Maribel Alvarez describes folklore as a discipline that understands the ways of knowing that is grasped by oral tradition and observation, serving as an alternative entry point in addressing global issues such as climate change. Alvarez also introduces a new project, ClimateLore, a planned yearlong
Kathryn Hughes of The Guardian reviews Maria Tatar’s The Fairest of Them All: Snow White and 21 Tales of Mothers and Daughters (2020). Hughes states that “Tatar’s avowed intention is to demonstrate the endless fluidity of folktale narratives, the way they wash into one another so that
Los Angeles Times cites folklorist Maribel Alvarez who states that legends of Lupe Hernandez, a nursing student from Bakersfield and inventor of hand sanitizer, have resurfaced in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming a folk hero for the Latinx populations. See: Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
Anthony Buccitelli is Associate Professor of American Studies and Communications in the School of Humanities at The Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, and serves as Director of Penn State’s Pennsylvania Center for Folklore. Buccitelli became a member of the American Folklore Society in 2004
MLA executive director Paula Krebs, calls for a new Works Progess Administration (WPA) for the humanities. She cites folklorists Zora Neale Hurston Hurston and the Lomaxes—along with the field in general—as she writes about how the humanities ought to be called forth in
In an article in The Eastern Carolinian, Andrea Kitta comments on the various narratives—some harmful while others hopeful—that make an appearance during health crises and offers a rationale for the narratives and behaviors that have surfaced due to the COVID-19 outbreak. See Madison Barnhill, “ECU
Sheila Bock examines the ways in which people’s reactions to the novel coronavirus pandemic have mirrored other, earlier public health scares from the bubonic plague to Ebola in an essay in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas News Center. See Sheila Bock,
Maribel Alvarez, of the University of Arizona Southwest Center, identifies folklorists as “first responders” in times of great change or transition as she states that “folklorists can sense small shifts in human behavior that others might at first overlook or dismiss as
The New York Times spotlights the efforts of the Library of Congress to document internet culture, with a shout-out to John Fenn and the Web Cultures collection, overseen by the American Folklife Center. See Steven Kurutz, “Meet Your Meme Lords,” The New York Times (April 7, 2020):
Susan Eleuterio is a folklorist, educator, and consultant to non-profits. Eleuterio has been a member of AFS since 1976, has co-chaired the Public Programs and Independent Folklorists Sections, helped to found the Applied (now Public Programs) Section, and has been a trainer
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