Instruments of Prayer: Musical Instruments in the Expressive Cultures of the Native American Church
Posts from the ‘Ritual’ Category
Feb 19
Remembering Kara Bayless (1982-2010)
The wonderful memorial statements authored by American Folklore Society members and read publicly at the opening ceremonies of the 2011 AFS meetings are now online on the AFS website. Among them is a beautifully written statement about Kara Bayless an amazing Oklahoman, folklorist, and doctoral student in my home department. A star student, Kara was enrolled in my seminar at the time of her tragic passing last year during the 2010 AFS meetings. She is so missed by her many friends and colleagues.
Also remembered at the meetings, with statements now on the website were three distinguished elders in the field. Stetson Kennedy (1916-2011), Roger E. Mitchell (1925-2011) and Kathryn Tucker Windham (1918-2011).
Learn about their lives and work here: http://www.afsnet.org/?InMemorium
Sukkot=Time to Check Out Gabrielle Berlinger’s Beautiful Photographs of People, Buildings, and Food
It is Sukkot time again and I urge everyone to check out Gabrielle Berlinger’s beautiful photographs. She is at the end of her current fieldwork period in Tel Aviv where she has been studying many interlocking topics, with Sukkot at the center of things. Her reporting and her photographs are beautiful. Don’t miss out.
“Ritual and Oratory Revisited” in Annual Review of Anthropology
The final, stable 2011 edition of the Annual Review of Anthropology (a vital, not-for-profit undertaking co-edited by Don Brenneis and Peter T. Ellison) is now available (toll access). Because the topic is of great interest to me, I was pleased to see Rupert Stasch‘s review essay on “Ritual and Oratory Revisited: The Semiotics of Effective Action.” Looking more closely, it was a welcome and nice surprise to see that he knew about my work in this realm and found a generous way to weave it into his general narrative. My writings are sometimes high in area studies interest and, conversely, less immediately engaging for scholars working elsewhere in the world, thus it is always nice when it is clear that they have been discovered by, and made sense to, a colleague working in a different context. This essay will be an invaluable resources as I take up new work on the topic. Thanks!
Shreds and Patches 