{"product_id":"the-soul-of-a-folklorist-historical-moments-political-representation-and-the-weight-of-social-responsibility-paperback","title":"The Soul of a Folklorist: Historical Moments, Political Representation, and the Weight of Social Responsibility - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAnn K. Ferrell\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eDiane E. Goldstein\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, the US saw a growing awareness of representational politics following the civil rights, women's, gay and lesbian, antiwar, and environmental justice movements, and, like most fields, folklore became increasingly cognizant of these cultural and political shifts.\u003ci\u003e The Soul of a Folklorist \u003c\/i\u003echronicles the growing pains folklorists felt as the field engaged in these new and different ways of thinking about expressive culture, inequality, and political representation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrounded in primary sources including archival documents and interviews with members of the field, authors Ann K. Ferrell and Diane E. Goldstein examine the discussions that arose during this period among folklore scholars. Some folklorists explored progressive social change initiatives as part of their professional work, while others questioned the scholarly appropriateness of applied or political engagement, at times challenging this professional engagement in contemporary political issues. In a series of case studies from the 1970s and '80s, Ferrell and Goldstein explore how folklorists navigated questions about inequities that existed within the field and the potential adverse effects of those inequities on what and whom they studied, the push and pull of scholarly and public folklore work, the location of the line between research and advocacy as well as the wisdom of crossing that line, and the nature of our responsibility, as individual folklorists and as a field, to those we study and the communities in which we live and work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Soul of a Folklorist\u003c\/i\u003e examines how, as folklorists moved toward a perspective that increasingly explored the responsibility of presentation and representation of gender, race, class, and other areas of inequities, the discipline gradually came to understand both the power of its own subject and structures of subordination within the field.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnn K. Ferrell is Associate Professor of Folk Studies at Western Kentucky University. She is author of \u003ci\u003eBurley: Kentucky Tobacco in a New Century\u003c\/i\u003e and editor (with Martha C. Sims) of \u003ci\u003eNarrative Knows No Boundaries\u003c\/i\u003e. She served as Editor-in-Chief of the \u003ci\u003eJournal of American Folklore \u003c\/i\u003e(2016-2020). Diane E. Goldstein is Professor Emerita in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. She is author of \u003ci\u003eOnce Upon a Virus: AIDS Legends and Vernacular Risk Perception\u003c\/i\u003e and (with Sylvia Ann Grider and Jeannie Banks Thomas) of\u003ci\u003e Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore\u003c\/i\u003e. She is editor of\u003ci\u003e Talking AIDS\u003c\/i\u003e, (with Amy Shuman) \u003ci\u003eThe Stigmatized Vernacular: Where Reflexivity Meets Untellability\u003c\/i\u003e, and (with Ben Bridges and Ross Brillhart) \u003ci\u003eBehind the Mask: Vernacular Culture in the Time of COVID\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 452\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.01 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 06, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46036600193160,"sku":"9780253074607","price":93.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/7168\/9864\/files\/APhQEbz66F9780253074607.webp?v=1780744205","url":"https:\/\/birzeitsociety.myshopify.com\/fr\/products\/the-soul-of-a-folklorist-historical-moments-political-representation-and-the-weight-of-social-responsibility-paperback","provider":"Birzeit Society Online Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}