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 the Director of George Mason University's Institute for Immigration Research and Professor of Folklore and English. She is the outgoing Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American Folklore. Her research interests include intangible cultural heritage, performance, music, dance, trauma, war, migration, displacement, gender, and sexuality. She is currently working on a multi-site (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, migration, African Studies.
Current Research
I am currently working on a global, multi-site 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 collaborated with a team of youth who live in the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi and George Mason students 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
Some public facing essays I've been writing from this research can be found:
2024. Refugee Creativity, Fun, and Initiative at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative Blog. Wilson Center, October 7. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/refugee-creativity-fun-and-initiative-dzaleka-refugee-camp-malawi
2024 “But Where Can We Go?”: Fear and Instability for Displaced Syrians in Turkye. Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative Blog. Wilson Center, August 1. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/where-can-we-go-fear-and-instability-displaced-syrians-turkiye
2024 Should We Go Home? The Prospects for Displaced Syrians to Return after the Fall of the Bashar al-Assad Regime. December 18. Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative Blog. Wilson Center, December 18. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/should-we-go-home-prospects-displaced-syrians-return-after-fall-bashar-al-assad-regime
2024. Refugee Creativity, Fun, and Initiative at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative Blog. Wilson Center, October 7. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/refugee-creativity-fun-and-initiative-dzaleka-refugee-camp-malawi
2024 YOLO Art Center and Café: Art, Culture, and Belonging for Syrian Refugees in Türkiye. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Magazine, March 15. https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/yolo-art-center-syrian-refugees-turkiye
2024 (with Mohammed Rezuwan Khan) Mohammed Rezuwan Khan: Claiming the Right to Rohingya Existence through Folktales. Ancient Origins Magazine 52. https://x.com/Khan_RZW/status/1838822765862015460
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
Grants and Fellowships
2024-25. Residential Fellow. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, affiliated with the Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative.
2024. Council of American Overseas Research Centers’ Multi-Country Research. U.S. State Department. In support of research project “My Culture, My Survival: Arts Initiatives for Refugees by Refugees.
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
Folklore, Migration, and Displacement
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
2025 Fife Folklore Honor Lecture (with Divine Irakoze). Refugees, Arts, and Advocacy: Building Policy and Peace through Ethnographic Fieldwork Relationships. Utah State University. March 5.
2024 Keynote Address: The Dzaleka Art Project: Education and Skill Building through a Community-based Collaboration in a Malawian Refugee Camp. 8th International Symposium of Limitless Education and Research, Türkiye, April 25.
2024 My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Middle East Forum, U.S. Naval Academy, April 16.
2023 Plenary. Digital Storytelling and Public Folklore in Intercultural Contexts. 7th Annual Meeting of Limitless Education and research (ISLER) May 3-5.
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://www.upr.org/show/access-utah/2025-03-06/refugees-arts-and-advocacy-on-access-utah
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/microsite/2/node/121528
https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/yolo-art-center-syrian-refugees-turkiye
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/