Journal of American Folklore

Editor: Lisa Gilman

DETAILS

Current Volume: 137 (2024)
Issued quarterly: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall
ISSN: 0021-8715
eISSN: 1535-1882

About

The Journal of American Folklore, the quarterly journal of the American Folklore Society since the Society's founding in 1888, publishes scholarly articles, notes, and commentaries directed to a wide professional audience. Other sections include those devoted to poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction on matters fundamental to the field; and reviews of books, exhibitions and events, films, sound recordings, and digital/online resources.

The contents of the Journal reflect a wide range of topics and points of view. As the flagship publication of the Society, the Journal reflects concerns of members in both academic and public spheres. Content is grounded in past and current folklore scholarship, and is based on recognized disciplinary methods. Articles present significant research findings and theoretical analyses from the disciplinary perspective of folklore. Notes are narrower in scope and focus on a single, often provocative, issue of definition, interpretation, or practice. Commentaries briefly address topics raised in earlier articles. Its contents are not restricted to folklore in the United States; the Journal publishes materials on folklore and from folklorists anywhere in the world.

 


Indexes

Academic ASAP, Academic Search Alumni Edition, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Elite, Academic Search Premier, Academic Search Ultimate, Academic Source Premier, America: History & Life with Full Text, America: History and Life, Anthropological Literature (Online), Art & Architecture Complete, Art & Architecture Index, Art & Architecture Source, Art Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), Art Full Text (H. W. Wilson), Art Index (H.W. Wilson), Art Source Ultimate, Art, Design & Architecture Collection, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Database, Arts Premium Collection, Bibliography of Native North Americans, Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Brepols, Children's Core Collection, Core Collection en Espanol, Current Abstracts, Current Contents, Dietrich's Index Philosophicus, EBSCO, Fiction Core Collection, FRANCIS, Gale Academic OneFile, Gale Academic OneFile Select, Gale General OneFile, Gale Literature: Book Review Index, Gender Studies Database, Graphic Novels Core Collection, Historical Abstracts, Historical Abstracts (Online), Humanities Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), Humanities Full Text, Humanities Index (Online), Humanities International Complete, Humanities International Index, Humanities Source, Humanities Source Ultimate, IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur, InfoTrac Custom, International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes - und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur, Linguistic Bibliography (Online), Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (Online), Middle and High School Core Collection (H.W. Wilson), MLA International Bibliography, Music & Performing Arts Collection, Music Periodicals Database, Nonfiction Core Collection (H.W. Wilson), OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson), Periodicals Index Online, Personal Alert (E-mail), Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, Professional ProQuest Central, ProQuest 5000, ProQuest Central, PubMed, Research Library, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies, Scopus, Senior High School Core Collection (H.W. Wilson), SocINDEX, SocINDEX Full Text, The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL), TOC Premier, Web of Science, Women's Studies Abstracts, Women's Studies International


MEMBERSHIP RATES

For individual and student memberships, please contact the American Folklore Society. 

Institutions, click here to subscribe to 'Print Only' format.

Institutions:1 Year
Print Only$153
Online Only $159*
Print + Online$199*
*Institutional 'Online Only' and 'Print + Online' subscriptions must be purchased through the Scholarly Publishing Collective.

Non-U.S. Postage: $10 Canada/Mexico, $35 Other Non-U.S. Locations

Single Issues: $15 Institutions


ONLINE + PRINT ADVERTISING

The print ad rates for all our titles can be found in the 2024 journals catalog/rate card.

Click here to download the PDF version

Editors

Editor-in-Chief
Lisa Gilman 

Associate Editors
Benjamin Gatling
Debra Lattanzi Shutika
Lijun Zhang 

Senior Managing Editor
Lorraine Walsh Cashman

Editorial Assistant
Emma Bussard
Journal of American Folklore
Folklore Program
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MSN 3E4
Fairfax, Virginia  22030-4444
jaf.editors@afsnet.org

Sound Recording Review Editor
Langston Collins Wilkins
Department of Nordic, German, and Slavic+
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1350 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Dr. 
Madison, WI 53707
lwilkins2@wisc.edu

Film and Video Review Editor
Emily Hilliard
West Virginia Humanities Council
1310 Kanawha Blvd. E
Charleston, WV 25301
emilyhilliard@gmail.com

Exhibits and Events Review Editor
Kelley Totten
Department of Folklore, ED4046
Memorial University of Newfoundland
323 Prince Philip Drive
St. John’s, NL  A1B 3X8
Canada
ktotten@mun.ca

 

Digital Resource Review Editor
Natalie Underberg-Goode
Department of Games and Interactive Media
Nicholson School of Communication and Media
University of Central Florida
500 W. Livingston, 173D
Orlando, FL 32801
Natalie.Underberg-Goode@ucf.edu

Book Review Editor
James Deutsch
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
deutschj @si.edu

To submit books for review (not using UPS or FedEx)mail three copies to:

James Deutsch
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
MRC 520
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

To submit books for review using UPS or FedEx, mail three copies to:

James Deutsch
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
600 Maryland Avenue SW, Suite 2001
Washington, DC 20024-2520




Editorial Board

  
  • Wanda G. Addison, National University
  • Christina Barr, Nevada Humanities
  • Norma E. Cantú, Trinity University
  • Michael Dylan Foster, University of California, Davis
  • Rachel V. González-Martin, University of Texas at Austin
  • David Todd Lawrence, University of St. Thomas
  • Jim Leary, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Michael Atwood Mason, President Lincoln's College
  • Dorothy Noyes, The Ohio State University
  • Arzu Öztürkmen, Bozaziçi University, Turkey
  • Stephen D. Winick, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress
  • Lihui Yang, Beijing Normal University, China
  • Juwen Zhang, Willamette University

PDF Policy

Author Deposit Permissions Policy

Journal of American Folklore

In response to the evolving nature of scholarly exchange and communications, the American Folklore Society has established the following policy regarding authors’ deposit of their Journal of American Folklore (JAF) contributions (including articles, reviews, notes, etc.) in their institutional repositories. This policy replaces any previous AFS author deposit policy, so it also applies to materials already published in the JAF.

Definitions

[These definitions are based on those on the SHERPA/RoMEO web site (www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeoinfo.html).]

This policy applies to pre-printspost-prints, and the publisher’s version

pre-print is a work-in-process: a contribution not yet accepted, or perhaps even submitted, to the JAF, that you make available for comments and criticism from others. 

post-print is the version of your JAF contribution after peer review and acceptance for the Journal of American Folklore, with revisions having been made.

The publisher’s version is the PDF file of your contribution as it appears in the Journal of American Folklore.

Policy

AFS encourages authors to post pre-prints and post-prints of their JAF contributions in temporary locations, such as personal websites, until such time as the publisher’s version is available. 

Authors may post publisher’s versions of their JAF contributions to the repository of their home institution as soon as those versions are available. When posting a publisher’s version, authors must include one of the following two notations:

For JAF contributions published before 2003:

Published as [provide the complete bibliographic citation as it appears in the print version of the Journal of American Folklore]. © [Year] by the American Folklore Society.

For JAF contributions published beginning in 2003:

Published as [provide the complete bibliographic citation as it appears in the print version of the Journal of American Folklore]. © [Year] by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Submissions

Please visit the American Folklore Society for the Journal of American Folklore submission guidelines.


When you are ready to submit, please click the button below to be taken to our online submission system.


Submit to Journal of American Folklore

View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement

 

Featured Articles



Unfinished Stories: Problematizing Narrative Completion
Diane E. Goldstein
https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0137
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0137?refreqid=excelsior%3Aab7b4ecccea4885a7e5619d72d4b4adc

Refinishing the Story: Transforming Stories of Life into Life Stories
Tom Mould
https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0147
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0147?refreqid=excelsior%3A2c10fa819738c6384d972fee93dbf640

Missing Finishes and Diminishing Heroes in Hurricane Katrina Survivor Stories
Carl Lindahl
https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0165
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0165?refreqid=excelsior%3Aec681e2f5014fb303da0d8d97d31db2b

Narrative Breakdown in the Political Asylum Process
Amy Shuman and Carol Bohmer
https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0180
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0180?refreqid=excelsior%3A1699f6a81c7d1385f322ca461b012ace

The Place Where Things Fall Apart: The World from Inside a Fragment
Diane E. Goldstein
https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0196
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.134.532.0196?refreqid=excelsior%3A3d029084e217254407ba2076113f958f

Counter Memes and Anti-Legends in Online Welfare Discourse
Tom Mould (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/441/318975/Counter-Memes-and-Anti-Legends-in-Online-Welfare

Gender and Genre: Women's Performance Practices in Dersim
Aylin Demir
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/540/131/366197/Gender-and-Genre-Women-s-Performance-Practices-in

Gender and Legend in Rural Iceland in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Júlíana Th. Magnúsdóttir
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/540/159/366207/Gender-and-Legend-in-Rural-Iceland-in-the-Late

“Urgencies” in the Field: Three Perspectives
Thomas Grant Richardson; Jon Kay; Maida Owens; Tim Frandy
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/540/181/366202/Urgencies-in-the-Field-Three-Perspectives

Where Were/Are Asian American Folklorists?
Juwen Zhang
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/540/199/366186/Where-Were-Are-Asian-American-Folklorists

Strategic Skepticism: The Politics of Grassroots Participation in an Afro-Andean Nomination to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List
Rodrigo Chocano
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/541/249/380811/Strategic-Skepticism-The-Politics-of-Grassroots

Repairing Tradition: Vernacular Knowledge, Cognitive Spaces, and Economies of Work in an Agricultural Repair Shop
John Laudun
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/541/274/380824/Repairing-Tradition-Vernacular-Knowledge-Cognitive

Snow Woman Yukionna: From Spirit of Snow to Icy Hot Female
Noriko Tsunoda Reider
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/541/298/380809/Snow-Woman-Yukionna-From-Spirit-of-Snow-to-Icy-Hot

Conspiratorial Thinking among Russian Speakers in Estonia: From COVID-19 to the War in Ukraine
Anastasiya Astapova
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/issue/136/542

Departures: Irish Emigration and Supernatural Belief Narratives
Timothy Corrigan Correll
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/issue/136/542

Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa's “Great(er) Spain”: The Snares of Querencia and the Pitfalls of Cultural Nationalism and Fundamentalist Hispanismo
Enrique R. Lamadrid
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/542/413/383072/Aurelio-Macedonio-Espinosa-s-Great-er-Spain-The

A Cross-Boundary Dialogue in Need: Racial, Ethnic, or Folk Groups?
Juwen Zhang; Wanda G. Addison; Margaret Magat; Mark Y. Miyake; Raymond Summerville; Anthony Bak Buccitelli
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/136/542/433/383067/A-Cross-Boundary-Dialogue-in-Need-Racial-Ethnic-or

In a Land of Venn Diagrams: Reflections on Anti-Fans and Counter Memes, Trolls and Anti-Legends
Whitney Phillips (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/477/318967/In-a-Land-of-Venn-Diagrams-Reflections-on-Anti

Memes and Representations of Race: An Analysis of Historical Representations of Welfare
Mia Moody-Ramirez (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/471/318973/Memes-and-Representations-of-Race-An-Analysis-of

Vaccine Hesitancy Counter Memes
Anastasiya Astapova (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/466/318972/Vaccine-Hesitancy-Counter-Memes

Folklore and Cultural Heritage: Reflecting on Change
Valdimar Tr. Hafstein
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/16/385646/Folklore-and-Cultural-Heritage-Reflecting-on

“Won't You Help to Sing These Songs of Freedom?”: Sharing Authority, Co-curation, and Supporting Community-Driven Heritage Work
Diana Baird N'Diaye
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/23/385642/Won-t-You-Help-to-Sing-These-Songs-of-Freedom

Toward Sustainable Visits
Owe Ronström
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/32/385644/Toward-Sustainable-Visits

Culinary Tourism as Public Folklore: Heritage in Negotiating Competitiveness and Sustainability
Lucy M. Long
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/45/385647/Culinary-Tourism-as-Public-Folklore-Heritage-in

Folklife, Heritage, and the Environment: A Critique of Natural Capital, Ecosystem Services, and Settler Ecology
Jeff Todd Titon
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/61/385649/Folklife-Heritage-and-the-Environment-A-Critique

Anticipatory Heritage
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/543/85/385651/Anticipatory-Heritage

The Legend of the Naked Dead: Apparitions and Proper Burial in Latter-day Saint Folklore
Christopher James Blythe
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/544/153/387451/The-Legend-of-the-Naked-Dead-Apparitions-and

Accenting Songs in an Afro-Brazilian Festival: Song Structures, Performance Styles, and Ludic Capital in the Bumba-meu-Boi of Maranhão
Jelani K. Mahiri
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/544/174/387457/Accenting-Songs-in-an-Afro-Brazilian-Festival-Song

The Native Princess of Sri Lanka: The Thematic Metaphorical Approach in Symbolizing Characteristics of Folklore of Kuweni
Shashiprabha Thilakarathne; Sumith Gopura; Ayesha Wickramasinghe; Alice Payne
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/544/204/387458/The-Native-Princess-of-Sri-Lanka-The-Thematic

Woody Guthrie: Racial Transformation through the Framework of the “Long Civil Rights Movement”
Daniel L. Willett
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/544/219/387456/Woody-Guthrie-Racial-Transformation-through-the

Response Essay: Woody Guthrie: Racial Transformation through the Framework of the “Long Civil Rights Movement”
James Counts Early
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/137/544/231/387443/Response-EssayWoody-Guthrie-Racial-Transformation

American Folklore Studies and Disability: An Introduction
Anand Prahlad
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/article/931458

Folklore, Disability, and Plain Language: The Problem of Consent
Amy Shuman and Olivia Caldeira
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/article/931460

Folklore and Disability: An Important—and Too Often Overlooked—Factor in Global Health and International Development Efforts
Nora Ellen Groce
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/article/931462

The Lost Cherokee
Gwendolyn Paradice
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/article/931464

Living in the Nexus of Disability and Caregiving: An African American Parental Caregiver’s Critical Observations as a Folklorist
Phyllis M. May-Machunda
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/article/931465

OA Content



In a Land of Venn Diagrams: Reflections on Anti-Fans and Counter Memes, Trolls and Anti-Legends
Whitney Phillips (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/477/318967/In-a-Land-of-Venn-Diagrams-Reflections-on-Anti

Memes and Representations of Race: An Analysis of Historical Representations of Welfare
Mia Moody-Ramirez (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/471/318973/Memes-and-Representations-of-Race-An-Analysis-of

Vaccine Hesitancy Counter Memes
Anastasiya Astapova (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/466/318972/Vaccine-Hesitancy-Counter-Memes

Counter Memes and Anti-Legends in Online Welfare Discourse
Tom Mould (Free access through 1/31/2024)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaf/article/135/538/441/318975/Counter-Memes-and-Anti-Legends-in-Online-Welfare