University of Pennsylvania - Folklore and Folklife

For more information about Folklore and Folklife,at UPenn, contact Professor Dan Ben-Amos at dbamos@sas.upenn.edu.

For assistance with the Folklore and Folklife website, contact Linda Lee at lindalee@sas.upenn.edu.

Folklore at Large

Professional Associations and Journals

The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the national association for folklorists. The Society publishes a quarterly journal, the Journal of American Folklore (JAF), which contains recent and important thinking about the discipline. In addition to the articles, the film, record, and book reviews are an invaluable way to keep up with new developments in the field. Students should become members of AFS and read the Journal. Student membership dues are $20.00 per year and include a subscription to JAF (published quarterly) and the American Folklore Society Newsletter (published bimonthly). To become a member, write to the American Folklore Society, 1703 New Hampshire Ave., Washington, D.C., 20009. It would be a good idea to include a photocopy of your student I.D. with your check to substantiate your claim of student status.

AFS holds annual meetings in mid October. Unlike many professional organizations, AFS welcomes students who wish to present papers at these conferences. The Newsletter publishes the information and forms you need to submit a proposal. The deadline for submission is April 15. In the past, up to $250 in travel reimbursement has been available from the university for students presenting papers at AFS meetings; should the University continue this policy, an announcement about such subventions will be sent to all graduate students in residence. Students will not be permitted to substitute another subvention. Application for travel subvention must be submitted one month before the meeting.
There are many other folklore associations and journals both in the US and elsewhere. Some journals are general in focus; others concentrate on a specific religion, group or genre. Here is a partial list of journals in this and related fields: Western Folklore, Keystone Folklore, New Jersey Folklore, New York Folklore, Fabula, Journal of Folklore Research, Proverbium, Maledicta, American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, Journals of the American Anthropological Association, Ethnomusicology, PMLA (Journal of the Modern Language Association). Copies of these journals are available either in the Folklore Archive (Logan Hall room 312) or in Van Pelt Library. If you should decide to subscribe to any of them, subscription information is usually printed somewhere near the front of the journal.
Other Local Associations of Interest to Folklorists
Philadelphia Folklore Project: Debora Kodish, Director, 1304 Wharton Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147; 215-468-7871.
Philadelphia Folksong Society: 7113 Emlen St., Philadelphia, PA 19119; 215-247-1300.
International House Folklife Center: 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104; 215-387-5127,(5125).

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