American Folklore Society invitation

[AAllan at AOL.COM]

American Folklore Society invites scholars from other disciplines to

participate in its 2000 Annual Meeting--"Contesting Concepts of Culture"

(Columbus, Ohio, October 25-29, 2000)


    The theme for AFS 2000 is "Contesting Concepts of Culture."

Scholars across academic disciplines have been discussing concepts of

culture as they interact with developments in the organization of civil

society, the reconfiguration of public space in circumstances of world media

development, and cultural influence from local to global and global to

local.  The vigorous debate on what culture is or should be is not

restricted to Western academic settings; it permeates cultural institutions

worldwide. We especially invite proposals on such issues as the ways that

culture has replaced race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation

in political dialogue, sometimes as a way of avoiding direct confrontation

with these issues.


    The American Folklore Society particularly encourages scholars from

other disciplines to attend the 2000 Annual Meeting to engage in this

discussion of culture.  In order to facilitate contact between national and

international folklorists and the local community, the Annual Meeting

Committee will invite a variety of local and regional educators, community

activists, oral historians, arts administrators, public folklorists,  and

representatives from humanities councils, arts foundations, and ethnic

heritage schools to offer perspectives on the theme of "Contesting Concepts

of Culture" in different formats of the program.


    Columbus is an appropriate site for the consideration of a wide

range of cultural issues.   Half of the population of the U.S. lives within

a one day's drive of Columbus, and it is remarkably accessible to the other

half of the nation's population.  The manufacturers of America have

recognized Columbus culture as diagnostic of American taste.   It is a

testing market for fast foods, frozen foods, shopping mall designs, and

plastic wraps--practically every imaginable product except Starbucks.  It

was an initial testing site for cable television and has been considered

ground zero for American dialect studies.  Frances Utley's study of the

North/ South divide on the pronunciation of  greasy was conducted above and

below Route 40, the National Road running through Columbus.


    Submissions to present at the AFS 2000 Annual Meeting can be made by

members and non-members alike.  Please consult the AFS web site

(www.afsnet.org) for proposal submission and meeting registration

information.  You may also wish to contact the Meeting Committee Chair John

Roberts, African and African American Studies Department, Ohio State

University, 486 University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH

43210-1335 (e-mail: roberts.420 at osu.edu).  The deadline for submission for

proposals is April 15, 2000.