The Archival Futures workshop, which takes place Wednesday, October 28 from 4-6pm ET, will feature speakers and content from Local Learning, Vermont Folklife, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, and the Library of Congress.
AFS News
News about the American Folklore Society
Start planning your can’t-miss meeting experience with the help of the updated Fourwaves Conference Platform, a Fourwaves app for your mobile device, or printable pages.
The forthcoming Fall 2026 JAF: A Global Quarterly includes Amy Skillman’s presidential address from the 2025 AFS Annual Meeting, essays about the symbolic and ecological roles of insects in African oral traditions and folklore, how supernatural folklore shapes perceptions of forested landscapes, and Icelandic witch trials.
AFS is pleased to share details about an additional hotel, The Four Points by Sheraton, across the street from the Renaissance, which will have a small block of rooms geared in particular to students and those who may be traveling with pets.
The current Journal of American Folklore (JAF) Editorial Collective seeks to recruit an additional Collective member for service during the remainder of the Collective’s joint editorship. Applications are due September 15, 2026.
As you prepare for the new academic year, those of you who teach can provide an important—and easily accomplished—service to AFS. Support AFS by assigning online access to JAF.
AFS agrees with many other arts and humanities organizations that the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance threatens academic freedom, imposes a political litmus test for federal funding of research, and introduces damaging instability to the American research enterprise.
The AFS Executive Board met in Bloomington, IN, on April 27–28, 2026, for its annual spring board meeting. All Executive Board members were present for the two-day gathering, which focused on the Society's long-term priorities, emerging challenges, and future opportunities.
The latest JAF includes essays on a Mexican conflict zone as a site for a festival and tourism, Korean tourists dressing in rented traditional dress, occupational folk humor in a prison library, and obituaries and reviews of recent work in the field.
Applications for AFS section prizes now have a standardized July 15 deadline.