Add These to Your Bookshelf

It's the beginning of the month, and that means one thing at The New Vernacular Culture - that it's time to check out the new titles of interest to folklorists of all stripes. Here are some of the books I would like to add to my bookshelf soon:

• The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore: A Study in Comparative Archaeology - Christian Blinkenberg. Cambridge University Press. This book was originally published in 1911. It's in the Public Domain and can also be found here. And here. If you want a hard copy - for cheaper - try out the Harvard Bookstore; their machine Gutenberg will print out any pdf in minutes flat.
• Demonology and Devil-lore - Moncure Daniel Conway. Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge, Cambridge University Press. Reprint of 19th century work, in two volumes. Volume two here. Also free in many formats at Archive.org.
• Religion and the Decline in Magic - Keith Thomas. Penguin History, Penguin Global.
• Lord of the Dead: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl - Rudolfo Anaya. University of New Mexico Press.
• Ragnarok: The End of the Gods - A. S. Byatt. Myths Series, Grove Press. I don't know, I kind of like John Hodgman's version.
• The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale - Caroline Sumpter. Palgrave Studies in 19th Century, Palgrave Macmillan.

This month more than others, it appears that there is a surfeit of re-published folklore books and print-on-demand titles. Most of these titles are available for free many places - for the Kindle, on Archive.org and over at Google Books.

Shamanism and Folklore

The local alt-weekly recently published an article about contemporary uses of shamanism around Charlottesville in which they portrayed three local practitioners - one of whom is my friend, former boss and fellow Slavic folklorist Rachel Mann. I had the privilege of being Rachel's teaching assistant for a class on Story and Healing, which included a substantial segment on shamanism. This class was also ground-breaking in it's use of online collaborative writing tools, which is what propelled me into my sub-specialty of technology in folklore studies. It can be said that this class set both Rachel and I on paths that would shape the rest of our lives.

It was nice to read about how Dr. Mann is combining her academic background with her spiritual beliefs to create a local community of healing, you can check out the CVille weekly article here.

Here's some more resources on shamanism and folklore:

• "A World of Healing: The Mesa in Peruvian Shamanism" - Rachel Mann's article on Shaman's Portal.
• "Tuvan Shamanic Folklore" - Mongush B. Kenin-Lopsan. Excerpt from the book "Shamanic Worlds."
• "China's Dagur Minority: Society, Shamanism and Folklore" - Kevin Stuart, LI Wuewei and Shelear.
• "Shamanic Remnants in Hungarian Folklore" - I know it's a Wikipedia article, use your judgement.

New Year, New Link Dump!

Let's get this new year started right by cleaning my cache of recently highlighted folklore links:

• First off, I really love the postings from the Facebook profile Slavic Folklore. Follow her, she always has something interesting.
• Every so often NPR posts something of interest to the folklorist. Here is a story about the ballad in America.
• Someone found a Face Jug.
• Are you looking for a Public Folklorist job in Kentucky? Then click here.
• The American Folklife Center has a new incoming director. Congratulations, Dr. Petersen!
• Honestly, I could not get through these articles. And I don't have the energy or the inclination to correct them. Where knowledge rules, my ass!
• Nice bio and brief interview with folklorist (and Virginia native!) Anand Prahlad.
• What is Afrofuturism? Anything with Sun Ra gets my stamp of approval.
• As I can relate, Gerald Hausman was first introduced to the importance of the Wolf in Cub Scouts. Now if someone can only write a book about the importance of the Webelo in Native American culture.
• Call for papers! Ethnology at the Crossroads. Get cracking, start writing and submit.
• I like when people put their theses online. For free! It's like getting a free book! Congrats to Dr. Lewis for finishing her degree! I look forward to reading the thesis, "Aboriginal Britain"
• Review of "The Story Time of the British Empire: Colonial and Post-Colonial Folkloristics" was recently posted to the Journal of Folklore Research website.
• Speaking of online folklore journals, check out the latest ish of the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, which includes pdfs which can be downloaded onto whatever you do your reading on nowadays.
• New book coming out on Dagestani folk tales.
• Architects design your favorite homes from folk tales.
• This book won the Russian Booker. I want to read it. It is said to have folkloristic overtones.

I only engage in the laziest type of blogging!

While 'writing' this post I was listening to the awesome bootleg recording of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan "Kickin' It." I recommend that you procure yourself a copy if you are a fan of either.

New Folklore Books for 2012

The new year has started - let's take a look at what is coming to your folklore bookshelf:

• The Ballad Collectors of North America: How Gathering Folksongs Transformed Academic Thought and American Identity - ed. by Scott B. Spencer. American Folk Music and Musicians Series, Hardcover, 272 pp. , Scarecrow Press.
• The Ecology of the Spoken Word: Amazon Storytelling and Shamanism among the Napo Runa - Michael Uzendoski & Edith Felicia Calapucha-Tapuy. Hardcover, 224 pp., University of Illinois Press.
• Herakles - Emma Stafford. Hardcover, 336 pp., Routledge.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

Festivus for the Rest of Us

Happy solstice season! Here are some books to leave under the Festivus pole of your loved folklorists:

• Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece - Barbara Kowalzig. Oxford Classical Monographs, Oxford University Press.
• Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic - Theodore Ziolkowski. Cornell University Press.
• Observations on Popular Antiquites [2 Volume Set] -John Brand and Henry Ellis. Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge, Cambridge University Press. Reprint of 1813 edition.
• Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America: A History - Johannes Dillinger. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Anteros: A Forgotten Myth - Craig E. Stephenson. Routledge.
• Body, Boots and Britches: Folktales, Ballads, and Speech from Country New York [2nd Edition] - Harold Thompson. York State Book, Syracuse University Press.
• Mexican Border Ballads & Other Lore - Mody C. Boatright, ed. Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, Southern Methodist University Press.
• Alexander the Great: Myth, Genesis and Sexuality - Daniel Ogden. University of Exeter Press.
• The Holy Grail: History, Legend and Symbolism - Arthur Edward Waite. Dover Books on Anthropology and Folklore, Dover Publications.
• An Introduction to Japanese Folk Performing Arts - Terence A. Lancashire. Soas Musicology Series, Ashgate.

November Spawned Another List of Folklore Books

I was either going to go with the vague Morrissey pun today or something about "November Rain," but, hey, have you seen a picture of Axl Rose lately? Not holding up that well, that man is.

• The Lore of the Whare-wananga: Or Teachings of the Maori College on Religion, Cosmogony and History - H. T. Whatahoro. Cambridge Library Collection, Cambridge University Press.
• The Archaic: The Past in the Present - Paul Bishop. Routledge.
• The Jewish Dark Continent: Life and Death in the Russian Pale of Settlement - Nathaniel Deutsch. Harvard University Press.
• River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line - Rachel Havrelock. University of Chicago Press.
• Music and Globalization: Critical Encounters - edited by Bob W. White. Tracking Globalization, Indiana University Press.
• Le leggende della terra toscana - Carlo Lapucci. Edizioni Polistampa.
• Der Mythos von der Weisheit Agyptens in der franzosischen Literatur der Moderne - Michael Bernsen. Grundungsmythen Europas in Literatur, Musik und Kunst, V&R Unipress.
• Der Konigin Luise-Mythos: Mediengeschichte des Idealbilds deutscher Weiblichkeit, 1860-1960 - Birte Forster. Formen der Erinnerung, V&R Unipress.
• Explorations Into Arab Folk Literature - Pierre Cachia. Edinburgh University Press.
• Deadly Powers: Animal Predators and the Mythic Imagination - Paul A. Trout. Prometheus Press.
• Vaccinations and Public Concern in History: Legend, Rumor, and Risk Perception - Andrea Kitta. Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Routledge.
• The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend - a retelling by Peter Ackroyd.
• African Genesis: Folk Tales and Myths of Africa - Leo Frobenius and Douglas C. Fox. Dover Publications.
• Racial Experiments in Cuban Literature and Ethnography - Emily A. Maguire. University Press of Florida.
• Myths and Folk Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars - Jeremiah Curtin. Dover Publications.
• A Handbook of Norse Mythology - Karl Mortensen. Dover Publications.
• From Ritual to Romance - Jessie L. Weston. Dover Publications.

Hasta la pasta!

Friday's Folklore Roundup

It may appear that I only do Folklore Friday on every third Friday of every third month. But that is not true. I sometimes post it on a Thursday. It's half-assed, I know, but I ain't getting paid for it or anything. So enjoy, my three readers!

• The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society of Ontario celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. If there is one thing I love to read about, it is the migration pattern of Germans. I knew about the Pennsylvania German settlements down the Shenandoah Valley, but I did not know that they went North as well. I wish the society another successful sixty years!
• As I type this, the AFS meeting is going on at Indiana University. Back when I was a lowly graduate student I never made it to one of those meetings, but I reveled in hearing my mentor tell me stories about who was drunk at the bar during the meetings. Henry Glassie is giving the keynote this year. I should iterate that Prof. Glassie was never reported as drunk. In fact, I had the honor of being introduced to him by my mentor. It was like meeting a Beatle.
• The JAFL has recently posted a not-too-glowing review of the book "African American Folktales."
• Are you at the AFS meeting? Then tomorrow you can assert folklore's relevancy by attending the discussion of Occupy Wall Street hosted by Jason Baird Jackson and Christina Barr. I spent some time the other day at Occupy Boston and was moved to tears by some of the signs (a folk art if ever I saw one).
• I think the headline says it all: "Materials from AFS Undergraduate Education Project Available." Click if you're interested in that sort of thing - you probably are if you've read this far. I really liked the well-written and well-thought out comment from Robert Bethke. Doesn't he know that the comment sections on websites are for trolling and snark, not intelligent discussion.
• If I was at the AFS meeting, this is the poster I would check out first.
• Lithuanian-American folklorist Jonas Balys has passed away.
• Banjoist Wade Mainer has also passed on.

Exelsior!