CFP: Journal of Folklore and Eduction

A CFP posted for the Journal of Folklore and Education.

2015 Journal of Folklore and Education Call for Submissions

The Journal of Folklore and Education is a peer-reviewed, multimedia, open-access K-16 journal published annually by Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education. Local Learning links folk culture specialists and educators nationwide, advocating for inclusion of folk and traditional arts and culture in our nation’s education. We believe that “local learning”–the traditional knowledge and processes of learning that are grounded in community life–is of critical importance to the effective education of students and to the vigor of our communities and society.

The Journal publishes work representing ethnographic approaches that tap the knowledge and life experience of students, their families, community members, and educators in K-12, college, museum, and community education. We intend our audience to be educators and students at all levels and in all settings, folk culture specialists, and other interested readers. As a digital publication, this journal provides a forum for interdisciplinary, multimedia approaches to community-based teaching, learning, and cultural stewardship. It is found at http://www.locallearningnetwork.org.

The 2015 theme for the Journal of Folklore and Education is Youth in Community. Local Learning has partners in schools, museums, universities, and community organizations. This theme creates an opportunity to investigate the pedagogical significance of engaging young people in communities, and specifically to examine the ways that folklore provides tools for researching and for creating critical understanding of this kind of work. We will also accept submissions documenting the cultural expressions of youth in diverse communities. We welcome submissions of articles, model projects, multimedia products, classroom applications, and student work accompanied by critical writing that connects to the larger frameworks of this theme.

Youth in Community encompasses topics such as service learning, community activism, youth-driven community research, the influence of traditional culture on ways of knowing and learning, media and its impact on youth identity and culture, and youth voices and visions as catalysts in diverse settings. This theme considers “student-driven” pedagogy to be not only an adjective, but also an action verb that encompasses research methods, critical thinking, cultural expression, and production.

Essential questions that resonate in educational contexts and classrooms that contributors may use to inspire curricular connections and their writing include the following:

• What does folklore bring to an examination of youth and community, including the cultural expressions of youth in community? How does a folkloristic, ethnographic approach enter into ways that we work with youth or the ways that youth think of themselves?
• How are young people using technology to document and to engage in community? Similarly, how does technology provide tools for significant personal and cultural expression?

• What does “Youth in Community” suggest about young people in the public sphere and the ways in which culture influences identity, roles, and personal expression?

• How can student-driven projects, which by definition include “student choice and voice” in a meaningful way (students have the opportunity to choose the focus and subject of their work on some level), effectively connect with education content standards?

Contact editors Paddy Bowman at pbbowman@gmail.com or Lisa Rathje at rathje.lisa@gmail.com with ideas for stories, features, lessons, and media and to suggest possible contributors before March 16, 2015. Initial drafts of submissions are due May 1, 2015. Publication will be in September 2015.

We welcome work that engages thoughtfully or critically with this theme from educators, folklorists, graduate students, and community scholars, among others. Short features should be 500 to 1,000 words. Articles should be 1,000 to 4,000 words. Images should have a dpi of at least 300. Media submissions are welcomed, including short film and audio clips. See Volume 1 of the Journal of Folklore and Education, Dress to Express: Exploring Culture and Identity, at www.locallearningnetwork.org. Be in touch with the editors to discuss media ideas and to learn formatting and technical specifications for text, images, and media.

Please share this announcement with colleagues. The Journal is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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