Every fall, the American Folklore Society (AFS) holds its annual conference in a different city, attracting Folklore scholars and enthusiasts the world over. This year, November 5-8, the conference was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the George Mason Folklore program, represented by students, faculty, and alumni, made a brilliant showing. Presenting original research, leading discussion panels, and hanging out with the who's who of the Folklore community, the Mason folklorists who made the trek out to Santa Fe have all given rave reviews of the conference. "There is something special about being in a building surrounded by hundreds of people that share the same passion as you," says graduate student Kaitlyn Kinney. "It's like magic almost." Here are just a few of the highlights:
- During the Opening Ceremony, our very own Dr. Peggy Yocom was inducted into the Fellows of the American Folklore Society. Congratulations Peggy!
- Also announced at the Opening Ceremony, our illustrious professors, Dr. Lattanzi Shutika, Dr. Fraser, and Dr. Gatling, were officially named the incoming Book Review Editorial Team for the Journal of American Folklore!
Three of our current graduate students presented at AFS this year:
- Tyler Chadwell chaired a panel discussion titled Fieldwork at the Crossroads: Exploring Fieldwork Practice through the LGBTQA Lens.
- Pam Tinker chaired the panel on Migrations and Adaptations and presented "The Evolving Sense of Place among Cherokee People of East and West."
- Kim Stryker, currently working on her dissertation, presented "The Cultivation of Farm Identity among "Pick-Your-Own" Farmers of Fauquier Country, Virginia."
We also had nine alumni from George Mason Folklore present at AFS, several of whom are now earning PhDs at other universities.
Congratulations to everyone who made it out to Santa Fe and helped make this event a success. As for first year Folklore students such as myself, there is always next year. The 2015 AFS conference is being held in Long Beach, California, and I look forward to seeing you there.
November 20, 2014