The American Folklore Society

As you build your agenda in the Fourwaves conference app or on the conference website, make note of the keynote lectures and community events and add them to your agenda.

New York Folklore is seeking an experienced and community-focused administrator to serve as Executive Director for the Schenectady-based, state-wide organization.

Fourwaves recently developed an app that is dedicated to navigating the Annual Meeting program schedule on iOS or Android devices.

The 138th Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society is around the corner and AFS looks forward to welcoming you in Asheville next week.

Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) will host its Summer Research Fellowship Program in 2027, offering scholars, researchers, and folklorists the opportunity to spend 4–6 weeks in Santa Fe, New Mexico, conducting research on the museum’s extensive fo…

The story of La Llorona—the weeping spirit everyone recognizes but no one wants to face—has been passed down orally for hundreds of years, spanning nearly all of Latin America and tracing its origins to Mesoamerican myths.

Congratulations to Meagan Dion (Nebraska Arts Council), recipient of the 2026 Roger Welsch Opportunity Fund.

Wednesday Lunch –Grab and Go Interest Because of the tight turnaround on Wed. (10/28) and Thurs. (10/29), AFS is arranging for grab-and-go lunches to be available for purchase at the hotel on both days.

Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) North Carolina Arts Council Division is seeking a Folklife Director.

The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) will hold its next congress in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, August 3–6, 2027.

The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) is pleased to invite you to its “Meet the Authors” talk series.

On July 25, 2026, the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the film, Jonesville: When Sunflowers Fall, an Emmy to a group of WKU-based folklorists, Community Scholars and media professionals in the historical…

Tales from the Netherworld (Northern Illinois University Press, 2026) explores the theme of katabasis, the descent to the underworld, in Russian literature from its earliest secular texts—folktales—until the end of the New Economic Policy (1921–1928), when

Drawing on ethnography, historical sources, and vernacular environmental knowledge, Weather Signs (Berghahn Books, 2026) examines how fishermen and coastal communities in Japan read winds, clouds, seas, animals, and celestial signs to anticipate change and

The Department of Music at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UHM) has a long-standing reputation for excellence in the study of world music, especially the musics of Asia and the Pacific.

The Associate Curator of Living History manages place-based interpretive programs where staff and volunteers engage guests in period clothing.

AFS President Jason Baird Jackson sent a letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch on behalf of the many AFS members who had expressed their admiration for Bunch’s leadership and dismay at his resignation from the Smithsonian.

Valerie Smith, President of the Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, has recently announced that the College’s Old Science Hall was renamed Edley-Morgan Hall.

As a service to AFSAM26 attendees, the University of Illinois Press and the American Folklore Society are offering free access through December 31 to “The Cantoya Fest: Festivalization and the Touristification of Security in a Conflict Zone,” by Mintzi Au…

The Editorial Collective of the Journal of American Folklore has just submitted to press v. 140, no. 556, featuring a collection of essays on the theme of Folklore and Artificial Intelligence, that will arrive in print and online in Spring 2027.

The members of the Journal of American Folklore’s Editorial Collective are delighted to announce that Ziying You has joined the team in editing the journal.

The American Folklore Society and AFS President Jason Baird Jackson are pleased to announce that the Presidential Invited Plenary at the 2026 Annual Meeting will be given by Dr.

An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann/The Folklore of Ireland Society will hold its Centenary Conference, A Hundred Years a-Growing: Commemorating a Centenary of Irish Folklore Collection, Scholarship, and Creativity, on the campus of University College Dublin…

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

Foodways can encompass practices relating to sourcing and growing food, the traditions behind certain recipes, and the relationships that shared meals have to broader ceremonies, rituals, and customs.

AFS is excited to share with you a number of off-site events and excursions to enlighten and entertain you during your time in Asheville and Western North Carolina.

The AFS Fellows are currently taking names for registration for the Breakfast with a Fellow event, which will take place at the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Asheville on Thursday, October 29, from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. in Top of the Plaz…

This year, the Annual Meeting will be held at the Renaissance Asheville Downtown Hotel, where our largest room block will be located and where most of our conference sessions will be located.

The AFS Nominating Committee (chaired by Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe with members Betty Belanus, Ian Brodie, and Kelley Totten) has announced its slate of candidates for each available office in the AFS 2026 election.

In Music and Dances from Central Nepal (Open Book Publishers, 2026), performer, educator, and writer Subi Shah presents an essential commentary and analysis of Himalayan folk music and performance.

The Primitive Within (Oxford University Press, 2026) is the first book to examine the relation between German folklore studies and colonial anthropology in the age of empire.

The Library of Congress has just launched “Alive in Many Hands: The American Folklife Center at 50,” a new exhibition showing how living traditions carry memory, identity and community across generations.

While making your 2026 Annual Meeting plans, we want to remind you to check out the Annual Meeting Conference Platform (Fourwaves).

Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) is the Library of Congress’ premier educational program, focused on helping educators enhance students’ critical thinking, analysis skills, and content knowledge using primary sources.

Check out the new Digital Advertising package available for the 2026 Annual Meeting!

The Annual Meeting Program is still growing, but you can start planning your meeting now!

The History Program at Fairmont State University is currently recruiting candidates for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of History specializing in Public History for a Fall 2027 appointment.

Forced migration is an international problem impacting global powers as well as smaller resource-constrained countries.

The Fall issue (v. 139, no. 554) of JAF: A Global Quarterly/The Journal of American Folklore will soon be mailed to subscribers and made available online.

Johnny and Sarah Frank’s lives were steeped in the old ways of survival in the upland boreal forest of northeastern Alaska.

A two-day conference, Singing History: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ballads and the Past, will be held at National Library of Australia, Canberra, November 11–12, 2027.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) publishes a research guide designed as an introduction to the wide array of folklore and folklore-related resources at NYPL, especially reference works, and resources focused on storytelling.

The Journal of Folklore and Education (JFE) invites submissions to their 2027 issue, “Soundtracks: Community, Culture, and Music.”