AFS is deeply saddened to share the news of folklorist Jerrilyn McGregory's sudden passing on Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Syaman Rapongan is one of the Indigenous Tao people of Orchid Island near Taiwan. His works blend Tao folklore and accounts of maritime life with keen critique of the social, psychological, and ecological harms of colonialism. Eyes of the Ocean (Columbia University Press) is his literary autobiography, both a story of survival in a settler state and a portrait of the Indigenous artist as a young man.
In light of recent concerns regarding goals and efforts toward diversity and inclusion in the U.S. as it impacts the work of the AFS Cultural Diversity Committee, at its spring 2025 meeting, the AFS Executive Board passed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to the work of the longstanding Cultural Diversity Committee.
In light of changing circumstances for funding and research at colleges and universities, the AFS Executive Board passed a resolution on tenure and promotion policies for impacted faculty.
Maria Carmen Gambliel, a devoted artist, printmaker, and folklorist, passed away on May 24, 2025, at the age of seventy-nine.
Folklorist Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth's work was recently featured in an episode of the podcast channel New Books in Folklore hosted by fellow folklorist Rachel Hopkin, who is also calling for new hosts for the channel.
The Woody Guthrie Center has announced the call for proposals for its 2025 Phil Ochs Fellowship, which awards up to $5,000 for creative or scholarly projects about the life and work of songwriter and protest singer Phil Ochs, and his lasting legacy and influence on popular culture, politics, and music. Applications are due September 15, 2025.
Creating Culture, Performing Community (Indiana University Press) explores the ways in which the people of Santo Santiago de Angahuan create and curate their cultural practices and how, by doing so, they perform what it means to be an active member of their community. This book is freely available as an Open Access monograph.
Performing Vulnerability (University of Washington Press) by Emily Hue delves into the complexities of vulnerability as both a personal and a performative act through her study of diasporic Burmese artists.
Drawing on classic theories of ritual and performance, Facing the Fire, Taking the Stage (Indiana University Press) explores how Buryat shamanism and state-sanctioned performing arts have allowed Buryats to negotiate and express different kinds of belonging to people and land. This book is freely available as an Open Access monograph.
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