Lisa Gilman

Lisa Gilman

Lisa Gilman

Professor

Folklore: Folklore, music, dance, public humanities, performance studies, African Studies, women's and gender studies, migration, war, politics and culture, ethnographic fieldwork, filmmaking, digital storytelling.


Lisa Gilman is Director of the Folklore Program and Professor of Folklore and English at George Mason University in the United States. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American Folklore. Her research interests include intangible cultural heritage, performance, music, dance, trauma, war, migration, gender, and sexuality. She is currently working on a multi-sited (Malawi, Turkey, France, U.S.) global project on arts and culture initiatives by refugees for refugees.  She has published numerous articles and book chapters on the above topics. Her books include Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork Methods Handbook (with John Fenn, 2019), My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (2016), The Dance of Politics: Performance, Gender, and Democratization in Malawi (2009), and the co-edited volumes Africa Every Day: Fun, Leisure, and Expressive Culture on the Continent (2019) and UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage (2015). She produced the documentary Grounds for Resistance (2011) about the anti-war activism of U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

She teaches courses in folklore, public humanities, ethnographic fieldwork, digital storytelling, gender and sexuality, and African Studies. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American Folklore

 

Current Research

I am currently working on a global, multi-sited project on arts initiatives by refugees for refugees. I have been doing fieldwork with Syrians in Turkey, Uyghurs in Paris, Congolese, Rwandans, and Burundians in Malawi, and several groups within the United States. I will expand to more locations as the project progresses.

I am also collaborating with a team of youth who live in the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi to document the incredible talent and creativity in the camp and raise the visibility of the situation for refugees in Malawi. Please visit the Dzaleka Art Project website:  https://www.dzalekaartproject.com

 

Selected Publications

Books 

2019. Africa Every Day: Fun, Leisure, and Expressivity on the Continent.  Ohio University Press. (co-edited with Oluwalemi M. Balogun, Melissa Graboyes, and Habib Iddrisu). 

2019. Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork Methods Handbook. Indiana University Press. (co-authored with John Fenn).

2016. My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wesleyan University Press.

2015 UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage. Indiana University Press. (co-edited with Michael Dylan Foster).

2009 The Dance of Politics: Performance, Gender, and Democratization in Malawi. Temple University Press.

 

Website

The Dzaleka Art Project: https://www.dzalekaartproject.com

 

Documentary Film

2011  Grounds for Resistance: Stories of War, Sacrifice, and Good Coffee. Distributed by Films Media Group. A documentary about contemporary G.I. resistance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmn5DkgENMU

Expanded Publication List

Special Journal Issues Guest Edited

2021. African American Expressive Culture, Protest, Imagination, and Dreams of Blackness. (co-editor Tanya Boucicaut). Special Issue of the Journal of American Folklore 134 (534).

2015   UNESCO and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Local Perspectives on Global Policy for Intangible Cultural Heritage (co-editor M.D. Foster). Special Issue of the Journal of Folklore Research.

2000   Folklore and Theory. Special Issue of Folklore Forum, 30(1/2).

1997   Folklore and Instruction in Africa (co-editor E.O. Ogwang). Special Issue of Folklore Forum 28(1).

 

Articles and chapters

2023. Cake is Better than Sex: Folklore and Asexuality. Special issue Folklore and Queer Theory. Journal of Folklore Research.

2022 The Study of Folklore, Gender, and Sexuality in the U.S.A. Van Hoa. [Vietnamese Journal].

2022 “Our Culture is Dying”: Safeguarding versus Representation in the UNESCO 2003 ICH Convention’s Implementation. The International Journal of Heritage Studies. 17(0): 39-52.

2021 Trans. 著 贾志杰 译 彭牧 校.  在两种对照性背景中检视非遗训练的价值:以非洲南部和美国为考察点[Examining the Value of ICH Training in Two Contrasting Settings: Southern Africa and the USA]. 民俗研究[Folklore Studies/Chinese Journal] 3.

2020 Festivals, Tourism, and Cultural Conservation: Comparing the Livingstone Cultural and Arts Festival and the Nc’wala Traditional Ceremony in Zambia. Cultural Analysis 18(2). https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~culturalanalysis/volume18_2/vol18_2_Gilman.html

2019   Some Remarks from a Folklorist and American Perspective. Response Essay to “The Butt of the Joke? Laughter and Potency in the Becoming of Good Soldiers. Some Remarks from a Folklorist and an American Perspective.” Cultural Analysis 17(1):25-56.

2019. Chilimika: Dancing in the New Year in the Nkhata Bay District of Malawi. Africa Every Day: Fun, Leisure, and Expressive Culture on the Continent., eds. Kemi Balogun, Lisa Gilman, Melissa Graboyes, and Habib Iddrisu.Ohio University Press.

2019. The Butt of the Joke? Laughter and Potency in the Becoming of Good Soldiers. Some Remarks from a Folklorist and American Perspective. Cultural Analysis17. https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~culturalanalysis/volume17/vol17_Slok_Andersen.html

2018   Women, Men, and Other Gendered Identities. The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies, ed. Simon Bronner. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2017  Performance, Maternalism, and Joyce Banda’s Brief Presidency in Malawi. Africa Today 64 (1): 29-52

2017   The Politics of Cultural Promotion: The case of the Umthetho Festival of Malawi’s Northern Ngoni. In Public Performances, ed. Jack Santino. Utah State University Press.

2015  Demonic or Cultural Treasure: Local Perspectives on Vimbuza, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and UNESCO in Malawi. Journal of Folklore Research 52 (2-3): 199-216.

2015   Demonic or Cultural Treasure: Local Perspectives on Vimbuza, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and UNESCO in Malawi. UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage, eds. Michael Dylan Foster and Lisa Gilman, pp. 59-76. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

2013 抗争”之辨:多重能动性、性别和马拉维(Resisting Resistance: Multiple Agencies, Gender, and  Politics in Malawi), trans. 李生柱、彭瑞红(trans. Li Shengzhu and Peng Ruihong)民俗研究 (Journal: Folklore Studies.

(期 2): 第-页 (12-25)

2013 Troupes Hors-Sol: Music, Espace, Mémoire dans la Guerre en Irak (Grounding the Troops: Music, Place, and Memory in the Iraq War). Écoute: Discour, Pratiques, Médiation (Volume !: The Journal of Popular Music Studies). 10 (1): 171-88.

2012   Oppositional Positioning: The Military Identification of Young Anti-War Veterans. In Warrior Ways: Explorations in Modern Military Folklore, eds. Tad Tuleja and Eric Eliason. Utah State University Press

2010   An American Soldier’s Ipod: Layers of Identity and Situated Listening in Iraq. Music and Politics 4 (2).

2009   Complex Genres, Intertextuality, and the Analysis of Performance. Journal of American Folklore 122 (485): 335-62.

2006   (co-author John Fenn) Dance, Gender, and Popular Music in Malawi: The Case of Rap and Ragga. Special issue of Popular Music 25(3): 369-81.

2005   Dance, Power, and the Creation of National Community in Malawian Politics. Congress on Research in Dance Spring 2005 Conference proceedings, pp. 100-04. Florida State University. Tallahassee, Florida. Dance & Community.

2004   (co-author Clara Henderson) Women as Religious and Political Praise Singers within African Institutions: The Case of the CCAP Blantyre Synod and Party Politics in Malawi. Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture 8: 22-40.

2004   The Traditionalization of Women’s Dancing, Hegemony, and Politics in Malawi. Journal of Folklore Research 41(1): 33-60.

2001   Purchasing Praise: Women, Dancing, and Patronage in Malawi Party Politicking. Africa Today 48(4): 43-64.

2000   Cultural Change and the Case of Malipenga in Malawi. In Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in Tanzania and East Africa, eds. Frank Gunderson and Gregory Barz, pp. 321-45. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.

 

Encyclopedia Entries

2012   Rose Ziba Chibambo. Dictionary of African Biography, eds Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Emmanuel Akyeampong, pp. 65-66. Oxford Press.

2008   (co-author Elizabeth Locke) Rape. Encyclopedia of Women's Folklore and Folklife, eds. Locke and Theresa Vaughan. Greenwood Press.

 

Magazine articles

2000   The Rose Chibambo Story Part I, Wasi: The Magazine for the Arts Vol. 11(3): 17-19.

2000   The Rose Chibambo Story Part II Wasi: The Magazine for the Arts Vol. 12 (1): 13-19

2001   The Rose Chibambo Story Part II Wasi: The Magazine for the Arts Vol 12 (2): 8-9.

 

Book and Film Reviews

2017   Book Review. Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler. Remembering Nayeche and the Gray Bull Engiro: African Storytellers of the Karamoja Plateau and the Plains of Turkana (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014). Journal of American Folklore 130(517): 360-61

2011   Book Review. Simon Bronner, ed. Manly Traditions: The Folk Roots of American Masculinities (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005). Journal of American Folklore 124 (491) : 110-12.

2009   Book Review. Jonathan Pieslak. Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009). Journal of Folklore Research Reviews.

2005   Book Review. Signe Arnfred, ed. Re-Thinking Sexualities in Africa, (Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell Tryckeri AB, 2004.) African Studies Review 48(2): 145-46.

1999   Video Review: Africa: Between Myth and Reality, (prod. Joe Brett, New York: West Glen Films). H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online) Multimedia Review (EH.Net@eh.net). (2 pages)

1998   Book Review: Ruth M. Stone, ed. Africa: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1, (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1998.) Folklore Forum 29(1): 132-34).

1997   Book Review: Nongenile Masithathu Zenani. The World and the Word: Tales and Observations from the Xhosa Oral Tradition, (ed. Harold Scheub. University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.) Folklore Forum 28(1): 106-07.

 

Multimedia Projects

2006   Dances of Nkhata Bay. Ten hours of video footage of Malawian dance performances linked to descriptive and analytical text. Ethnographic Video for Instruction and Analysis Digital Archive Project [EVIADA].

 

Exhibits

2011   Hooks, Yarn, and Bars. Participated in collaborative project to document and exhibit the work of the Crochet Club and the Hobby Arts Shop at the Oregon State Correctional Institute.

 

Grants and Fellowships

2022 Faculty Research and Development Award (FRDA). George Mason University

2019 Curriculum Impact Grant. Folklore and Festivals. George Mason University.

2016 Fund for Faculty Excellence Award. University of Oregon.

2016 Humanities Research Award. College of Arts and Sciences. University of Oregon.

2015-16 Rippey Innovative Teaching Award for development of “Politically Creative” Freshman Interest Group seminar

2012-13 Fulbright Teaching/Research Award. In support of research project “Dance and the Politics of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Malawi.” Teaching at Mzuzu University, Malawi.

2012 CO-PI. Randall V. Mills Archives of Northwest Folklore Preservation and Access Project for Media Collections. Oregon State Libraries.

2011 Rippey Innovative Teaching Award for development of “Politically Creative” Freshman Interest Group seminar.

2011 C0-PI. Oregon Folklife Network Grande Ronde Consortium Grant. Oregon Arts Commission.

2011  CO-PI. Randall V. Mills Archives of Northwest Folklore Preservation and Access Project for Media Collections. Oregon State Libraries.

2010 PI. Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), Interactive Map and Folk Arts Archive. National Endowment for the Arts

2010 Research Grant. Center for the Study of Women in Society. University of Oregon.

2010 Summer Research Award. The Office of Research and Faculty Development. University of Oregon

2008 Junior Professorship Development Award. College of Arts and Science. University of Oregon.

2007 Junior Professorship Development Award. College of Arts and Science. University of Oregon.

2006 African Studies Course Seed Grant. African Studies Program. University of Oregon.

2006 Junior Professorship Development Award. College of Arts and Science. University of Oregon.

2005-06 New Faculty Award. University of Oregon’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.

2004 Scholarly and Creative Activities Grant. Texas A&M University Office of Vice President of Research.

2004 Women’s Studies Faculty Research Fellowship. Texas A&M University Women’s Studies Program.

2002 P.I. on grant to fund Folklore and Education seminar at the University of Toledo: “Women the Keepers of Tradition.” Ohio Humanities Council.

2000         Doctoral Student Grant-in-Aid of Research. Indiana University, Bloomington, Graduate School.

1999         Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Award

1998         Graduate Student Paper Prize for “Putting Colonialism into Perspective: Cultural History and the Case of Malipenga in Malawi.” African Studies Program. Indiana University, Bloomington.

Courses Taught

Introduction to Folklore

Folklore and Folklife

Theories of Performance Studies

Public Humanities, Digital Storytelling, and Public Folklore

Public Folklore

Heritage Matters

Folklore and Sexuality

Women’s Folklore

Folklore and Gender

Folklore, Gender, and Sexuality

American Folklore

Oral literature

History and Theory of Folklore Research

Folklore Fieldwork

Voices of Africa

African Folklore

Dance and U.S. Culture

Dance and World Cultures

Introduction to gender studies

Issues in Women’s Studies

Feminist Research Methods

West Africa: History, Society, and Culture (study abroad program in Dakar, Senegal)

 

Education

PhD in Folklore with a minor in African Studies, Indiana University.

M.A. in Folklore, Indiana University.

B.A. in Political Science with a Certificate in Folklore and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon.

Recent Presentations

 

2023    The Dzaleka Art Project: Community-Based Documentation in a Malawian Refugee Camp. 2023 annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Nov. 1-4, Portland, Oregon.

2023    Precarious Endurance: Arts Initiatives by Refugees for Refugees in Three Global Contexts. 2003 meeting of the Society for Ethnology and Folklore, Brno, Czech Republic, June 7-10.

2023.   Plenary. Digital Storytelling and Public Folklore in Intercultural Contexts. 7th Annual Meeting of Limitless Education and research (ISLER) May 3-5.

2022   “We are all human”: Music, Diplomacy, and the Tumaini Arts Festival in Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee Camp. 2022 annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Philadelphia, PA, Nov 17-20.

2022 Keynote Address. Performance and Power: The Value of Transdisciplinary and Public-Facing Work in Academic Spaces. International Graduate Research Symposium IGRS ’22. Istanbul Technical University. Istanbul, Turkey. June 1.

2022 “We are all People”: Music, Identity, and Cultural Survival in the Lives of Displaced Peoples. Eighth symposium of the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe. Istanbul, Turkey. May 13.

2022 Performance, Power, and Publics: One Person's Path Through the Changing Field of Folklore. Pertev Naili Boratav Lecture Series. Bogacizi University. Istanbul, Turkey, March 31.

2021 My Culture, My Survival: Refugees and the Power of Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNICAF University, Malawi, November 4.

2021   Whose Culture? Whose Responsibility? Gender, Power, and Class in Southern African Cultural Preservation. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Oct. 18-23. Online.

2021   Meet the Editors: Demystifying the Journal Publishing Process. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Oct. 18-23. Online.

2020 Examining the Value of ICH Training in Two Contrasting Settings: Southern Africa and the USA. Keynote Address International Forum on ICH [Intangible Cultural Heritage] Education and Formation as a Scholarly Discipline. Beijing Normal University, Dec. 5-6.

2020   Meet the Editors: Demystifying the Journal Publishing Process. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Oct. 13-17. Online.

2019   “’Our Culture is Dying’: Safeguarding versus Representation in the Convention’s Implementation.  Keynote address. Critical Developments in Cultural Sustainability: Sustaining Practice,  Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Oct. 23-25.

2019  Whose Culture? Whose Responsibility?  Gender, Power, and Class in Malawian Cultural Preservation Initiatives. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 20-24, 2019

2019   Grounds for Resistance. Film Screening. Bogazici University. Istanbul, Turkey. July 16

2019   My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Smithsonian Year of Music series at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Mar. 12.

2018   My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Indiana University, Oct. 30.

2018   Safeguarding or Economic Development? Intangible Cultural Heritage in Malawi and Zambia. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Buffalo, NY. October 17-21.

2018   My Music, My War. Public Presentation at Madison Urban League by invitation of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 25. Madison, Wisconsin. August 2.

2018   UNESCO on the Ground: Intangible Cultural Heritage and Economic Development. Presented to National and Provincial Cultural Officers. Livingstone, Zambia, May 24.

2018   Performance and Activism. Performance Studies Class. George Washington University, Washington DC, April 10.

2018   Performance and Power in Malawian Politics. Annual meeting of the American Ethnological Association. Philadelphia, Pennsyvania. March 22-24.

2018   Grounds for Resistance. Film Screening. January 24, University of Oregon. Eugene, Oregon.

2017    The Collaboration between Academic and Public Folklore at the University of Oregon. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 29-December 3, Washington DC.

2017   Chair and Roundtable convener. Everyday Life on the African Continent: A Collaborative Book Project. Annual meeting of the African Studies Association. November 15-19, Chicago, Illinois.

2017   Competing Definitions of “Community” in Malawian Public Discourse. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, October 18-22, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2017   Participant. Her-Story: A Feminism and Folklore Retrospective 2017. Annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, October 18-22, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2017   UNESCO on the Ground: Local Responses to Intangible Cultural Heritage Designation in Malawi. Public Lecture. National Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China September 26.

2017   Folklore and Poverty, Public Lecture. National Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, China September 26.

2017   UNESCO on the Ground: Local Responses to Intangible Cultural Heritage Designation in Malawi. Public Lecture. Minzu University, Beijing, China, September 22.

2017   Defining Folklore in the 21th Century United States. Public Lecture. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, September 21.

2017   Performance Theory and Folklore Studies, Public Lecture. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China , September 21

2017   Forum convener. Undergraduate Fieldwork in and beyond the Classroom. Annual meeting of the Western States Folklore Society, April 21-22, Eugene, Oregon

In the Media

https://haberler.boun.edu.tr/en/news/academician-author-documentary-producer-lisa-gilman-teaches-summer-school

https://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/music-war-oregon-capital-punishment/

https://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/iraq-afghanistan-war-music-troops/

http://www.klcc.org/post/my-music-my-war-listening-habits-us-troops-iraq-and-afghanistan

https://unesco.uoregon.edu/category/crossings-radio/page/3/