Western States
Folklore Society
Folklore Society
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WSFS Conference Program
April 10-12, 2008
"Folklore Engages Modernity"
University of California, Davis
THURSDAY, APRIL 10
Registration and light refreshments
5 to 8 PM
Continental Breakfast area
Hallmark Inn
110 F Street
Davis, CA
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
Registration 8 to 8:45 AM
Session One: 9 to 10:30 AM
1.1 Gender and the Folklore of YouthSession Chair: Jay Mechling (University of California, Davis)
- 9:00
- “Cinderella Dressed In Yella" Thirty Years Later: Jump Rope Rhymes in Northern California
Marilyn Jorgensen (Independent Scholar, Sacramento) - 9:20
- Circling Homosexuality: The Psychological Underpinnings of a Traditional Adolescent Male Game
Kelly Revak (Lambda Archives of San Diego) - 9:40
- What Crumbling Pyramids Tell Us About Male Adolescence
Jay Mechling (University of California, Davis)
Session Chair: Linda Malcor (Independent Scholar)
- 9:00
- The Hittite Sword in the Stone: The Sword God and His Twelve Companions
Linda A. Malcor (Independent Scholar) - 9:20
- The Sword in the Tail: Susano, Yamato-takeru, and the Embedded Sword Theme in Ancient Japan
C. Scott Littleton (Occidental College) - 9:40
- Reconciling Fifth-Century British History and Legend
Frank Reno (Independent Scholar) - 10:00
- Chrétien de Troyes: Is the word GRAAL the hidden key to the grail
Wolfgang von Chmielewski
Session Chair: Frances J. Fischer (Edinburgh, Scotland)
- 9:00
- A Scottish Gaelic Choir on a Sea of Heritage
Frances J. Fischer (Edinburgh, Scotland) - 9:20
- Collectivity by Culture Squared: Cultural Heritage Revisited
Valdimar Tr. Hafstein (University of Iceland / University of California, Berkeley) - 9:40
- Changing Sameness: Cosmopolitan Influences in Mailan Griot/te Tradition
Emily Afanador (University of Oregon) - 10.00
- Are We There Yet: Investigations into the Expectations of Cultural Tourism
Angela Montague (University of Oregon)
Session Two: 10:45 AM to 12:15 PM
2.1 Folklore TheorySession Chair: Simon J. Bronner (Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg)
- 10:45
- Rereading Aubrey over Dorson’s Shoulder
Charles Briggs (University of California, Berkeley) - 11:05
- Thinking through Tradition
Elliott Oring (California State University, Los Angeles) - 11:25
- Sorting through Practice: A Folkloristic Theory?
Simon J. Bronner (Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg)
Session Chair: Teresa Keeler (Pasadena City College)
- 10:45
- "How Homeless Are You?” Homeless Teenagers and the CCH Storytelling Initiative
Antone Minard (University of San Diego) - 11:05
- Message in a Bottle: The Unspoken Narrative of Serial Collaboration
Lynne S. McNeill (Memorial University of Newfoundland) - 11:25
- Personal Narratives, Personal Myths: The Embodiment of Self in Metaphor and Memory
Teresa Keeler (Pasadena City College) - 11:45
- Otherworldly Heights
Devin Crane (San Diego)
Session Chair: Joyce Bishop (California State University, Sacramento)
- 10:45
- Follow My Lead: Modernity’s Intrusion into Salsa-dancing
Joy Tang (University of California, Berkeley) - 11:05
- Folk Medicine and Issues of Heritage in Latin America
Ruth Goldstein (University of California, Berkeley) - 11:25
- Folklore, Verbal Art, and Modernism
Cecil Brown (Berkeley) - 11:45
- Folk Art and Politics: Origins of Chicano Day of the Dead
Joyce Bishop (California State University, Sacramento)
Lunch Break: 12:15 to 1:30 PM
Session Three: 1:30 to 3 PM
3.1 ProverbsSession Chair: Galit Hasan-Rokem (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
- 1:30
- “New Proverbs Run Deep: Prolegomena to A Dictionary of Modern Anglo-American Proverbs
Wolfgang Mieder (University of Vermont) - 1:50
- From Here (or There) to Eternity: The Evolution of a Metaphysical Proverb
Charles Clay Doyle (University of Georgia) - 2:10
- Getting Ahead in Ethiopia: Amharic Proverbs about Wealth and Poverty
Tok Thompson (University of Southern California)
Session Chair: Kimberly Lau
- 1:30
- Me, My Avatar, and I—Toward a Mixed Embodiment
Kimberly Lau (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Jan Soffner (University of Cologne, Germany) - 1:50
- Dreaming from Technology
Mithra Moezzi (Ghoulem Research) - 2:10
- Spectral Sensations
JoAnn Conrad (University of California, Berkeley)
Session Chair: José Limón (University of Texas, Austin)
- 1:30
- The Centipede who Played Free Safety: The Post-Modern Mexican-American Joke Form
José Limón (University of Texas, Austin) - 1:50
- Sucking up: Blonde Jokes, Fellatio and the Desire to Please Rachel Lewis (Indiana University)
- 2:10
- If These Stalls Could Talk: Gendered Spaces and Identity Construction in Latrinalia
Carl Schottmiller (University of California, Berkeley)
Break: 3 to 3:15 PM
Session Four: 3:15 to 4:45 PM
4.1 Do Do That Voodoo (and Magic)Session Chair: Patrick Polk (University of California, Los Angeles)
- 3:15
- “Three Dead Men and a Gangster’s Shoe” Transmigrations and Transformations of European Charming Traditions in the New World
Stephen C. Wehmeyer (California State University, Northridge) - 3:35
- “By St. Peter and St. Paul, Voodoos All”: Blacking European Magic in the Americas
Patrick Polk (University of California, Los Angeles)
Session Chair: Sharon R. Sherman (University of Oregon)
- 3:15
- The Political and Ideological Use of Folklore in Modern China
Ziying You (University of Oregon) - 3:35
- From Folk-Lore to Intangible Culture Heritage: The Clashes of Nativistic and Nationalistic Interests in Contexts
Juwen Zhang (Willamette University) - 3:55
- Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: Ethics, Ownership, and Protectionism
Sharon R. Sherman (University of Oregon)
Session Five: Plenary Session
126 Wellman Hall, UCD Campus (see map)
ARCHER TAYLOR MEMORIAL LECTURE
John McDowell (Indiana University)
Rethinking Folklorization in Ecuador:
Multivocality in the Expressive Contact Zone
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
Registration (Rainbow Lounge) 8 to 8:30 AM
Session Six: 9 to 10:30 AM
6.1 Searching for Subcultures: Resistance, Community, and Identity in Art and MusicSession Chair: David Ensminger (University of Oregon)
- 9:00
- Psychedelic Secession: Aesthetics and Ideology of “Freak Folk” Music
Joseph O’Connell (University of Oregon) - 9:20
- Audible Hands, Dexterous Voices: A Film About Five Turntablists from Eugene, Oregon
Andre Sirois (University of Oregon) - 9:40
- The Independent Record Store as Oppositional and Contested Space: A Case Study of The House of Records
David Gracon (University of Oregon) - 10:00
- Visual Vitriol: Punk Gig Flyers as Urban Folk Art
David Ensminger (University of Oregon)
Session Chair: Katie Ramos (San Francisco, Independent Scholar)
- 9:00
- My Theories, Let Me Show You Them: The Language of Lolcats and The Internet-Mediated Communicative Event
Monica Foote (Indiana University) - 9:20
- Invisible Content: Understanding Lolcat Iconography
Adam Kapp (Independent Scholar, Berkeley) - 9:40
- "Where's Mah Bucket?": Locating Blackface and Racial Identity in Walrus Image Macros
Katie Ramos (San Francisco, Independent Scholar)
Session Chair: Michelle Hwang (University of California, Berkeley)
- 9:00
- Chinese Hieroglyphic: Athanasius Kircher and the Riddle of the Written Word
Sean O’Neil (University of California, Berkeley) - 9:20
- The Dislocation Narratives of Japanese Americans: Recalling the Liminal Identity of Japanese Americans Through an Unrecorded History
Kiesha Oliver (University of California, Berkeley) - 9:40
- Death, Frogs, and Guilt: Filial Piety in Korean-American Folklore
Michelle Hwang (University of California, Berkeley)
Session Seven: 10:45 AM to 12:15 PM
7.1 Apocalypse Culture Now: End Times Traditions in Image, Technology, and Vernacular BeliefSession Chair: Daniel Wojcik (University of Oregon)
- 10:45
- Doom Town: Pulp Comics and Vernacular Eschatology in the Religious Tracts of Jack T. Chick
Robert Dobler (University of Oregon) - 11:05
- Apocalyptic Visions and Vernacular Traditions of Revelatory Photography
Daniel Wojcik (University of Oregon) - 11:25
- When Prophecy Fails--or Not: Theories of Prophetic Failure and the Importance of a Folkloristic Perspective
Kevin Taylor (University of Oregon) - 11:45
- Blogging the End Times: Ritual Deliberation in Participatory Media
Robert Glenn Howard (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Session Chair: Jack Santino (Bowling Green State University)
- 10:45
- Midsummer Madness: Welsh Worldview and the Ritualesque
Maria Teresa Agozzino (The Ohio State University) - 11:05
- Ritualesque Passages: The New Landscape of the American Teenager
Montana Miller (Bowling Green State University) - 11:25
- The Ritualesque and the Carnivalesque
Jack Santino (Bowling Green State University)
Session Chair: Patricia Turner (University of California, Davis)
- 10:45
- Towards a Pedagogy of Ethnographic and Experimental Film
Aparna Sharma (University of Glamorgan, UK) - 11:05
- Visiting Vampires in the Big Easy
(45 min film)
Heather Joseph-Witham (Otis College of Art and Design)
Lunch Break 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
Session Eight: 1:30 to 3 PM
8.1 Place, Space, and Play: Community in the 21st CenturySession Chair: Robert Glenn Howard (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
- 1:30
- Into the (Liminal) Wild: Landscape, Liminality, and the Supernatural Encounter in Folklore, Film, and Beyond
Casey Schmitt (University of Oregon) - 1:50
- “CONTACT US”: How Individuals Affirm Belief and Sustain Community on the Internet
Katherine Ristau (University of Oregon) - 2:10
- Diasporic Folk Performances and the Potential of Critical Play
Christine Garlough (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Session Chair: Sandra K. Dolby (Indiana University)
- 1:30
- Mose, Popular Sources, and Calling It Folklore
Sandra K. Dolby (Indiana University) - 1:50
- Folklore, Stardust, and Tristran Thorn’s Journey into the Faerie
Jeanette Kalchik (University of California, Berkeley) - 2:10
- Suburbia
Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir (University of California, Berkeley, and Iceland).
Session Chair:
- 1:30
- Wearing the World: 19th Century Fashion and Imperialism
Kristiana Willsey (Indiana University). - 1:50
- Meu Facão Bateu Em Baixo, A Bananeira Caiu: Transitory Centers and the Plasticity of the Performance Metaphor
Ted Biggs (University of California, Berkeley)
Session Nine: 3:15 to 4:45 PM
9.1 Representation, Ethics, and Visual CommunicationSession Chair: Kelley Totten (University of Oregon)
- 3:15
- Images of Africa: Documentary Photography and the Ethics of Cultural Preservation
Elaine Vradenburgh (University of Oregon). - 3:35
- Collaborative Documentary and Vernacular Photography
Al Bersch (University of Oregon) and Leslie Grant (Parsons School of Design) - 3:55
- “Souvenirs at Sea”: “Local” Crafts and Cultural Representation on an Ecotourism Cruise Ship
Kelley Totten (University of Oregon)
Session Chair: Merrill Kaplan (Ohio State University)
- 3:15
- Superorganic Farming: The Crop Circle Debate
Merrill Kaplan (Ohio State University) - 3:35
- Top secret and strictly confidential: the '419' scam as political satire
Eve Edelson (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) - 3:55
- Literation and Vernacular Culture
Abigail Sedlacek (University of California, Berkeley) and Anna Creagh (University of California, Berkeley) - 4:15
- From Maps to Mods: Player Generated Content as a Cultural Feedback Loop
James Gonsalves (Paleo Entertainment)
Don Stacy (University of Oregon)
- 3:15
- The film and then discussion
Business Meeting: 5 to 5:30 PM