The Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section of the American Folklore Society sponsors the annual Don Yoder Lecture in Religious Folklife delivered by a distinguished specialist, as well as forums, panels and activities at the AFS annual meeting. The section also sponsors a number of prizes and stipends to advance research and participation in this area.
The section conveners are Margaret Kruesi, Andrea Kitta, Lynne McNeill and Tom Mould. Contact them at [email protected]
Prizes
To encourage student scholars, the Section sponsors the Don Yoder Prize for the Best Graduate Student Paper in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife, the William A. Wilson Prize for the Best Undergraduate Student Paper in Folk Belief and Religious Folklife, and the Elaine J. Lawless Graduate Student Travel Award.
Starting in 2023, the Leonard Norman Primiano Fund supports three new prizes to support scholars in folk belief and religious folklife at every career stage:
Don Yoder Lecture in Religious Folklife
Sponsored by the Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section
2021-present: Margaret Kruesi (American Folklife Center), chair
2003-2020: Leonard Norman Primiano (Cabrini University) and Margaret Kruesi (American Folklife Center), co-chairs
2022
Andrea Kitta (East Carolina University)
How to have Theory in a Pandemic: Precarity, Autoethnography, and Belief Scholarship during COVID
2021
Kay Turner (New York University)
The Virgin Mary’s Body: Immaculate Rejection
Norma E. CantĂş (Trinity University), discussant
2020
Cancelled
2019
David Hufford (Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, emeritus)
Sleeping Reason Dreams of Disenchantment, but…: A Study of the Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences among Combat Veterans
Bonnie B. O’Connor (Alpert Medical School, Brown University, emerita), discussant
2018
Michael Owen Jones (University of California, Los Angeles, emeritus)
Herbs and Saints in the City of Angels: Researching Botánicas, Healing, and Power in Southern California
Holly Everett (Memorial University of Newfoundland), discussant
2017
Jeff Todd Titon (Brown University, emeritus)
Eco-Justice and Folklife
Mary Hufford (Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network [LiKEN]) and
Rory Turner (Goucher College), discussants
2016
Dan Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania)
Kol Nidre, The Prayer that Haunted the Rabbis and Charmed their Folks
Simon J. Bronner (Penn State Harrisburg), discussant
2015
Erika Brady (Western Kentucky University)–“A Subtle Thing Withal”: Reflections on the Ineffable, the
Unspeakable, and the Risible in Vernacular Religion
Sabina Magliocco (California State University, Northridge), discussant
2014
Henry Glassie (Indiana University, emeritus)
Text and Icon in Religious Art
Leonard Norman Primiano (Cabrini College), discussant
2013
Don Yoder (University of Pennsylvania, emeritus)
Religion and Folk Art: Reflections on Key Concepts in Folklife Studies
Gerald L. Pocius (Memorial University of Newfoundland), discussant
2012
Donald Cosentino (University of California, Los Angeles)
Why Did Gede Let This Happen?: Catastrophe and Theodicy in
21st-Century Haitian Vodou
Glenn Hinson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and
Kerry Noonan (Champlain College), discussants
2011
William A. (Bert) Wilson (Brigham Young University, retired)
Mormon Folklore: Mormon Folk Religion, or Mormon Vernacular Religion, or
Mormon Religious Folklore? And Who are the Mormons Anyway, and
Do They Have Any Uniquely Identifiable Mormon Folklore?
David J. Hufford (Pennsylvania State University) and
Tom Mould (Elon University), discussants
2010
Elaine J. Lawless (University of Missouri)
What Zora Knew: A Crossroads, a Bargain with the Devil, and a Late Witness
Marilyn M. White (Kean University) and
David Todd Lawrence (University of St. Thomas), discussants
2009
William Westerman (Princeton University)
Epistemology of the Flail and the Politics of Inductive Reasoning
2008
Diane Goldstein (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Kaleidoscopes, Methodological Play, and the Intrinsic Politics of Belief Scholarship
William Westerman (Princeton University), discussant
2007
Sandra Zimdars-Swartz (University of Kansas)
Perceiving the Sacred: Visionaries, Hagiographers, and Portrayals of Religious
Experience
Erika Brady (Western Kentucky University), discussant
2006
Don Yoder (University of Pennsylvania, emeritus)
Folk Religion and the Pennsylvania German Broadside
Gerald L. Pocius (Memorial University of Newfoundland), discussant
2005
Gary Laderman (Emory University)
The Cult of Doctors: Harvey Cushing and the Religious Culture of Biomedicine
David J. Hufford (Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine), discussant
2004
Marion Bowman (The Folklore Society; The Open University)
Sacred Spaces in Liminal Places: Airport Chapels and Religion in Transit
Kimberly J. Lau (University of Utah) and
Teri F. Brewer (University of Glamorgan), discussants
2003
David J. Hufford (Pennsylvania State University)
Folklife and the Triumph of Folk Medicine
Get Involved
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