Museum Anthropology 32(1) Now Published

I am pleased to report that Museum Anthropology volume 32, number 1 [Spring 2009] has now been published and is available via AnthroSource or Wiley InterScience [to those who have institutional or AAA member access]. CMA members should receive the print version soon.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the development of this issue.

Authors of First Books Wanted

Deadline Extended! Call for Book Proposals--Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World

The University of Illinois Press, the University Press of Mississippi, and the University of Wisconsin Press, in cooperation with the American Folklore Society and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, are collaborating to host an author’s workshop at the 2009 conference of the American Folklore Society for authors working on their first book. Up to six authors will be selected to participate in a full day of intensive activities devoted to critiquing and developing their individual projects. Workshop activities will include one-on-one mentoring sessions with editors and senior scholars and group discussions of revision and editing strategies, publishing processes, and project critiques. A modest stipend will be provided to participants to help defray the costs of attending the workshop.

This opportunity is open only to authors preparing their first books. Projects must be single-authored, nonfiction books based on folklore research. Edited volumes, photography collections with minimal text, and memoirs will not be considered.

Projects selected for the workshop will be candidates for publication in the Presses’ new collaborative series, Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World, which aims to publish exceptional first books that emphasize the interdisciplinary and/or international nature of the field of folklore. Within the series, each Press will focus on specific aspects of folklore studies related to its areas of expertise: Illinois on gender and queer studies, world folk cultures, and multiculturalism as manifested in forms of vernacular expression such as music, dance, and foodways; Mississippi in folk art, American folk music, African American studies, popular culture, and Southern folklife; and Wisconsin in folklore studies that intersect with Upper Midwest cultures, Irish/Irish-American studies, Jewish studies, Southeast Asian studies, gay/lesbian studies, foodways, and travel. Applicants may indicate in their proposal whether they have a preference of publisher.

Proposals should include a 5- to 10-page description of the project, an annotated table of contents, one sample chapter (revised, if from a dissertation), and curriculum vitae or resume. Proposals should be submitted via e-mail by April 15, 2009, to fsmw@uillinois.edu. For complete submission guidelines, please visit our website at http://www.folklorestudies.org/.

Smithsonian Seeks Folklife Festival Director

From a posting to the Publore listserv:

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage seeks outstanding candidates for the position of Director, Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The highly acclaimed annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival draws over one million visitors to the National Mall in Washington DC and celebrates the best of traditional cultures both domestic and international. In keeping with the Center's mission of research, presentation and preservation, the Folklife Festival brings over 300 culture bearers to Washington DC each year, for a two-week, outdoor celebration of music, dance, craft demonstrations and narrative sessions, free to the public. The Festival Director is responsible for managing collaborative partnerships, directing research, fundraising, and supervising production and staff. He or she would be the principal spokesperson for the Festival to the media, Congress, heads of state and other officials, and would be a member of the Center's senior management committee. The successful candidate should possess knowledge of folklore or a related field, have superior management skills, and experience in event production and website development. Further information about the Center is available at www.folklife.si.edu.

The salary range for the position is $86,927 - $102,721 and the position will be posted from March 20 to April 17, 2009. For further details and information on how to apply go to http://www.sihr.si.edu/job.htm and click on announcement # 09A-MS-295093-DEU-CFCH for applicants without current or former federal employment status or announcement #09A-MS-295093-MPA-CFCH for applicants with current or former Federal employment status. The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity employer.

Memory, Identity and Cultural Change

A Call for Papers Submitted for Posting by Annette Fromm:

Memory, Identity and Cultural Change: Call for Papers

We invite a few high quality contributions for a proposed special section of the journal Theory, Culture and Society on the theme Memory, Identity and Cultural Change.

This proposed special section will consider the role of memories in challenging or shaping socio-cultural and political narratives and counter narratives at the individual, community or national levels. Papers might explore how memories can be appropriated or kept alive for political purposes, to reinforce a 'sense of place' or to create a unified story for cultures. They might also consider the location, contexts and effects of remembering, exploring who is doing the remembering, why and with what results. Finally, the impacts of memories on individual or communities' sense of ownership of the past and their role in the shaping of the present may also be examined.

Papers are therefore invited that address any of the following:

• The reclaiming of cultural memories, sacred memories and stolen memories
• How memory can operate as a powerful discourse, silencing certain narratives about the past and privileging others
• The normalising role of memory especially within postcolonial contexts
• Memory shaping within cultural institutions and organisations such as museums
• The role of memory, myth and storytelling in tourist - orientated performance

Interested contributors should submit abstracts of 500 words to the editors of the proposed special section (see details below) as soon as possible and by 24th March 2009.

The following is a proposed time frame:
Abstract submission – 24 March 2009
Initial Acceptance – 31st March, 2009
Full paper submission – 1 June 2009

Special section editors:

Elizabeth Carnegie. An ethnologist and oral historian, her research interests include the politics of representation within museums, cultural identity and public memory, and festivity and religion in contemporary society

Contact details:
Programme Director Arts and Culture Management
Sheffield University Management School,
9 Mappin Street, Sheffield. S1 4DT.
e.mail: e.carnegie@sheffield.ac.uk

Dr. Donna Chambers: main research areas include cultural/heritage tourism with special interest in discourse and postcolonial theories

Contact details:
Lecturer in Tourism Studies
Programme Director International Event Management
University of Surrey
Guildford
GU2 7XH
Email: d.chambers@surrey.ac.uk

Post-doctoral Research Fellowship: History of the Circus in America

The Bard Graduate Center invites applications for a residential research fellowship at its campus on New York’s Upper West Side, from September, 2009 through January 2012. The BGC is a graduate institute affiliated with Bard College dedicated to the encyclopedic study of the material world. The successful applicant for this position will provide major research support for The Circus in America, an interpretive history exhibition currently being developed at the BGC and scheduled to open in January 2012. The exhibition explores the process by which the European circus was transformed in Gilded‐Age America into a distinctly American cultural form. The Research Associate will create the data and object bases for the exhibition and should be experienced in both textual and artifactual research. S/he will review the history of the circus in America, from its earliest days to the start of the twentieth century and identify and trace the emergence and diffusion of features contributing to Americanization. The research associate will create timelines, identify and assemble files for documents and artifacts potentially suitable for exhibition, and carry out other tasks as necessary for exhibition preparation. Travel required. Applicants should hold a doctorate in American history, cultural studies, popular culture, art history, or other relevant field. Familiarity with the history of the circus and/or popular entertainment of the nineteenth century and with museum exhibition protocols highly beneficial. Well‐developed research, computer, and Internet skills are essential, as are the ability to work independently and collaboratively as appropriate, willing attention to detail, visual literacy, and experience with objects and images.


Applicants should send a letter explaining their qualifications for the position, a vita, and names and contact data for three referees to: Chair, Research Department, The Bard Graduate Center, email: rac@bgc.bard.edu

Deadline for application: April 3, 2009.

The Bard Graduate Center is an equal opportunity employer.

Degree Programs: http://www.bgc.bard.edu/degree_programs
Research: http://www.bgc.bard.edu/research
Exhibitions: http://www.bgc.bard.edu/exhibit