Traditional leis by Marie A. McDonald of Hawai’i. McDonald has received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Photograph by Jean C. Cote. From the Masters of Traditional Arts DVD-ROM, produced by Alan Govenar and published by ABC-CLIO.
 

AFS Financial Support

Please visit the annual meeting chapter of this site on February 1, 2010, when we will post the Invitation for Participation for the Society's 2010 annual meeting (October 13-16) in Nashville, Tennessee, which will contain information about financial support for those participating in that meeting.

The American Folklore Society's Committee on International Issues announces the availability of two $500 stipends for an American Folklore Society member traveling from North America to attend a meeting abroad. Members may receive the stipend only once, and they are also ineligible if they have received previous support from AFS to attend the AFS meeting.

Because of the variability of conference deadlines, there are two deadlines each year for support. The first deadline, June 30, 2010, is for proposals to travel to conferences that will take place between August 1, 2010, and August 1, 2011. The second deadline, December 1, 2010, is for proposals to travel to conferences that will take place between March 1, 2011, and March 1, 2012. We strongly encourage preliminary queries.

The purpose of the stipends is to foster increased international communication, collaboration, and awareness among the AFS membership. In judging applications, therefore, we consider not only how the proposed travel will benefit the individual but the benefit accrued to the Society and the field. Stipends will be paid by check upon receipt of a 500-word report on the meeting. Our criteria are flexible, but we favor:

  • Meetings with participants from regions where AFS has had relatively little involvement
  • Meetings featuring forms of disciplinary practice that are less familiar to AFS members
  • Meetings likely to foster a significant disciplinary contribution to major international issues
  • Applicants at earlier stages of their careers
  • Applicants lacking significant institutional travel support or frequent opportunities to travel abroad
  • Applicants likely to pursue ongoing international collaborations and/or to bring new international participants into AFS as a result of attending the meeting
  • Applicants likely to share what they have learned abroad with colleagues in North America

Your letter (ca. 2 pages) should explain what the meeting is, its date and location, the paper or presentation you will contribute to it, and the relevance of your application to the criteria above. Please send your letter with a brief CV (as a Word, .rtf, or text attachment) to committee chair Lee Haring, emeritus of Brooklyn College.