MLA executive director Paula Krebs, calls for a new Works Progess Administration (WPA) for the humanities. She cites folklorists Zora Neale Hurston Hurston and the Lomaxes—along with the field in general—as she writes about how the humanities ought to be called forth in
Folklorists in the News
In an article in The Eastern Carolinian, Andrea Kitta comments on the various narratives—some harmful while others hopeful—that make an appearance during health crises and offers a rationale for the narratives and behaviors that have surfaced due to the COVID-19 outbreak. See Madison Barnhill, “ECU
Sheila Bock examines the ways in which people’s reactions to the novel coronavirus pandemic have mirrored other, earlier public health scares from the bubonic plague to Ebola in an essay in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas News Center. See Sheila Bock,
Maribel Alvarez, of the University of Arizona Southwest Center, identifies folklorists as “first responders” in times of great change or transition as she states that “folklorists can sense small shifts in human behavior that others might at first overlook or dismiss as
The New York Times spotlights the efforts of the Library of Congress to document internet culture, with a shout-out to John Fenn and the Web Cultures collection, overseen by the American Folklife Center. See Steven Kurutz, “Meet Your Meme Lords,” The New York Times (April 7, 2020):