Coming Soon! JAF (Spring 2026)

The Spring issue (v. 139, no. 552) of JAF: A Global Quarterly will soon be mailed to subscribers and made available online. The issue includes two research articles, the second part of our Perspectives on Crisis and Action series, a variety of book and sound reviews, and  memorial tributes to friends and colleagues.

In this issue, Olivia Phillips’s “Folk Song and the Voice: Toward an Ethnography of Singing” highlights the under-acknowledged influences of the African American blues tradition in recorded vocalizations of white Appalachian traditional musician Frank Proffitt. Philips then argues for an “ethnography of singing” that reveals singing technique as a space of social meaning-making and enculturation in folk song performance.

Marzie Azimi and Gholamhossein Gholamhosseinzadeh propose a new  eight-category classification of Persian folk poetry in their article “Analytical and Generic Classification of Persian Folk Poetry.” Where previous studies mostly focused on collecting and describing textual and structural features without achieving precise classification, their proposed schema considers both textual features (structure) and external features (function, audience, performers, context and method of performance).

We also conclude our two-part “Perspectives on Crisis and Action” series, for which we issued a call for reflections on our deeply troubling political moment in early 2025. The short essays included here cut across issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, healthcare and government-endorsed misinformation, organizing and activism, and the crisis in Gaza. 

This issue also presents memorial tributes to our friends and colleagues Maria Carmen Gambliel, Kristin Kuutma, Worth W. Long, and Vilmos Voigt.

As always, the issue includes book, exhibit, and sound reviews. 

We encourage our readers and potential authors to visit our web page to learn about the types of material we publish and how to submit, including in innovative formats and genres. Please contact the Editorial Collective if you have ideas or questions at jaf.editors@afsnet.org.

JAF: A Global Quarterly

SPRING 2026 • VOL. 139, NO. 552

Articles

Folk Song and the Voice: Toward an Ethnography of Singing, by Olivia H. Phillips 

Analytical and Generic Classification of Persian Folk Poetry, by Marzie Azimi and Gholamhossein Gholamhosseinzadeh

Perspectives

Folklore and Politics in, and of, General Education Requirements at Universities in the United States, by Simon J. Bronner

Folklore Without Borders Remains Our Aim, and Matthew Cheeseman and Paul Cowdell

Disease, Conspiracy Theory, and Ableism in the Current Political Landscape, by Andrea Kitta

Fires That Light the Way: On Witnessing Occupied Palestine—and Beyond, by Perry Mendoza

How and Why DEI Matters in Ethnology and Folklore, by Marie Sandberg, Čarna Brković, and Dani Schrire

The Kids Are All Right, by Emily Socolov

Obituaries

Maria Carmen Gambliel (1946-2025), by Steven Hatcher and Hervé Gambliel

Kristin Kuutma (1959–2025), by Thomas A. DuBois and Guntis Šmidchens

Worth W. Long (1936–2025), by Diana Baird N’Diaye

Vilmos Voigt (1940–2025), by István Povedák

Book Reviews

Folklore and Ethnology in the Soviet Western Borderlands: Socialist in Form, National in Content (Ķencis, et al., eds.), by Ilze Boldāne-Zeļenka 

Weathered Words: Formulaic Language and Verbal Art (Frog and Lamb, eds.), by Lori Ann Garner

Singular Spaces II: From the Eccentric to the Extraordinary in Spanish Art Environments (Hernández), by Gregory Hansen

The Medical Carnivalesque: Folklore Among Physicians (Gabbert), by Pınar Karataş

Catholicism and Native Americans in Early North America: Parish, Church, and Mission (Deagan, ed.), by Andrew Kettler

The Consolations of Humor and Other Folklore Essays (Oring), by Moira Marsh

Holy Wells of Ireland: Sacred Realms and Popular Domains (Ray and McCormick, eds.), by Connie Marshner

Rugs, Guitars, and Fiddling: Intensification and the Rich Modern Lives of Traditional Arts (Goertzen), by Robert McCormac

Clitso Dedman, Navajo Carver: His Art and His World (Valette), by Larissa Nez

Voodoo: An African American Religion (Anderson), by Kodi A. Roberts

Monsters and Saints: LatIndigenous Landscapes and Spectral Storytelling (Martinez and Medina-López, eds.), by Carmella Scorcia Pacheco

The Folklore of Devon (Norman), by David Waldron

Exhibit Review

Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home, by Susan Eleuterio

Sound Reviews

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert: Bessie Jones, John Davis & the Georgia Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young, by Mark Allan Jackson

Things Done Changed (Paxton), by Lamont Jack Pearley