What can you do with a folklore degree? Over six dozen folklorists, writing from their own experiences, show us. What Folklorists Do examines a wide range of professionals—both within and outside the academy, at the beginning of their careers or holding senior management positions—to demonstrate the many ways that folklore studies can shape and support the activities of those trained in it. As one of the oldest academic professions in the United States and grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, folklore has always been concerned with public service and engagement beyond the academy. Consequently, as this book demonstrates, the career applications of a training in folklore are many—advocating for local and national causes; shaping public policy; directing and serving in museums; working as journalists, publishers, textbook writers, or journal editors; directing national government programs or being involved in historic preservation; teaching undergraduate and graduate students; producing music festivals; pursuing a career in politics; or even becoming a stand-up comedian. A comprehensive guide to the range of good work carried out by today's folklorists, What Folklorists Do is essential reading for folklore students and professionals and those in positions to hire them. Audio book narrated by Walter Brown. Produced by Speechki in 2021.

The essays in Women's Folklore, Women's Culture focus on women performers of folklore and on women's genre of folklore. Long ignored, women's folklore is often collaborative and frequently is enacted in the privacy of the domestic sphere. This book provides insights balancing traditional folklore scholarship. All of the authors also explore the relationship between make and female views and worlds. The book begins with the private world of women, performances within the intimacy of family and fields; it then studies women's folklore in the public arena; finally, the book looks at the interrelationships between public and private arenas and between male and female activities. By turning our attention to previously ignored women's realms, these essays provide a new perspective from which to view human culture as a whole and make Women's Folklore, Women's Culture a significant addition to folklore scholarship

Juneteenth Texas reflects the many dimensions of African-American folklore. The personal essays are reminiscences about the past and are written from both black and white perspectives. They are followed by essays which classify and describe different aspects of African-American folk culture in Texas; studies of specific genres of folklore, such as songs and stories; studies of specific performers, such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Manse Lipscomb and of particular folklorists who were important in the collecting of African-American folklore, such as J. Mason Brewer; and a section giving resources for the further study of African Americans in Texas.

What do devil dogs, witches, haunted houses, Daniel Boone, Railroad Bill, "Justice John" Crutchfield, and lost silver mines have in common? All are among the subjects included in the vast collection of legends gathered between 1937 and 1942 by the field workers of the Virginia Writers Project of the WPA. For decades following the end of the project, these stories lay untouched in the libraries of the University of Virginia. Now, folklorist Thomas E. Barden brings to light these delightful tales, most of which have never been in print. Virginia Folk Legends presents the first valid published collection of Virginia folk legends and is endorsed by the American Folklore Society.

In the Andalusian communities throughout the olive-growing region of southeastern Spain men show themselves to be primarily concerned with two problems of identity: their place in the social hierarchy, and the maintenance of their masculinity in the context of their culture. In this study of projective behavior as found in the folklore of an Andalusian town, Stanley Brandes is careful to support psychological interpretations with ethnographic evidence. His emphasis on male folklore provides a timely complement to current research on women.

As service workers in a luxurious sleeping-car train system, Pullman porters had both the highest status in the black community and the lowest rank on the train. They were trapped in the dual roles of charming host and obedient servant, and their constant smiles--even in the face of unreasonable demands by white passengers--were part of the job requirement. Jack Santino's interviews with retired porters provide extensive firsthand accounts of their work, the job inequities they faced, the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the aborted Pullman porter strike of 1928. Through the testimony of ran-and-file workers as well as key figures such as E. D. Nixon, the porter who initiated the Montgomery bus boycott and helped launch the career of Martin Luther King, Jr. and C.L. Dellums, the only surviving founding member of the BSCP, Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle illuminates the Pullman porters' struggle for dignity.