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Nov 20

Mayer Kirshenblatt (1916-2009)

I just learned that Mayer Kirshenblatt, a remarkable human being and the father of folklorist Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett has passed away. If you have not seen it yet, I strongly recommend their jointly composed book They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland before the Holocaust (University of California Press, 2007). The paintings and stories gathered therein (and in the companion exhibition) are simply amazing. (The book was reviewed in Museum Anthropology Review here.)

My condolences go to Barbara and to everyone whose life Mr. Kirshenblatt touched. His memory, and his memories, will live forever.

Nov 20

Arthur Lawton: Music on the Goshenhoppen Landscape

Congratulations go to IU Folklore doctoral student Arthur Lawton, whose latest article “Music on the Goshenhoppen Landscape” has just appeared in The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County.

Nov 19

IU Celebrates the Work of Christopher Peebles

One of my graduate school mentors-turned-senior colleagues, Dr. Christopher Peebles has been recognized by the university through the bestowal of the Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion by IU President Michael McRobbie. Chris has maintained a remarkable administrative and research agenda, concurrently working as a Southeastern archaeologist (hence our connection) and as a research computing scholar and administrator. He is transitioning into retirement this year after more that 25 years of service at Indiana, where he has directed the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology and served in a number of key administrative roles. The IU Press Release is available here.  Congratulations Chris!

(Chris was an amazing teacher and supporter of my work during my graduate school career and he has been a generous mentor in the ways of university administration since my return to Indiana.)

Nov 19

Brenda Johnson named Ruth Lilly Dean of Indiana University Libraries

As a person involved in a mix of collaborative projects with the Indiana University Libraries, I am pleased to note that the search for Ruth Lilly Dean of Indiana University Libraries has been concluded and that Brenda Johnson has agreed to join the Indiana University community in this key role. I look forward to working with her in the months and years ahead. Read the IU Press Release here. Congratulations to Dean Johnson and to the university.

Nov 18

News from the Corporate Enclosure of Scholarly Publishing: American Geography Society+Wiley-Blackwell

As Inside Higher Education has reported today, the American Geographical Society has entered into a partnership with Wiley-Blackwell to publish its journals Geographical Review and FOCUS on Geography. (W-B press release here.) This move follows similar agreements made by the American Anthropological Association and a multitude of other publishing societies.

Nov 17

Karl Kroeber (1926–2009)

In the Native American communities in which I live off and on, it is a common observation that deaths–always deeply felt–often seem to occur in groups or clusters. This pattern seems characterized by my discovery just now that Karl Kroeber, another leading student of Native American verbal art, has just passed away. Professor Kroeber long taught at Columbia University, where his father, A. L. Kroeber, earned his doctorate in anthropology under Franz Boas. His sister, author Ursula K. Le Guin, is well known to many. His son Paul pursues his own studies of American Indian linguistics here at Indiana University, where he and I are both affiliated with the American Indian Studies Research Institute.

Karl Kroeber’s linked the Americanist tradition of Native American verbal art studies (in folklore, ethnopoetics, field linguistics, etc.) to the wider field of literature studies. Representative works include Artistry in Native American Myths (University of Nebraska Press, 1998) and Traditional Literatures of the American Indian: Texts and Interpretations (University of Nebraska Press, 1981). Like his mother Theodora, he (with his brother Clifton Kroeber) sought to make sense of the story of Ishi, with whom his family’s life entwined. (See: Ishi in Three Centuries, with Clifton Kroeber. University of Nebraska Press, 2003.)

Condolences go to the whole Kroeber family.

Nov 16

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Dell Hymes’ Passing

While no obituary has appeared yet, there seems to be conclusive understanding via the moccasin telegraph that Dell Hymes has passed away. So soon after the death of Claude Lévi-Strauss, this is another significant loss in the fields of Native American studies, anthropology and folklore studies. Dell Hymes was a amazingly influential folklorist, anthropologist, and linguist who revolutionized the study of language in (/and) culture in general, and of Native American narrative traditions in particular. He made important contributions to the history of anthropology, to descriptive and theoretical linguistics, to sociolinguistics, to folkloristics, and to Native American studies. He essentially created the areas on inquiry known as (1) the ethnography of speaking and (2) ethnopoetics and he played a key role reshaping linguistic anthropology from the 1960s onward. His work is at the root of the performance orientation central in contemporary folklore studies and he directly influenced the work of a great many folklorists, including Richard Bauman, Henry Glassie, and Lee Haring, among many others. His influence in the field as practiced in the United States is pervasive.

Dell Hymes was an especially central figure for his fields of study at Indiana University, where I earned my Ph.D. and to which I returned in 2004 to join the faculty in Folklore and Ethnomusicology. At Indiana, Hymes earned his Ph.D. in 1955, studying under Carl Voegelin, a student of Alfred Kroeber and Edward Sapir, both themselves students of Franz Boas. He was deeply immersed in the Americanist tradition and he took the task of understanding, enriching, and conveying that tradition to new generations to be a key task. When he left Indiana for jobs at Harvard, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia, his impact and influence kept flowing back and influencing the faculty and students here. At Pennsylvania in particular, he worked closely with scholars that have gone on to play a key role in shaping the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Evidence of the breadth of his influence and his commitment to the Boasian vision for the study of language, culture and society can be seen in the fact that he served as president of the American Folklore Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the Linguistic Society of America.

More coherent and elaborate remembrances will be written by scholars and friends who knew him well, but I wanted to acknowledge his passing and record my appreciation for his many contributions that have enriched the fields of study in which I work.

Nov 14

Jon Kay Wins Warren Roberts Prize

Congratulations to Jon Kay, Director of Traditional Arts Indiana, who has been awarded the Warren Roberts Prize from the Pioneer American Society/Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes. Learn more here.

Nov 13

Google Books Meets Stith Thompson

Craig Fehrman has published an essay in Nuvo: Indy’s Alternative Voice that looks at the state of the Google Books project through the lens of the Indiana University Library’s wonderful and legendary Folklore Collection. (Much of) the Folklore Collection has been digitized in partnership with the Google Book project. Its greatness as a collection stems from the efforts of long-serving Distinguished Service Professor Stith Thompson (1885-1976), the founder of what is today the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Fehrman uses the story to make a case for copyright reform and is particularly disturbed by the way that vernacular culture becomes enclosed through publication.

Nov 11

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Kevin M. Guthrie on Changes at JSTOR/ITHAKA

Readers of my earlier post concerning the University of Illinois Press joining the new JSTOR current content initiative may wish to know that Kevin M. Guthrie, President of ITHAKA, has offered an extended comment on the original post that seeks to address my concerns about consolidation and conflict of interest. It can be found here: https://jasonbairdjackson.com/2009/10/28/the-university-of-illinois-press-signs-agreement-with-jstor/

I want to thank Kevin for taking the time to offer his reflections on what ITHAKA and the JSTOR project are doing. His remarks are well spoken and, as he suggests, we’ll all be able to form clearer opinions on these questions as matters move along.

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