The American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society

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2023 Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society

The 135th annual meeting of the American Folklore Society was held online October 11-12 and in Portland, Oregon November 1-4, 2024.

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In 2023, We Gathered Virtually and In Person

The 2023 AFS Annual Meeting was essentially two meetings in one: we offered two days of dedicated virtual programming, October 11-12, in addition to a four-day, in-person gathering in Portland, Oregon, November 1-4.

Explore the 2023 Annual Meeting Program

Scroll down for meeting highlights!

PDF of the program
flowers at the Portland Farmers Market

Meeting Highlights

Learn about networking opportunities, view section guides, and check out topics explored throughout the Annual Meeting.

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Fresh produce at the Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University (PSU). The Saturday market at PSU is open year-round, with over a hundred vendors participating.

Meeting Theme

The theme of the conference was Roots, Rootlessness, and Uprooting, pointing to historic, natural, and social processes of connection, creation, and removal. It also invites us to consider how and why injustice manifests, how it can be confronted, and invites presentations that highlight the role of folklore and folklorists. We invite participants to reflect on notions of roots as they connect to geographies and migration or more broadly to cultural practice or even shifts in disciplines or institutions. How might folklorists contribute to larger conversations in productive ways? 

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Local Information

Check out the 2023 Portland Committee’s specially curated Local Guide to the city and region, a photo essay about the AFS site visit in Spring 2023, and information about 2023 conference venue.

Visit the Portland Local Information page

graphic of the neighborhoods of portland, oregon
Illustration by Subin Yang for Travel Portland. https://www.travelportland.com/neighborhoods/

Portland Local Committee

Emily Hartlerode
Thomas Grant Richardson
Riki Saltzman
Martha Bayless
Daniel Wojcik
Mark Miyake
Joe Hickerson
Molly McBride
Lillian DeVane
Violeta Martin
Sharon Sherman
Carol Silverman
Jared Schmidt
Mathilde Lind
Rick March
Debbie Fant
Makaela Kroin
Robert Glenn Howard

Proposal Review Committee

Robert Glenn Howard, chair
Carl Lindahl
Daniel Wojcik
Thomas Grant Richardson
Molly McBride
Violeta Martin
Debbie Fant
Mathilde Lind
Jared Schmidt
Brandon Barker

Questions about the annual meeting? Check our FAQs, or send a message to [email protected].