Diarmuid Ó Giolláin Receives Chicago Folklore Prize

Diarmuid Ó Giolláin is the recipient of the 2023 Chicago Folklore Prize for Exotic Dreams in the Science of the Volksgeist: Towards a Global History of European Folklore Studies (The Kalevala Society). Second place prizes were awarded to Patricia A. Turner for trash talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century and to Christopher B. Teuton and Hastings Shade, with Loretta and Larry Shade, Illustrated by MaryBeth Timothy. Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World.

First awarded in 1904, the Chicago Folklore Prize, awarded to the author(s) of the best book-length work of folklore scholarship for the year, is the oldest international award recognizing excellence in folklore scholarship. Occasionally, a joint recipient is also selected. The prize is offered jointly by the American Folklore Society and the University of Chicago.

Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, Exotic Dreams in the Science of the Volksgeist: Towards a Global History of European Folklore Studies (The Kalevala Society)

The emergence of folklore studies is usually attributed to specifically European circumstances in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Diarmuid Ó Giolláin’s book argues that influences from and the consequences of the expansion of powerful states beyond the bounds of Europe informed folkloristics as much as did conditions within. The prize committee praised the historical analysis of the development of European folklore studies within a broader and more complex global context.

Exotic Dreams in the Science of the Folksgeist by Diarmuid Ó Giolláin doesn’t just give the European roots of folklore studies an updated look, or even just frame the familiar history in a global context. This unprecedented work reveals how European research traditions were historically, culturally, and, above all, significantly influenced by European encounters with other peoples, many from a distance.

The expansive view over time and geography sweeps without remaining on the surface. The discussion of folkloristics’ relationship to other disciplines in three European nations asks readers to consider the dynamics of disciplinary development on a global scale. Detailed documentation and analysis supports a fresh, insightful line of reasoning to reveal folkloristics’ colonial dimension, a complex entanglement of thought and action. Ó Giolláin’s ambitious work transforms the reader’s view of the history they thought they knew, focusing on European folklore studies, yes, but at the same time expanding understanding of the discipline beyond that supposed geographical heritage. The volume’s subtitle, Towards a Global History of European Folklore Studies, belies its great accomplishment in shifting mindsets and at the same time invites readers into the work of rethinking the discipline that is just beginning.

Second Place Winners

Christopher B. Teuton and Hastings Shade, with Loretta and Larry Shade, Illustrated by MaryBeth Timothy. Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World (University of Washington Press)

Ayetli gadogv—to “stand in the middle”—is at the heart of a Cherokee perspective of the natural world. From this stance, Cherokee Earth Dwellers offers a rich understanding of nature grounded in Cherokee creature names, oral traditional stories, and reflections of knowledge holders. During his lifetime, elder Hastings Shade created booklets with over six hundred Cherokee names for animals and plants. With this foundational collection at its center, and weaving together a chorus of voices, this book emerges from a deep and continuing collaboration between Christopher B. Teuton, Hastings Shade, Loretta Shade, and others. Positioning our responsibilities as humans to our more-than-human relatives, this book presents teachings about the body, mind, spirit, and wellness that have been shared for generations. From clouds to birds, oceans to quarks, this expansive Cherokee view of nature reveals a living, communicative world and humanity’s role within it.

Photo: Larry Shade (Cherokee Nation), Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation), and MaryBeth Timothy (Cherokee Nation), at launch of Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World, University of Washington, April 6, 2023, Seattle.

This collaborative work impressed the prize committee. The book serves as a strong model of community engagement in documenting and passing on lore. The book’s unique layout reflects the cultural group’s worldview, values, and aesthetics, making the information accessible to readers in a way that is itself engaging.

Photo: Larry Shade, Cherokee Artist and Storyteller

Patricia A. Turner. Trash Talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century (University of California Press)

Through the lens of attacks on Obama, Trash Talk explores how racist tropes circulate and gain currency. As internet communications expand in reach, rumors and conspiracy theories have become powerful political tools, and new types of lore like the hoax and fake news have taken root. The mainstream press and political establishment dismissed anti-Obama mythology for years, registering concern only when it became difficult to deny how much power those who circulated it could command. Trash Talk demonstrates that the ascendancy of Barack Obama was never a signal of a postracial America.

The prize committee assessed that Turner productively analyzes conspiracy theories and negative rumors about the Obama family, demonstrating how lore about politicians becomes politics itself, reflecting and seeking to sustain racism through traditional channels as well as a weaponized media world. At the same time, Turner also makes it clear how important folklore and folkloristics are in addressing problems that face a nation.