Women’s Section of The American Folklore Society

The Women's Section was convened more than 25 years ago as folklorists (primarily women) felt the need to meet other feminists, and to address the lack of serious study of women's issues in the field of folklore. Thanks to the work of these first section members, and those that have followed, feminist contributions to the study of folklore are no longer rare nor overlooked. With more than 200 section members, the Women's Section is a substantial force in the American Folklore Society.

Croning Rituals

In addition to providing a forum for the discussion of women’s issues, the Women’s Section also has sponsored periodic cronings of women members of the Society when they reach the age of 50, holding croning ceremonies every few years at Section meetings. The structure of these ceremonies has varied from time to time and involved elaborate costuming, ritual, joking, and singing. Thus, in addition to its other functions, the Section has provided a playful way of celebrating how women age and of celebrating senior women in the Society, while also making the point that folklorists recognize the great importance of coming-of-age rituals.

Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize

Each year, the Women’s Section of the American Folklore Society awards two prizes in honor of pioneering scholar Elli Köngäs-Maranda. The prizes recognize superior work on women’s traditional, vernacular, or local culture and/or feminist theory and folklore. The content of the nominations must focus on some aspect of women's folklore.

Student Prize

for an undergraduate or graduate student paper (up to 30 pages in length)
entrants must either be currently enrolled in a degree program as of the submission deadline or have been enrolled within the previous academic year
carries an award of $100
submission deadline September 15, 2009
may be submitted as either hard copy or (preferably) e-mail attachment

Professional/Non-Student Prize

eligible work includes: publications, films, videos, exhibitions or exhibition catalogues, or sound recordings
materials should have been published/produced no more than two years prior to the submission deadline
carries an award of $250
submission deadline (postmarked) September 1, 2009
please submit three copies of books, videos, etc.

Awards will be announced at the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society. Prize recipients need not be members of the Society.

EKM Prize recipients for 2009 were:

EKM Professional Prize

Liz Locke, Theresa A. Vaughan, and Pauline Greenhill, for their book Encyclopedia of Women’s Folklore and Folklife

Ilana Rosen, for her book Sister in Sorrow: Life Histories of Female Holocaust Survivors from Hungary

EKM Student Prize

Christy Williams, for "The Shoe Still Fits: Ever After and the Pursuit of a Feminist Cinderella"

Honorable mention: Puja Sahney, for "The Indian Married Women’s Festival of Karvachauth: Transgression and Empowerment"

EKM Prize recipients for 2008 were:

EKM Professional Prize

Jacqueline Fulmer, for her book Folk Women and Indirection in Morrison, Ni Dhuibhne, Hurston, and Lavin

Honorable Mention: Pravina Shukla, for her book The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India
Honorable Mention: Kristin M. McAndrews, for her book Wrangling Women: Humor and Gender in the American West

EKM Student Prize

Elo-Hanna Seljamaa, The Ohio State University, for her paper “He ‘Put Pennies in Her Palm’: Crossing Boundaries in an Estonian Infanticide Ballad”

Honorable Mention: Joanna B. Spanos, The Ohio State University, for her paper “’The Ballad of Susanna Cox’ and the Transformation of Community”
Honorable Mention: Sheetal Gandhi, UCLA, for her paper “Freedom versus Stability: Fantasies of Intimacy in North Indian Women’s Songs”

Women’s Section Quilt

This quilt was made to benefit the Elli Kongas-Maranda Prize, 1993 – 1995. Members of the Women's Section made the blocks. The quilt was designed and pieced by Laurel Horton and Jane Przybysz, and quilted by the Fairview United Methodist Church Quilters of Camden, Arkansas.

Women’s Section Contact Information

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.