Description:
Folklore is often positioned at the center of critical social issues. While folklorists have acknowledged this power and explored how folklore has been used for political ends, far less attention has been paid to the role folklorists and folklore scholarship can play in addressing contemporary social issues in public discourse. Folklore in the Public Square explores how folklorists apply their research to engage general audiences and address the challenging issues we face daily.
Review Quotes:
"A valuable contribution to the field of folklore/folklife studies, as well as to any/all disciplines and practical endeavors that deal with multiculturalism, human inequality and exploitation, policy formulation and analysis, and the like. It points, by example, to new and important interdisciplinary collaborations to further and accomplish humanitarian ends."
-Bonnie B. O'Connor, Professor Emerita, Brown University
"This volume opens up opportunities for important conversations in the classroom and in the field at large. It provides honest engagement with not only the rewards of applied and advocacy work but also the very real challenges, and at times dangers, this work can bring. It shows how folklorists' work in the public square is far from simple or glamorous, but it is undoubtedly worthwhile and, indeed, necessary for the world we live in."
-Sheila Bock, University of Nevada, Las Vegas