Folklore faculty and students from various departments across campus—though primarily in English and Comparative Studies—attended the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 18 to 21, 2017. The conference theme, "Community: Resistance, Reclamation and Re-Creation" encouraged folklorists to explore "the absent, invisible and counter narratives of communities in our midst."

A dessert reception hosted by the Center for Folklore Studies honored Professor Sabra Webber (Ohio State Near Eastern Languages and Cultures), who recently retired after a long a fruitful career, and Professor Dorothy Noyes (English and Comparative Studies), who has published two important books in the field of folklore—Sustaining Interdisciplinary Collaboration: A Guide for the Academy and Humble Theory: Folklore's Grasp on Social Life—and is president-elect for the American Folklore Society. 

Faculty presentations

• Borland, Katharine. "Be the Street: A Performance-Centered University outreach Project on Mobility and Placemaking in the Hilltop Neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Moe, John. "Honoring Community: Remembering Gladys-Marie Fry and William H. Wiggins Jr." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Noyes, Dorothy. "Fake News, Part III: Figures of Division in European Politics." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Noyes, Dorothy. "Fake News, Part IV: The Politics of Knowledge in a Crisis of Trust." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Noyes, Dorothy. "Folklore's "Man of Words": Remembering Roger Abrahams." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Noyes, Dorothy. "The Polish Plumber and the Faceless Bureaucrat: Bogeys and Attributions of Belief in European Politics." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Shuman, Amy. "Disability and Folklore: Monsters, Stigma and Sexuality." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Shuman, Amy. "Intellectual Disability and Co-Produced Narratives." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Sims, Martha. "Communicating through Making and Display: A Roundtable on Craft and Making Traditions as Education and Advocacy." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Sims, Martha. "State of the Labor Force: Building Support Systems for Sustainable Employment in the Field. 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Graduate student presentations

• Bahl, Erin. ""What Do You See, Old Gray?": Narrative Accessibility, Creative Audio Description and "The Bremen Town Musicians."" 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Cleto, Sara. ""Come, Give Me a True History": Storytelling and the Creation of a Legend in Bronte's Wuthering Heights." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Hopkin, Rachel C. "Tell Us a Story: Interviewing and Alchemy." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Jacobs, Tessa. "Beliefscapes of Climate Change: Rumor and Legend for the Anthropocene." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Johnson, Christofer. "Fishing in Uncertain Waters: Resilience and Cultural Change in a Small North Atlantic Community." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Johnson, Christofer. "Modernity, Resilience and Change." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Lovejoy, Jordan. ""Them Girls Shake It:" Affrilachian Poetry as Social and Environmental Justice Performance Activism." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Marsden, Mariah. "The Ghost in the Narrative: Spectral Intersubjectivity and Resistance in an Ozark Cattlewoman's Narratives." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Smith, Madeline. "Authority, Identity, Sainthood and Complex Forms of Dissent in the Vernacular Religion of the Modern Catholic Worker Movement." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Vaillancourt, Gregg. "Reclaiming the Pagan Past: The Neo-Pagan Revival of the AEcerbot and Early Medieval Charms." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Varajon, Sydney. ""Not Responsible for Consequence:" Market Altars, Performativity and Placemaking in the Greater Hilltop." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Warman, Brittany. "Her Story: A Feminism and Folklore Retrospective 2017. 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Warman, Brittany. "Queering Constructions: Multivariance and Liminality in Folk Narrative." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Warman, Brittany. "You Have Set Yourself to Music": Fairy Legend in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray." 2017, American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.