Syaman Rapongan is one of the Indigenous Tao people of Orchid Island near Taiwan. His works blend Tao folklore and accounts of maritime life with keen critique of the social, psychological, and ecological harms of colonialism. Eyes of the Ocean (Columbia University Press) is his literary autobiography, both a story of survival in a settler state and a portrait of the Indigenous artist as a young man.
Recent Releases
Folklorist Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth's work was recently featured in an episode of the podcast channel New Books in Folklore hosted by fellow folklorist Rachel Hopkin, who is also calling for new hosts for the channel.
Creating Culture, Performing Community (Indiana University Press) explores the ways in which the people of Santo Santiago de Angahuan create and curate their cultural practices and how, by doing so, they perform what it means to be an active member of their community. This book is freely available as an Open Access monograph.
Performing Vulnerability (University of Washington Press) by Emily Hue delves into the complexities of vulnerability as both a personal and a performative act through her study of diasporic Burmese artists.
Drawing on classic theories of ritual and performance, Facing the Fire, Taking the Stage (Indiana University Press) explores how Buryat shamanism and state-sanctioned performing arts have allowed Buryats to negotiate and express different kinds of belonging to people and land. This book is freely available as an Open Access monograph.
Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People (Reaktion Books) provides translated tales from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as introductions by the author that place these often supernatural happenings in the context of Icelandic society. The anthology is edited by Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir, with an introduction by AFS Fellow Jack Zipes.
Quilt Arts of South Africa (Indiana University Press), edited by AFS Fellow Marsha MacDowell, stitches together the history, production, and significance of quilt-making from its earliest appearance in Africa's southernmost region to the twenty-first century.
Ella Hanshaw (1934–2020) wrote hundreds of gospel and country songs in her life. Her works are recorded professionally and released publicly for the first time in SPINSTER's new album Ella Hanshaw’s Black Book.
The 2024 AFS Annual Report is now available.
Playing the Archive (UCL Press) revisits the trailblazing work of folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, who documented children’s playground games, rhymes, and traditions in mid-20th century Britain, and brings their research into the digital age. This volume is available as an open access PDF.