Folklorist Joseph Sciorra Passes Away

AFS is deeply saddened to share the news of folklorist Joseph Sciorra’s sudden passing on Monday, October 5, 2026. He was seventy-one.

Dr. Joseph Sciorra received his Ph.D. from the Department of Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the longtime Director for Academic and Cultural Programs at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College (City University of New York).

Dr. Sciorra had been an AFS member for more than two decades and was also elected to be a member of the Fellows of the American Folklore Society. He was set to deliver the 2026 Don Yoder Lecture in Folk Belief and Religious Folklife at the upcoming annual meeting in Asheville, which will be adjusted accordingly in the conference program.

• Read the message from his life partner Zulma Ortiz Fuentes, shared on the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute’s Facebook page.
• Learn more about his work on Italian American folklore, belief, and material culture from this post by the American Folklife Center.

More information such as memorial services will be updated here once it becomes available.