Folklore Dump

Here are some links that are of interest to me:

• Bad Archaeology - A Snopes for the people who try to tell you the world will end in 2012 or that the pyramids were built by space aliens.
• Know Your Meme - This is how the youths communicate with one another.   
• John Miles Foley, RIP - founder of one of my favorite journals and author of a number of influential books on oral literature has passed.
• 100 Years of Titanic Songs - not counting Celine Dion.
• Paganfest - who are more ridiculous: pagans or juggalos? Discuss.
• Iran's Epic - new book out about the Shahnameh.   There can't be enough books about the Shahnameh, IMHO.  
• Eefing - American folk tradition.   If you don't know it yet, then start clicking!
• More Titanic Music (NO CELINE DION!)
• Блатная Песня - who doesn't love Russian prison songs?   
• Peasant Culture in Russian Cartoons - look, there's a metafilter about this.

Spring Reading List

I have just recently discovered that because I possess a coveted Boston Public Library card I am able to access on-line thousands of articles in "The Journal of American Folklore," "Western Folklore," etc.   Loading up my Kindle!   It's almost like I am back in academia without all the backbiting and politicking!

Here are the spring folklore books I want you to buy for me:

• The Seven Tengu Scrolls: Evil and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy in Medieval Japanese Buddhism - Haruko Wakabayashi.   University of Hawaii Press.   
• Miraculous Plenty: Irish Religious Folktales and Legends - Sean O Suilleabhain, ed.   Trans. by William Caulfield.   Scribhinni Bealodis/Folklore Studies Series, Folklore of Ireland Council.  
• Folk Tales of the Maldives - Xavier Romero-frias.   Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
• Enchanted Legends and Lore of New Mexico: Witches, Ghosts & Spirits - Ray John de Aragon.  The History Press.
• The Magical Imagination: Magic and Modernity in Urban England, 1780-1914 - Karl Bell.   Cambridge University Press.
• The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn - ed. by Lenn E. Goodman and Richard MacGregor.   Oxford University Press.
• The Irish Fairy Tales: A Narrative Tradition from the Middle Ages to Yeats and Stephens - Vito Carrassi.   Trans. by Kevin Wren.   University of Delaware Press.
• Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions - Jonathan Eyers.  Adlard Coles.
• The Voice of the People: Writing the European Folk Revival, 1760-1914 - ed. by Matthew Campbell and Michael Perraudin.   Anthem World History, Anthem Press.
• The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale - Caroline Sumpter.   Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture, Palgrave MacMillan.
• A Lark for the Sake of Their Country: The 1926 General Strike Volunteers in Folklore and Memory - Rachelle H. Saltzman.  Manchester University Press.
• The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science: A Mythologist Looks (Seriously) at Popular Science Writing - Gregory Schrempp.   McGill-Queen's University Press.
• The Denver Folk Music Tradition: An Unplugged History, from Harry Tuft to Swallow Hill and Beyond - Paul A. Malkoski.   The History Press.
• Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States - Kip Lornell.   American Made Music Series, University Press of Mississippi.
• The Irresistable Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre - Jack Zipes.   Princeton University Press.
• Intimate Distance: Andean Music in Japan - Michelle Bigenho.   Duke University Press Books.
• Villages on Stage: Folklore and Nationalism in the Republic of Moldova - Jennifer R. Cash.   Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, LIT Verlag.
• A Companion to Folklore - Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem, eds.   Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, Wiley-Blackwell.
• Fairy Tales Framed: Early Forewords, Afterwords and Critical Words - Ruth B. Bottigheimer.   State University of New York Press.

Happy readings!

Folklore TV on the Interwebs

Sometimes I don't know how things like this can go under my radar for so long, but there was a charming television show produced by North Carolina Public Television called "Folkways" hosted by musician David Holt.

I came across this by reading the latest Foxfire collection, which I recommend picking up.

You can find the show here at UNC-TV online. Viewing these episodes requires Realplayer, and I don't like Realplayer. But, happily, they are also available -FOR FREE! - on iTunes. I already have a few episodes loaded on my iPod for my next trip to the gym.

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!