The AFS Nominating Committee (chaired by Guha Shankar with members Carrie Hertz, Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe, and Marilyn White) has announced its slate of two candidates for each available office in the AFS 2024 election.
This year, AFS members will vote for President-Elect, two seats on the Executive Board, and one seat on the Nominating Committee. The President-Elect will be for a four-year, 2025–2028 term. The Executive Board and the Nominating Committee members will both be for three-year, 2025–2027 terms. Those elected will take office on January 1, 2025.
President-Elect (to be elected for a four-year, 2025–2028 term):
- Maribel Alvarez (withdrawn*)
- Jason Baird Jackson (Indiana University)
*when a candidate withdraws after the Nominating Committee has announced its slate, policy put forth by the AFS bylaws does not allow for this candidate to be replaced.
Executive Board (two to be elected to three-year, 2025–2027 terms):
- Danille Christensen (Virginia Tech)
- Rachel González-Martin (University of Texas at Austin)
- Michael Knoll (HistoryMiami Museum)
- Anika Wilson (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Nominating Committee (one to be elected to a three-year, 2025–2027 term):
- Gabrielle Berlinger (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Kelley Totten (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Secure online voting will begin in November after the Annual Meeting and will continue through December 23. Those elected will take office on January 1, 2025.
Candidates’ Forum
A virtual Candidates’ Forum was held on Tuesday, November 19, 4:30 pm–5:30 pm MT.
Maribel Alvarez
Maribel Alvarez (she/her) is Associate Research Social Scientist and Associate Research Professor at the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona. She is an anthropologist, folklorist, curator, and cultural organizer. She holds the Jim Griffith Chair in Public Folklore at the Southwest Center, University of Arizona.
Gabrielle Berlinger
Gabrielle A. Berlinger (she/her) is Associate Professor of American Studies and Folklore, and Tanenbaum Scholar in Jewish History and Culture, at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. As a folklorist and ethnologist, she studies the nature and significance of vernacular architecture and ritual practice, particularly in contemporary Jewish communities.
Danille Christensen
Danille Elise Christensen (she/her) received her PhD from Indiana University’s Department of Folklore & Ethnomusicology, where she learned to apply the analytical lenses of genre, performance, and rhetoric to the realm of material culture. Her work examines the political implications of art and labor in everyday life, including the ways knowledges are produced and valued. An Associate Professor in the Department of Religion & Culture at Virginia Tech, she is currently Associate Chair and faculty in the Material Culture & Public Humanities graduate program and the undergraduate programs in Food Studies and Appalachian Studies.
Jason Baird Jackson
An AFS member since 1994, Jason Baird Jackson (he/him) is Ruth N. Halls Professor of Folklore and Anthropology at Indiana University (IU). Within AFS, he helped plan annual meetings in Tulsa (2020/2022) and Bloomington (2011) and has served as chair or member of numerous committees (publications, teaching, membership) and working groups (museums and public policy, communications, digital meetings, US-China, open access, teaching/big questions). A previous member of the Executive Board (2010-2012), he was the founding convener for the Folklore and Museums section and he is active in the Transitional Asia/Pacific Section.
Michael Knoll
Michael Knoll (he/him) is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Senior Curator at HistoryMiami Museum, where he has served in an executive leadership position for more than a decade. He was previously the institution’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator (2014-2022), overseeing the museum’s Archives and Research Center, object collection, exhibitions, and folklife division, and co-founding its Center for Photography.
Rachel González-Martin
Rachel González-Martin (she/her) is a career folklorist and associate professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas where she currently serves as the department’s inaugural undergraduate advisor. She is affiliate faculty of the Center for Women and Gender Studies, Latino Media and Arts Studies, and the Center for Global Business.
Kelley Totten
Kelley Totten (she/her) is an Associate Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador where she teaches courses on material culture, museums, fieldwork, and folklore history. Her teaching, research, and service centers on community engagement and collaboration, and she currently leads Memorial’s Field School, serves as chair of MUN’s Folklore and Language Archive, and is completing her term as Exhibits and Events Reviews Editor for JAF.
Anika Wilson
Anika Wilson (she/her) is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department African and African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee. She earned her doctorate in Folklore and Folklife Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and specializes in informal narratives (gossip, rumor, etc.).
Learn more about AFS governance and elections.