Mediterranean Studies Section of the American Folklore Society
The Mediterranean Studies Section of the American Folklore Society is an organization committed to fostering research on the expressive culture of Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The group encourages interdisciplinary and conceptualizes the notion of the Mediterranean broadly, including both the societies situated on the Mediterranean rim as well as the immigrant and ethnic populations of Mediterranean peoples worldwide. AFSMSS maintains an electronic discussion list and invites members to post queries and information on upcoming conferences, special archival collections, useful databases, and other educational resources. In keeping with the mandate of the American Folklore Society, this section aims to build a larger constituency by forging links between local and international organizations and providing people of diverse backgrounds with a forum for discussing the current state and future directions of Mediterranean studies.
Membership in AFSMSS is open to members of the American Folklore Society and all those interested in the scholarly study of Mediterranean folklore. To join, please visit the AFS membership page of this web site, where you will find both a secure online and a printable, mailable membership form. To join the Section’s listserv, please send an e-mail to the section convener and website editor Luisa Del Giudice.
AFS Mediterranean Studies Section Member Directory
Maria Teresa Agozzino, PhD, American Folklore Society and The Ohio State University, 1501 Neil Avenue, Columbus OH 43201 USA; mabela@cal.berkeley.edu
Research interests: Wales and the Welsh diaspora, Arthuriana, history of folklore study, folk belief, the ritual year
Cristina Bacchilega, PhD, Department of English, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1733 Donaghho Road, Honolulu HI 96822 USA; cbacchi@hawaii.edu
Research interests: folktales and fairy tales; gender and fairy tales; folklore and literature; folkloristics and colonialism; Hawaiian mo‘olelo in translation
Katia Ballacchino, PhD candidate, Studi glottoantropologici e discipline musicali, Università La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5 Rome, Italy; katia.ballacchino@uniroma1.it
Research interests: the Migrant Feast; the Giglio Feast in Nola (Naples) and in Williamsburg (Brooklyn, New York); Living Tradition and intangible cultural heritage, rituals and local traditional systems in an Italian area, Nola, and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; a morphologic, symbolic, socio-political and cultural analysis of the processes of organization and realization of this public ceremony and of his migrations
Hande Birkalan-Gedik, Associate Professor of Folklore, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yeditepe University, 26 Agustos Kampusu, Kayisdagi-Istanbul, Turkey; hande1kalan@yahoo.com
Research interests: folklore theory and methods, feminist ethnography, gender and genre, public festivals, material culture, memory, migration
Chiara Bortolotto, PhD, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, France/Laboratoire d’anthropologie et d’histoire de l’institution de la culture (LAHIC); chiara.bortolotto@ehess.fr
Research interests: anthropology of cultural heritage
Tina Bucuvalas, PhD, Florida Folklife Program/Florida Department of State; tbucuvalas@dos.state.fl.us
Research interests: folklife of Florida, Greece, and Latin America; material culture
Isabel Cardigos, FCHS, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005 - 039 FARO, Portugal; icardigo@ualg.pt; www.ualg.pt
Research interests: oral literature, folktales, legends (Director of Centro de Estudos Ataíde Oliveira and editor of the journal Estudos de Literatura Oral)
Stephanie Hom Cary, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Italian Studies, University of California, 6303 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley CA 94720 USA; shcary@berkeley.edu; stephaniehomcary@gmail.com; www.tourismstudies.org
Research interests: 19th- and 20th-century Italian literature and culture; tourism and travel theory; Italian colonialism; Mediterranean identities
Joann Cavallo, PhD, Department of Italian, Columbia University, 514 Hamilton Hall; MC 2835, New York NY 10027 USA; jac3@columbia.edu
Research interests: Tuscan-Emilian epic maggio, Sicilian puppet theater
Daniela Cesiri, PhD student, University of Salento; Via Taranto 35, 73100 Lecce, Italy; daniela.cesiri@yahoo.it
Research interests: English historical linguistics and dialectology, lexicology, lexicography
Judith Cohen, York University/Alan Lomax Archive, Independent Scholar, Contract Faculty; judithc@yorku.ca; www.yorku.ca/judithc
Research interests: Sephardic music, Sephardic diaspora music, Spain, Portugal, Balkans, pan-European balladry; performance
Luisa Del Giudice, PhD, Independent Scholar, PO Box 241553, Los Angeles CA 90024-1553 USA; luisadg@humnet.ucla.edu; www.ItalianLosAngeles.org
Research interests: Italian, Italian American and Canadian folklife, ethnology, and oral history: foodways (e.g., gastronomic utopias, wine culture and the cantina, history of pasta, food altars), material culture (Toronto’s archvillas) and belief (St. Joseph’s Day Tables, faith healers, ethnography as spiritual practice), oral expressions (ballads, neo-tarantismo, folk revival movements), children�s literature (Tomie de Paola), oral history (Archaeology and Horace’s Villa in Licenza, Italian Los Angeles). LDG has produced many public programs on Italian and Mediterranean regional and folk culture in Los Angeles, California, founded and directed the Italian Oral History Institute from 1994 to 2007. (See also www.iohi.org/NEW/pages/staff/delgiudice.html.)
Celest DiPietropaolo, Independent scholar, musician; dance@italianvillagedance.com; www.italianvillagedance.com
Research interests: Italian traditional music
Narjys El Alaoui, Musée des Civilizations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, 6, ave du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris, France; also Association Techniques rurales de Méditerranée; nelal@free.fr
Research interests: anthropology, Morocco, anthropology of technics, visual anthropology, ethnobotany
Ángel Hernández Fernández, Independent Scholar; alhezfez@hotmail.com
Research interests: edition and study of Spanish folktales
Augusto Ferraiuolo, PhD, Boston University; augusto@bu.edu
Research interests: religion and magic in the region of Campania, Italy
Charles Ferris, Graduate student, ethnomusicology, University of California, Berkeley; chazf@berkeley.edu
Research interests: socio-musical dynamics in the production of Neapolitan musical traditions
Valérie Feschet, Institut d’Ethnologie Méditerranéenne et Comparative, Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, 5, Rue du Chateau de l’Horloge, BP647, 13094 Aix-en-Provence cedex 2, France; feschet@mmsh.univ-aix.fr; www.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/ethnologie; www.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/idemec
Research interests: Provence/France/Europe: kinship, family memory, domestic archives, domestic writings (correspondence, autobiography, scrapbook class), migration (Vallée de l’Ubaye [alpine Provence]), condominiums (common spaces), material culture (stairwell, doormat, botanical gardens condominium)
Larisa Fialkova, PhD, Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, The University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; lara@research.haifa.ac.il
Research interests: folklore and immigration
Jurij Fikfak, PhD, Institute of Slovenian Ethnology, Scientific Research Center-Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Novi trg 5/11, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; fikfak@gmx.net
Research interests: rituals, public festivals, and performers; memory and identity; issues of qualitative methodology; history of European anthropology and folklore; heritage making processes; semiotics of culture; life of elites
Manuel da Costa Fontes, Emeritus, Modern and Classical Language Studies, Kent State University, Kent OH 44240 USA; mfontes@kent.edu; www.personal.kent.edu/~mfontes/
Research interests: Medieval and Renaissance Portuguese and Spanish literature, Hispanic balladry, crypto-Judaism in Portugal and Spain
Laurent Sébastien Fournier, University of Nantes, 25bis Boulevard Guy-Mollet, BP 72206, 44322 Nantes cedex 3, France; Laurent.fournier@univ-nantes.fr
Research interests: history of European anthropology and folklore; heritage making processes; festivals, games, and sports; French anthropology and folklore
Edvige Giunta, New Jersey City University, 2029 Kennedy Blvd, Jersey City NJ 07305 USA; egiunta@njcu.edu; faculty.njcu.edu/giunta
Research interests: Italian American studies, the memoir, pedagogy
Evy Johanne Håland, Researcher, affiliated with Unifob Global, University of Bergen, Norway; evyhaa@online.no; www.iwha.net
Research interests: Greek history and culture (ancient and modern)
Lee Haring, PhD, Brooklyn College (emeritus), 6 Cantine’s Island Lane, Saugerties, NY 12477 USA; lharing@hvc.rr.com
Research interests: island studies
Maria Kaliambou, PhD, Independent Scholar and Lector in Modern Greek, Hellenic Studies Program, Yale University, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, Room 301b, PO Box 208206, New Haven CT 06520-8206 USA; mariakaliambou@hotmail.com; maria.kaliambou@yale.edu
Research interests: folktales, oral literature, popular literature, history of books, history and theory of folklore
Songül Karahasanoglu, PhD, Istanbul Technical University. Türk Musikisi Devlet Konservatuarý, Muzikoloji Bolumu, Macka Kampüsü 34 367; atason@itu.edu.tr
Research interests: Turkish folk music, Turkish popular music, Islamic music
Israel J. Katz, Independent Scholar; ijoektz@aol.com
Research interests: Spain, Western and Eastern Mediterranean
Marcello Sorce Keller, Chair, Study Group on Anthropology of Music in Mediterranean Cultures, and Honorary Research Associate, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; mskeller@ticino.com
Research interests: music in Mediterranean cultures
Sabina Magliocco, PhD, Department of Anthropology, California State University, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge CA 91330-8244 USA; sabina.magliocco@csun.edu; www.csun.edu/~sm32646
Research interests: Italy, US, Britain; Ritual, festival, religion, foodways, narrative; critical theory, ethnicity, and identity issues
Elizabeth Mathias, Professor Emerita, Anthropology, St. John's University, Jamaica, New York, USA; elmathias@aol.com
Research interests: Italy; European history; the regions of Sardinia, Sicily, Campagnia, and Basilicata; shepherds and family life in central Sardinia; oral poetry; travel accounts; D.H. Lawrence's Italian works
Maria Santa Montez, Independent Scholar, SIEF member; vieiramontez@netcabo.pt
Research interests: folk religion, ethnology, folklife and oral literature studies
Carlos Nogueira, CTPP, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda Da Universidade, Lisboa, Portugal; carlos_nogueira@aeiou.pt
Research interests: Portuguese and Brazilian literature and culture
Sylvia Onder, PhD, Georgetown University; onders@georgetown.edu
Research interests: Turkish Black Sea village life, medical folkways, contemporary Turkish pop music and culture
Arzu Ozturkmen, PhD, Bogazici Universitesi Tarih Bolumu, Bebek 34342, Istanbul, Turkey; ozturkme@boun.edu.tr
Research interests: history of folklore, folk dance and festivals (Ottoman festivities, Turkish national holidays), oral history
Fèlix Retamero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Dep. de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Facultat de Lletres, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) Spain; felix.retamero@uab.cat; www.uab.cat
Research interests: history of al-Andalus; medieval history; agrarian history; medieval coinage and fiscality
Sabina Rossignoli, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, 197, Rue du faubourg Saint Antoine, Paris 11, France; sabina.rossignoli@gmail.com
Research interests: Mediterranean Jewish and Muslim folklore and popular religion in cross-cultural contexts, gender studies
Goran Pavel Santek, University of Zadar, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Dr. Franje Tudmana 24 1, Zadar 23000, Croatia; gpsantek@unizd.hr;www.unizd.hr
Research interests: southeastern Europe: culture, religion, economy
Joan Saverino, PhD, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-5699 USA; jsaverino@hsp.org; www.hsp.org
Research interests: ethnohistory and ethnography, immigration and ethnicity, gender and culture, material culture and dress, Italian and Italian American culture, ethnoaesthetics, public display, and heritage tourism
Joseph Sciorra, PhD, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College, City University of New York, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10036 USA; joseph.sciorra@qc.cuny.edu
Research interests: religious folk art, festivals, cultural landscapes, and the vernacular modification and use of urban spaces, youth culture and music
Steve Siporin, PhD, English Department, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322-3200 USA; steve.siporin@usu.eduResearch interests: Jewish Italian folklore and culture
Inja Smerdel, Curator, Rural Economy Department, Slovenski etnografski muzej/Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Metelkova 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; inja.smerdel@etno-muzej.si; www.etno-muzej.si
Research interests: ethnology, ethnography, pre-industrial agriculture (hay harvest, grain millstones), animal husbandry (sheep transhumance, draught oxen), man-animal relationship
Tad Tuleja, PhD, Princeton University; ttuleja@princeton.edu
Research interests: US popular culture, tourism, memory and identity, representation of ethnicity
Meltem Turkoz, PhD, Isik University, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sile, Istanbul, Turkey; mturkoz@yahoo.com; meltem@isikun.edu.tr; www.isikun.edu.tr
Research interests: ethnographic methods, oral history, narrative, nationalism, history of modern Turkey
Larry Vellani, Elon University, Independent Scholar, Musician, performer; Vellani@elon.edu; facstaff.elon.edu/vellani/pacifico.htm; www.Mebanesville.com
Research interests: Italian traditional song and melody (musica popolare); Irish and North American traditional song and melody
Maria Yelenevskaya, PhD, Department of Humanities and Arts, Technion-IIT, Technion City, Haifa, 32000, Israel; ymaria@tx.technion.ac.il
Research interests: immigration studies, bilingualism, biculturalism
Dorothy Louise Zinn, Universitá degli Studi delle Basilicata, Matera, Italy; sanmartinosassi@tiscali.it
Research interests: southern Italy, immigration, patronage/clientelism, Ernesto de Martino
To join this American Folklore Society interest-group section, please visit the AFS membership page of this web site, where you will find both a secure online and a printable, mailable membership form. You need not be a member of the American Folklore Society to join its sections.