American Folklore Society Meeting – October 20, 2018

American Folklore Society Meeting – October 20, 2018

On October 20, LiKEN Associate Director, Mary Hufford, presented a paper at the American Folklore Society Meeting: “Feasting on Time’s Body: Reflexive Commensality as Narrative Ecological Practice.” Part of a panel entitled “Sensate Worlds: Perception and Power from Multi-Species Perspectives,” the talk explored the ways in which our speaking recovers the points of view of more-than-human others, ways that become accessible to us when we reflect together on the meanings of words for local things, and their sensory impacts.

Online Seminar: Social Research Methods with Future Generations University – September 2018

Online Seminar: Social Research Methods with Future Generations University – September 2018

In September, Mary Hufford and Julie Koppel Maldonado began working to develop an online seminar in Social Research Methods with Future Generations University in Franklin, WV. Now celebrating its 25th Anniversary, FGU offers a Master’s Degree in Applied Community Development for students seeking to lead community change in places around the world as well as in Appalachian communities, and Tribal communities in the United States. The course will go online in February 2019.

Lehigh Valley cultural survey – August and September 2018

Mary Hufford conducted fieldwork for a Lehigh Valley cultural survey, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Jump Street. The survey documented practitioners of traditional arts that structure and express human relationships to nature and the land, including beekeeping, fly tying, turkey calling, wildcrafting, spinning, and community gardens. These are practices found throughout the Appalachian region and beyond, with potential for subregional and ethnic variation. How do the practices within Appalachian subregions register ecological and historical differences? How, through the transmission of such practices, does the land continue to engage new generations and immigrant communities in cultivating ecological citizenship?

US Climate Action Network – June 27 – 29

US Climate Action Network – June 27 – 29

LiKENeer Mary Hufford participated in the US Climate Action Network meeting in Spokane, WA. This annual meeting brings together climate advocates from all over the United States to bring grassroots organizations into alignment in order to ameliorate the effects of climate change on the most vulnerable communities. The far-reaching effects of climate change are represented in the 175 plus diverse organizations that make up the network, including faith-based organizations, labor networks, environmental justice communities, and organizations focused on public policy, to name a few.

Dialogues all the Way Down: Speech Genres as Matrices of Social and Ecological Renewal – May 18, 2018

Dialogues all the Way Down: Speech Genres as Matrices of Social and Ecological Renewal – May 18, 2018

LiKEN Associate Director, Mary Hufford, delivered talk, “Dialogues all the Way Down: Speech Genres as Matrices of Social and Ecological Renewal,” for symposium on Cultural Sustainability, University of California, Santa Barbara, May 18, 2018.

Alan Dundes Public lecture in Folklore: Witness Trees Revolt: Folklore’s Invitation to Narrative Ecology – April 2, 2018

Mary Hufford Presented the Alan Dundes Public lecture in Folklore: “Witness Trees Revolt: Folklore’s Invitation to Narrative Ecology” University of California, Berkeley. April 2, 2018. This public lectures honors the memory of Alan Dundes, who founded the program in folklore at the University of California, Berkeley.

Knowledge Commons and the Restoration of Time: Toward a Colloquy of Appalachian Forests – February 23, 2018

LiKENeer Mary Hufford Participated in “Knowledge Commons and the Restoration of Time: Toward a Colloquy of Appalachian Forests,” paper presented for Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference session “Seeing the Forest By Its Trees: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Appalachian Forests.” Feb. 23, 2018, UKY Lexington, KY.

Forest listening. (Photo by William Randall)