Emily Hilliard is a folklorist, writer, and media producer based at Berea College in Kentucky. In 2021, she received an Archie Green Fellowship to document U.S. mail carriers in Central Appalachia as part of the American Folklife Center’s Occupational Folklife Project. With insights gained from this project, Hilliard published an article on the Jacobin magazine, arguing that "USPS privatization would cost rural America more than mail."
Folklorists in the News
Dr. Maribel Alvarez converses with Folk music educator and performer Eugene Rodriguez, who founded Los Cenzontles, a youth music group, in 1989 in San Pablo, California, about the joys and challenges of folklore-based education and identity politics.
Folklorist, cultural anthropologist, and AFS Fellow Guha Shankar received the Honored One Award at the 2024 Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) annual conference for his dedication to helping indigenous communities and individuals document, preserve and sustain their cultural traditions.
Folklorist Natalie Kononenko is awarded the 2024 Clio Prize for her book, Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies: Growing a Ukrainian Canadian Identity (McGill-Queen's University Press). The book is also shortlisted for the 2024 KOBZAR™ Book Award.
Folklorist Joseph Sciorra wins the 2024 Catherine W. Bishir Prize for his article “‘The Strange Artistic Genius of This People’: The Ephemeral Art and Impermanent Architecture of Italian Immigrant Catholic Feste.”
Los Herederos, a media arts non-profit dedicated to inheriting culture in the digital age, was featured on ABC 7 Eyewitness News on September, 23 for their Queens as Cultural Crossroads installation in the Roosevelt Avenue and 74th Street subway station in Jackson Heights.
Renowned folklorist Henry H. Glassie receives Indiana Landmarks’ 2024 Williamson Prize for outstanding leadership in historic preservation.
Peace-builder, story-teller, and AFS Executive Board member Kiran Singh Sirah was recently featured on Choose to Be Curious, a radio program about curiosity.
A recent interview with Dr. Phyllis M. May-Machunda conducted by Michelle Miller, which took place at the City Lore Gallery surrounded by their current exhibition, "The Calling: The Transformative Power of African American Dolls and Puppets" will air on CBS Saturday Morning this Saturday, November 25th as part of a segment on Diverse Dolls.
National Endowment for the Arts has announced their 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellows, recognizing their dedication and artistry contributions to the field.