEHN is a second-year grad University of Oregon. He earned a B.A. in student from Minnesota. She received literature at Brown University, studying her undergraduate degree in English and oral epic poetry, and a master of library and Spanish from Buena Vista University. At information science degree from Simmons the University of Oregon she combines College. Nathan’s interests include archives courses in anthropology, management and audio pres- folklore, and arts administra- ervation; folklore and public tion, and is pursuing a certif- media and personal experi- icate in museum studies. ence narratives; and canoeing She is currently the educa- and boat-building traditions. tional outreach intern at ASHLEY GOSSMAN gradu- the Museum of Natural and ated from the University Cultural History, plugging of Florida with a B.A. in away at a terminal project cultural and visual anthro- and rediscovering her love pology. She is pursuing for Paul Bunyan. For further folklore studies, anthro- insight, please refer to tale pology, and journalism at the motif E181.2. master’s level, and is consid- ROBERT DOBLER is a Graduate student David Ensminger ering a return to activism presents a paper at the annual second-year master’s student meeting of the Western States upon graduation. Recent with a B.A. in English from Folklore Society in Davis, California. interests include African Penn State. He has studied safaris and tourism in spiritualism, Internet Malawi, ecotourism, souve- communication with the dead, neo-circus nirs, performance art, documentary photog- and freak-show movements, bohemianism, raphy, and video. antinomianism, graffiti, the religious ELIZABETH HANCOCK is interested in comic tracts of Jack Chick, and roadside ancient and contemporary roles of gender attractions. and sexuality in Greco-Roman art and VALERIE DOWBENKO graduated from literature, and in American mass media Montana State with a B.A. in liberal studies and advertising. Her thesis focuses on how and came to Oregon to experience rain, members of an online community use these yearlong greenery, and folklore studies. She same conventions of gender and sexuality has an interest in second generations of to construct their own online identities new religious movements, funerary rites for JESSE MABUS is a master’s student the deceased (specifically The Tibetan Book working with the Folklore Program and of the Dead), and traditions and religious the Departments of Anthropology and rituals involving pain and suffering. Religious Studies. He is currently on DAVID ENSMINGER is a first-year grad- leave working with the library at Clatsop uate student who has written and presented Community College in Astoria, Oregon, and extensively on punk culture, gig fliers, and studying Spanish. His previous work has zines. His work has recently been printed focused on calendrical events in Olympia, in The Adirondack Review and zines such Washington, the World Trade Organiza- as The Devil on 45 and Artcore. In 2008, he tion protests in Seattle, the current antiwar was elected student vice president of the protests, as well as the Neo-Pagan tradition Western States Folklore Society. of reclaiming. JENNIFER FURL received a B.A. and a CORTNEY MCINTYRE received her B.B.A. from the University of Texas. She bachelor of science in secondary English is focusing her studies in folklore, anthro- education from the University of Missouri, pology, and arts and administration, and is Continued on page 18

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 17 Continued from page 17 Graduate students is portrayed in the performance arts, the promotion of sex education that is inclu- Columbia. Her areas of focus in the Folk- sive of all gender and sexual identities, and lore Program include anthropology and folklore as a form of empowerment. She is women’s and gender studies. She is currently attempting to learn Indonesian working toward a graduate certificate in gamelan and wayang kulit (Indonesian women’s and gender studies and has begun shadow-puppet theater) in the hope of an apprenticeship as a midwife. Cortney’s creating a pro-women wayang performance. current research and interests focus on SUZANNE REED was the Folk Arts birthing rituals, with special emphasis on Program assistant at the Washington State the ways in which birthing centers and Arts Commission (WASAC) for three years midwifery benefit women and society. Her while attending Evergreen State College. thesis is a case study of a local, midwife- She has studied orissi-odissi dance poli- run birthing center, where she volunteers tics in Orissa, India, worked on cultural and assists with births. heritage driving tours, a CD-ROM on folk ROBB NORTON is a Eugene native whose arts in K–12 education, an oral history of primary research interests include new senior center members, and the preserva- media and digital culture. He has studied tion and organization of the WASAC Folk documentary filmmaking and cultural Arts Program’s archive collection. Suzanne studies in England, as well as Japanese has written arts grants and studied develop- language and culture in Japan. He was one mental television and arts for social change of the filmmakers of the award-winning at Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in feature film Pizza Girl, produced in Eugene, Gujarat, India. She has an extensive fine Oregon. arts background and plans to work with the JOSEPH O’CONNELL studies vernacular music—especially the British folk song tradition—as a subject of ongoing popular fascination and reimagination. This research considers how folk music revivals, in their various forms, conceptualize, mediate, and transmit cultural materials for use in new social contexts. In folklore- relevant creative work, Joseph is currently mixing a set of original songs recorded in loose tribute to the “Bible Bird Man” of Noblesville, Indiana. DEB PARKER lives in the high desert of central Oregon and teaches high school. Graduate students (from left to right) Kelley Totten, Amy Shields, She is interested in ethnobotany, specifi- Beth Dehn, and Jennifer Furl enjoy some downtime between cally in cataloguing the plants described in studies. medieval literature and ballads, examining and evaluating the efficacy of traditional Pacific Northwest weaving community, of uses of that plant life, and exploring the which she is a member while at Oregon. symbolism associated with certain plants. DON STACY’s studies emphasize folk- In her free time, she teaches ballet and lore, journalism, and arts and administra- loves to do a host of outdoor activities tion. Don performed interviews and wrote ranging from scuba diving to camping with scripts for segments of Making Pictures the Society for Creative Anachronism. (a documentary about photojournalism SUMMER PENNELL is a first-year grad at The Register-Guard and its function in student, with a B.A. in English and visual the Eugene community), which aired on art from the University of Washington. OPB in 2007. In April 2008, he finished All Her interests include gender and how it Mixed Up, a forty-minute documentary on mixed tapes and CDs as material culture

18 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M and folk process, which he presented at folklore are religious studies and arts and the 2008 Western States Folklore Society administration. Current research interests conference. The film’s companion article include new religious movements, apoca- has been accepted for publication in the lyptic eschatology, and prophetic tradition. Folklore Forum. Currently, Don is working KELLEY TOTTEN is a second-year master’s on a documentary about the Dutch tradi- student with a B.A. in journalism and tion of Sinterklaas (Surprise), celebrated French from Washington on Saint Nicholas Day, and Lee University. Her December 6, and its manifes- research focuses on souve- tations in the United States. nirs and representation, Don is also a musician, studying the intersection of painter, photographer, film- material behavior, tourism, maker, poet, autism program performance, and visual specialist, and a member of communication theories. the UO Disabilities Studies She will conduct a research Advisory Committee. project in fall 2008 in the GAIL STEVENSON received Mantaro Valley, located in her B.A. in English from the the central highlands of University of Oregon in 2004. Peru. She is a third-year master’s ZIYING YOU graduated student focusing on contem- from Beijing University porary American folklore Graduate student Kevin Taylor pres- in 2005 with an M.A. in with an emphasis on folk ents a paper at the annual meeting of the Western States Folklore Chinese literature and a art and material culture. Her Society in Davis, California. minor in folklore. She was fieldwork and final project an editor of Forum on Folk will center on self-taught Culture, the only national academic journal artists who make art from recycled or found about folklore and folk culture in China. objects and also artists who create outdoor She has been the system administrator of vernacular art environments. Her research Forum of Folk Culture Studies, the first will examine where these idiosyncratic arts academic website of folklore in China, stand within the dynamics of community since its establishment in September 2002. and tradition. Arts and administration and Her research interests include the history of English are her other areas of focus. Chinese folklore studies; modern Chinese KEVIN TAYLOR is a third-year master’s intellectual history; the Chinese storytelling student. He received his B.A. from the movement; the publication and circulation University of Oregon in philosophy and of the Issue of Stories (first published in religious studies. His areas of focus within 1963); Chinese traditional festivals; rituals and legends about two goddesses, E’huang and Nüying; Chinese foodways in America; and folkloric films. She is learning to play the guqin, a Chinese traditional seven- stringed zither with a history of 3,000 years, the study of which is a lifestyle focusing not on fame and fortune, but on interior happiness and tranquility.

A still from graduate student Don Stacy’s documentary film All Mixed Up: A Cultural Exploration of Mixed Tapes and CDs.

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 19 in regard to its effect on the interac- Alumni News and tions among local citizens, the govern- Updates ment, and international nongovernmental organizations. UO folklore alumni have gone on to REVELL CARR completed his Ph.D. in careers in academics, public-sector folk- ethnomusicology in 2006 at the University lore, and various other interesting and of California at Santa Barbara with a disser- intriguing occupations drawing directly tation titled “In The Wake of John Kanaka: from their folkloristic, theoretical, and Musical Interactions between Euro- fieldwork training in Eugene, Oregon. This American Sailors and Pacific Islanders, year, we’ve selected a few former program 1600–1900.” As a post-doc, he worked as members for the newsletter’s spotlight, yet music supervisor for the English Broadside additional biographies and work updates Ballad Archive at UC Santa Barbara, an for many others may be accessed online at NEH-funded project, digitizing the Pepys www.uoregon.edu/~flr. Alumni are encour- ballads (visit emc.english.ucsb.edu/ballad_ aged to visit the site to catch up with their project/index.asp). colleagues and to submit new biographies and updates for themselves. In August 2007, Carr was hired as a tenure-track assistant professor of ethno- musicology in the School of Music at the Spotlight on Alumni University of North Carolina at Greens- boro, where he is now teaching courses MATT BRANCH graduated in December in folk and popular music and directing 2005 with a master of arts degree in folklore the university’s first American tradi- and a certificate in not-for-profit manage- tional music ensemble. Much of his work ment. After graduating, he was hired on as continues projects started in the Folklore a folklife coordinator for the Oregon Histor- Program at Oregon, including an essay ical Society’s (OHS) landmark Oregon on disaster songs in Voices: The Journal Tribes Project. The project, a collaboration of New York Folklore and a forthcoming between OHS and the nine federally recog- history of sea chantey recordings in the nized tribes of Oregon, will culminate in a Journal of American Folklore, and last year museum exhibit, school curriculum, and he was an invited speaker at Unbroken associated publications in time for Oregon’s Chain, a public symposium on the Grateful sesquicentennial in 2009. Matt served Dead at the University of Massachusetts. as a coordinator for the project and as a SUSAN FAGAN arrived at the University liaison between OHS and the tribal govern- of Oregon in 1964 to pursue an under- ments. For the project, tribal members graduate degree in Romance languages. were trained in folklore fieldwork What she thought would be a four-year methodology and are currently stay turned into a relationship with the documenting traditional arts and university that has lasted for more than crafts of their tribes. Their work forty years. Immediately after graduation, will then be kept at the she became the administrative assistant for reservation’s archive, the university’s newly established Office of and appropriate mate- Minority Relations. From there, she moved rial will be shared with OHS to to the Department of English in 1969, first form the foundation of the exhibit. as office manager and then as administra- In fall 2008, Matt will be returning to tive assistant to the department head. At school, pursuing a Ph.D. in cultural geog- the same time, she began taking graduate raphy at Pennsylvania State University, courses in English. She received her which has one of the top programs in the English M.A. with an emphasis in folklore nation in environmentalism and geog- and mythology in 1975. raphy. He received a full scholarship for his Shortly after receiving her master’s studies, and intends to conduct research degree, Susan left her administrative posi- in South Asia, examining global warming tion with the English department to become and the changes it is creating, especially

20 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M a full-time student and graduate teaching adult children and two granddaughters fellow, teaching Introduction to Folklore live. When she is in Eugene, she enjoys a and a variety of English courses as well as continuing relationship with both the Folk- serving as archivist for the Mills Archive lore Program and the University of Oregon. from 1979 to 1982. After taking courses in ROBERT GLENN HOWARD is associate the newly established field of computer director of the Folklore Program and science and concentrating on applying new associate professor of folklore, rhetoric, technologies to archival procedures, she and religious studies in the Department received a doctor of arts degree in 1979 of Communication Arts at the Univer- with a thesis titled “Computer Applications sity of Wisconsin–Madison. He is also for the Folklore Archives.” the current editor of the journal Western Susan feels she was extremely lucky to Folklore. Publishing widely across several have renowned folklorists fields including communica- J. Barre Toelken and Sharon tion, religious studies, and Sherman both as directors folklore, his writings have of her dissertation and as appeared in Critical Studies mentors. She completed her in Media Communication, dissertation, “Sarah Orne the Journal of American Folk- Jewett’s Fiction: A Reevalu- lore, New Media and Society, ation from Three Perspec- and the Journal of Media tives,” in March 1982. Susan and Religion. Since 1994, returned to the university in he has sought to uncover 1983 to teach for the School the possibilities and limits of Business in the UO’s first of individual empowerment microcomputer lab. In 1984, through everyday expression she became thesis editor Graduate student Ziying You. on the Internet. His research for the Graduate School. focuses on the intersection She returned to the English department of human agency and the performances in 1986, teaching courses in advanced of both communities and identities when writing, American literature, and folklore, they are mediated by network communica- remaining until she retired as a senior tion technologies. His publications explore instructor in 2002. a range of topics such as networks of pet In 2001, Susan and her husband, Tom websites, the emergence of new religious Fagan, established the Kate Martin Under- movements online, and the development graduate Folklore Award, given for the best of theoretical frameworks that can account archival fieldwork project by an under- for the dispersed and informal power of graduate in a folklore class, and the Alma vernacular expression as an alternative to Johnson Graduate Folklore Award, for institutions. the best project completed by a graduate Howard received his M.A. from the student in an English or folklore graduate Folklore and Mythology Program at the course. The annual awards are named University of California at Los Angeles. He for Susan’s grandmothers, who were, as went on to complete his Ph.D. emphasizing she realized once she began the study of rhetoric and folklore from the Department folklore, the original spark for her lifelong of English at the University of Oregon in interest in this field. 2001. Today, he teaches courses on rhetoric, In 2007, Susan came out of retirement communication theory, religion, and folk- and returned to teaching, accepting a posi- lore. His graduate students are exploring a tion with the communications division at wide range of topics including vernacular the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, expression in digital media, questions of California. She only teaches in the spring communication theory as it intersects with semesters, spending January through May human culture, issues of political agency in Rancho Mirage, California, splitting the and expression, the social impact of new remainder of her time between Seaside, communication technologies, discursive Oregon, and Eugene, where her three Continued on page 22

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 21 Continued from page 21 Alumni spotlight folklore, mythology, religion, and contem- porary world issues. On a personal note, histories of technologies, and explorations when Kim left Eugene in 1996, she was of both historical and contemporary reli- about to have a baby. Her son, Eamon, is gious expression. now eleven, and her daughter, Alison, is If you would like to contact Rob, you nine. This year, Kim and her husband, can email him at [email protected] or Arlo, are celebrating seventeen years check out his most current research and together. teaching at rghoward.com. CAMILLA H. MORTENSEN, Ph.D. ’02 KIMBERLY KENNEDY WHITE After gradu- (comparative literature, folklore emphasis), ating from Oregon, Kimberly Kennedy maintains dual careers as a folklorist and White taught children’s literature, an investigative reporter. She recently mythology, and other courses at the Metro- completed work as the folklore subject politan State College of Denver. In 1999, specialist creating the initial phase of she was a folklife intern for the Colorado the Ethnographic Thesaurus Project of Council on the Arts at Four Mile Historic the American Folklore Society and the Park in Denver and a collections intern at American Folklife Center of the Library of the Colorado History Museum. For several Congress. The taxonomy she helped devise years she worked with state folklorist Bea for the thesaurus will be used by folklore Roeder to organize the Colorado Folk Arts collections across the United States for Festival, and in 2004 she was awarded a archiving their materials. She was recently grant from the Western Interpretive Associ- appointed to the advisory committee on ation to edit and index Ties That Bind: Folk the Modern Language Association’s Inter- Arts in the Colorado Classroom. national Bibliography, which lists and In December indexes books 2006, Kim and articles completed published her Ph.D. in on modern education. languages, liter- Over the past atures, folklore, several years, and linguis- she has worked tics. Using her as an editor background in on a variety ethnography of publica- as a launching tions including point, she has Engaging been writing Mexican Immi- award-winning grant Parents in articles for the Eugene Weekly Their Children’s Salmon and clam bake prepared in Port Townsend, Washington. Education and as an environ- Engaging African American Parents in mental journalist. Her articles range from Their Children’s Education for the Latino profiles on body art to investigations into Policy and Research Center. She also the FBI’s profiling of environmentalists wrote a professional development program as terrorists. She also teaches courses at on culturally responsive classrooms for the University of Oregon on film, litera- the National Institute for Urban School ture, language, and religious studies, and Improvement. is affiliated with the Folklore Program. Her current research focuses on narrative In 2007, Kim took a position as a agency and the ethical dilemmas of ethnog- submissions and content editor at ABC- raphy and the media. CLIO, a history reference book publisher. She works on fifty to sixty titles a year in

22 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M Track Town Traditions Project on the Horizon During the late spring and summer Hollister, executive producer Scott Cham- terms of 2008, in correlation with the bers, award-winning coach and former UO U.S. Olympic Team Trials in track and runner Pat Tyson, and special guests. field, held at the University of Oregon’s For information or to support the Hayward Field from June 27 to July 6, the ongoing project, contact Daniel Wojcik at Folklore Program and program director [email protected] or (541) 346-3946. Daniel Wojcik sponsored “Track Town Traditions and the Culture of Running,” a series of films, lectures, and other events that present and explore the traditions of distance running, track and field, and the Olympic Games. During the trials, Wojcik organized a two-week summer course on runner’s culture and traditions as well as a team of student fieldworkers to gather and record personal experience narratives from visiting past and current track-and-field legends and members of the audience. Events in the series leading up to the trials included a talk by Joe Henderson, award-winning author and former chief editor of Runner’s World magazine; a screening of Olympia, Part 1: Festival of the Nations, by Leni Riefenstahl and Tokyo Olympiad by Kon Ichikawa; a discussion panel including Eugene track legends Mike Manley, Kathy (Hayes) Herrmann, Roscoe Pre’s Rock: Like many other runners, American Olympic athlete Paul Divine, Tom Heinonen, Cathie Twomey McMullen says it is a tradition to “make a pilgrimage” to the roadside shrine for Steve Prefontaine, located in the southeast hills of Eugene Bellamy, Wade Bell, Jim Hill, Kenny Moore, (June 19, 2004, after McMullen ran a sub-four-minute mile at the and other special guests; and a screening Prefontaine Classic track meet). of Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story, followed by a discussion with Linda Prefontaine, author and Nike pioneer Geoff

APOCALYPSE CULTURE FILM SERIES

Encouraged by the popularity of the Youth Jan. 24 The Seventh Seal and Subculture Film Series held during spring Jan. 31 Last Night term 2007, this past year the Folklore Program Feb. 7 Le Temps du loup (Time of the and Associate Professor Daniel Wojcik spon- Wolf) sored a winter term film series in conjunction with Feb. 14 The Rapture Wojcik’s 400/500-level course on apocalypse culture. Films were shown for free, open to the Feb. 21 The Omega Man public, often preceded by expert introduction, and Feb. 28 Lessons of Darkness and The followed by audience discussion. The following End of August at the Hotel Ozone films were screened: Mar. 6 Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome Jan. 10 The Atomic Cafe Mar. 13 Children of Men Jan. 17 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Another film series is being planned for the Learned to Stop Worrying and 2008–9 academic year. Love the Bomb

F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M 23 Track Town legends (from left to right) Kenny Moore, Jim Hill, Mike Manley, and Kathy (Hayes) Herrmann share stories while participating in a panel for the Folklore Program’s “Track Town Traditions and the Culture of Running” lecture series.

Donate to the program Did you know that you can earmark your UO donations to the Folklore Program? The tax- deductible money you donate can go directly to supporting students, program events and the folklore archive. Donations can fund scholarships, awards, student film work, research, confer- ence attendance, and additional graduate teaching fellowships. Those who wish to support the study of folklore and cultural heritage may contact program director Daniel Wojcik at (541) 346-3946, or write a check to “Folklore Program” and mail it to the attention of Daniel Wojcik, Folklore Program, 1287 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1287.

The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. Call (541) 346-1505. © 2008 University of Oregon DES0708QC

FOLKLORE PROGRAM 1287 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1287

Upcoming Folklore Events Western States Folklore Society meeting April 17–18, 2009—Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles (tentative) American Folklore Society meeting October 22–26, 2008—Louisville, Kentucky October 21–25, 2009—Boise, Idaho

24 F O L K L O R E S T U D I E S | N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N F O L K L O R E P R O G R A M