Visiting Folklorist Dr. Montana Miller to Speak at George Mason University, October 6

On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, Dr. Montana Miller (Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University) will visit Mason's Fairfax campus to give two presentations hosted by the Folklore Studies Program and Folklore Roundtable, with support from University Life.

From 3:00-4:15pm in Johnson Center Meeting Room C, Dr. Miller will share insights from her current research project, Blue Skies, Black Death: Skydivers and the Ambiguity of Belief, on beliefs and attitudes regarding death among experienced and professional skydivers.

From 7.30-9:00pm in Johnson Center Meeting Room A, Dr. Miller will speak about her book Playing Dead: Mock Trauma and Folk Drama in Staged High School Drunk Driving Tragedies (Utah State University Press, 2012), on aspects of folk drama and play in the “Every 15 Minutes” program.

Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University. She earned her Bachelor’s in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University, and her Master's and Ph.D. at UCLA. As an ethnographer she specializes in perceptions and beliefs about risk in subcultures that are often misunderstood. Now a world class competitive and professional skydiver, she is currently writing a book on skydivers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding death.