The Folklore & Science section of the American Folklore Society hosts a virtual presentation to highlight the senior prize winner’s contribution to the intersection between folklore and science. This year, Dr. Anna Beresin (emerita; University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA) presents her prize-winning study “Techno- mischief: Negotiating exaggeration online in quarantine” alongside discussant Dr. Frederick Erickson (emeritus; UCLA).

Abstract: In 2023, Anna Beresin co-edited with folklorist Dr. Julia Bishop Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation. This presentation presents one of Anna’s chapters in that book, along with the backstory of how her interest in negotiated exaggeration emerged. Hint: it had to do with captive gorillas.

Anthropologist of education Frederick Erickson’s work concerns the microethnography of classroom and family interaction, and especially how this interaction affects disadvantaged students. He has also written extensively on qualitative research methods for social and educational research. Among his publications is the award-winning book, Talk and Social Theory: Ecologies of Speaking and Listening in Everyday Life (2004).

The book is available in entirety for free download through Open Book Publishers.

Join the free webinar via Zoom on Wednesday, February 12, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET