Call for Book Chapters: New Approaches to Folklore Fieldwork, Documentation, and Presentation

Vernon Press invites book chapters for a forthcoming edited volume by Eric Miller (World Storytelling Institute) on the subject of “New Approaches to Folklore Fieldwork, Documentation, and Presentation.”

A central theme of New Approaches to Folklore Fieldwork, Documentation, and Presentation is ways electronic (and other) technology are being used to experience, participate in, record, store, access, present, and possibly reconstruct aspects of cultures under study, and attitudes about these ways, on the parts of all concerned.

The book would ask such questions as:

1.  Under what conditions could “ethnographic fieldwork with participant observation” be conducted via interactive telecommunication (online)? Acceptable conditions might include instances in which members of the community and culture under study are: A) Doing some of their folk activities and/or other community communication online. B) Physically inaccessible (due to them being quarantined due to a pandemic and/or in outer space).
2. In cases in which the fieldwork is done via physical presence, under what conditions could the end-of-fieldwork documentation process occur, at least in part, via interactive telecommunication? One chapter of the book would concern “Ethnographic Videoconferencing,” which has developed out of Ethnographic Photography, Film, and Video.
3.  What are some ways in which…A) Native Scholars (who are members of the culture under study), B) Outside Scholars, and C) Outside Scholars’ Native Research Assistants (who are members of the culture under study)    

• The deadline for submissions of abstracts is 1st October 2024.
• Acceptance notifications will be sent on or before 1st December 2024.
• The deadline for submissions of chapters is 1st April 2025.

Contact Information:

Book Editor: Dr Eric Miller (PhD in Folklore, University of Pennsylvania), Director, World Storytelling Institute (https://storytellinginstitute.org).