AFS 2024 EDUCATION-RELATED SESSIONS
November 6-9, Albuquerque Convention Center

WEDNESDAY

Folklife Participatory Action Research with the Southwest Folklife Alliance
November 6th, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM MST   Ballroom
Facilitated by Selina Morales, Nelda Ruiz, Laura Rios Ramirez and Adriana Camarena.

The Southwest Folklife Alliance’s approach to FOLKLIFE PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH (PAR) offers a method and praxis where people most impacted by local injustices make decisions regarding what is researched and how; community members drive engagement, centering first-voice narrative, community asset mapping, and storytelling as powerful drivers of social change; and folklife is embraced as valid drivers of grassroots social change.

Join us to explore the dynamic roles of folklife in designing research and building effective community partnerships. This session is for culture bearers, community leaders and folklorists who are interested in advancing social change in local communities through community-driven research with folklife at the center. The session will be led by Folklife PAR facilitators and practitioners and will feature storytelling and opportunities to connect with participants.

THURSDAY

November 7th, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM MST   Hopi
02-06 Folklore on Campus: Looking Back and Looking Ahead in the Study of Collegiate Culture
Chair: Igor Polotai. Forum Panelists: John McDowell, Sheila Bock.

A pervasive feature of college student life is its folklore, the narratives, everyday routines and special-occasion rites that allow people to express their creativity and create a unique bond among friends and companions. At the same time, campus folk groups and folkloric activity have been fundamentally altered in many ways by the changing demographics of college students, social disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and external political forces. This forum seeks to create a space for an interactive dialogue about folkloristic engagement with college culture, building on work from the past to envision possibilities for the future.

November 7th, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MST  Tesuque
04-13 Children, Play, and Performance
Chair: Lisa Gabbert. Papers: Anna Beresin, Max Murphy, Lisa Gabbert.

Making Do: Children’s Makerspaces & Adventure Playgrounds in Sheffield, England

Storytelling Towards International Community: Building Understanding and Resilience Among Diverse Youth

Alternative, Distorted, Manipulated, and Tested: Children’s Folklore and Reality

FRIDAY

November 8th, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM MST  Isleta
05-07 Folklore in Education: Local and Global Pathways
Chair: Paddy Bowman. Forum Panelists: Jon Lohman, Claire Denny, Minuette Floyd.

Practitioners of folklore in education from varied perspectives invite conversation about models and methods of integrating an ethnographic approach to teaching and learning in K-16, museum, and community settings. Topics include technology, in-person and virtual folk artist residencies, teacher training, and sense of place. Expect hands-on engagement and dialogue around teaching local cultural expressions with global resonance.

November 8th, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM MST Lounge 201 (DoubleTree Hotel Bar)

Local Learning Happy Hour
Join folk arts in education friends and colleagues for an informal, cash happy hour.

SATURDAY

November 9th, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM MST   Hopi
08-06 Drawing Critical Conversations for Culturally Sustaining Learning
Sponsored by the Folklore and Education Section and Local Learning.
Chair: Lisa Rathje. Workshop Presenters: Karl Orozco, Brophy Toledo.

The interview as inquiry-based learning is core to folk arts education. This Local Learning session expands beyond aural and oral skills to explore the role of graphic note-taking with experienced Albuquerque visual arts educator Karl Orozco. Using a multi-sensory toolkit creates pathways for critical engagement for learners and researchers of all ages. Importantly, this session features an exceptional opportunity to learn with local regional Indigenous leader and visionary teacher Brophy Toledo (Jemez Pueblo) through an interview process.

November 9th, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM MST  Santo Domingo
08-11 OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present
Chair: Jery Huntley.

Nonprofit OurStoryBridge provides online resources for production of low-cost short-form oral histories, appearing as “miniplayers”, freely accessible online. We currently support 40 Partner Projects in 14 states using our model.Peer-reviewed articles in Voices, the Journal of New York Folklore and The Journal of Folklore and Education demonstrate the uniqueness and relevance of the growing collection to all ages as we fulfill our vision to empower every community to cultivate connection across the generations, encourage civic engagement, celebrate diversity, and engender shared and durable kindness. Oral histories will be presented, especially with DEI focus, with guidance on starting OurStoryBridge projects.

November 9th, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM MST  Navajo
09-10 Diversifying Folklore Studies and Education: Sharing and Creating Inclusive Folklore Pedagogy
Presented by Ebony Bailey and Anna M. Nogar.

At the American Folklore Society’s gathering in November, Dr. Ebony Bailey and Dr. Anna M. Nogar will facilitate a workshop with folklorists, cultural workers, and practitioners on substantively engaging with knowledge by folklorists, practitioners, and communities of color in the classroom. This workshop aims to share and contemplate how folklorists, educators, and cultural workers in the field are incorporating knowledge from folklorists of color and/or communities of color in the classroom, beyond one or two readings and in culturally sensitive ways (i.e. deeply and ethically engaging with research and praxis from folklorists and/or communities of color). At large, the workshop asks: what does antiracist, inclusive pedagogy look like in practice? In teaching, how are we foregrounding individuals and communities of color as knowledge and theory makers, not as the “subjects” to be studied?

November 9th, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MST  Jemez
09-08 The Singing Tree Mural Project at Twenty: Weathering Socio-cultural Storms Through Strategic Arts-based Collective Mural Making
Sponsored by the Folklore and Education Section, the Public Programs Section, and Unity Through Creativity. Chair: Maureen Porter. Forum Panelist: Laurie Marshall.

At 20 years, 135 murals, 24,000+ people, and 52 countries, the intergenerational Singing Tree Project (STP) shines as an effective, even transformative, means of reweaving our shredded social fabric. Mobilizing folklore is the essence of its cross-cultural process and peacebuilding product. By making shared aspirations, hopes, and grief visible, the STP testifies how public folklore can heal. Our hands-on forum – in the immediate aftermath of the national election – will provide needed space for venting, healing, reclaiming common spaces, honoring folklife practices of resistance, and finding images of reconciliation. Join us in making art together as human beings with entwined futures.

November 9th, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM MST   Ballroom
AFS Presidential Invited Lecture: “Equitable Pathways in Education, Cultural Heritage & the Arts and Humanities”

This keynote event features NEA Heritage Fellow and UNM Professor Emerita Eva Encinias and UNM Professor Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale in a conversation focused on their respective and collaborative cultural and educational work in New Mexico. The conversation will be facilitated by AFS President Amy Skillman. Encinias has taught countless students the art of flamenco in the region and played a pivotal role in institutionalizing it at UNM. She is the founder of the National Institute of Flamenco, based in Albuquerque. Denetdale is a Diné feminist and Chair of American Studies who has been recognized for her scholarship and service to her nation and community.