Missouri Folklore Society Conference

The Missouri Folklore Society, in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council and Truman State University, is pleased to announce “Mud, Mules, and Manipulation,” a conference focused on the eclectic folklore of Missouri beginning on Thursday, November 3 and running through Saturday, November 5. While many of conference sessions will be held at the Day’s Inn Conference Center, an exhibit of folk art will on display at the Kirksville Arts Association throughout November, and a banquet featuring culturally accurate recipes will be held Truman State University on Thursday, November 3 at 6:00 p.m. While the cost to attend the entire conference is $25, many of the sessions are free and open to the public. A full list of sessions, topics, and times of the conference can be found at: http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu.

Missouri’s diverse folk communities will be celebrated throughout the conference, and anchored with three specific events: an exhibit in the Kirksville Arts Association’s gallery, a book launch at Truman State University, and a Latino dance class at the Day’s Inn Conference Center. Dozens of other presentations in Kirksville on November 3-5 will highlight the rich cultural traditions of the state, and especially of the Northeastern Missouri region.

Throughout November, the Kirksville Arts Association will host a folk arts exhibit. The visual arts of Kirksville’s new African and Latino immigrants will be featured and foregrounded along with the works of local Hands of Friendship quilters, regional musicians, artists, and basket weavers. The exhibit is free and open to the public for the entire month, co-sponsored by Missouri Humanities Council, the Kirksville Arts Association, Truman State University’s Multicultural Affairs Center, and the Missouri Folklore Society.

The Missouri Folklore Society’s newest journal volume, a collection of sixteen tales by master storyteller Loretta Washington, will be launched on November 3 at Truman State University’s Student Union Building. Washington’s performance of her tales is sponsored by the Department of English and the Missouri Humanities Council. Titled “My Corner of the Porch,” the collection pays tribute to Washington’s grandmother, a tiny but forceful woman who helped her spunky little granddaughter grow up in racially segregated Wardell, MO, in the early 1950s.

Latino dancers from Milan, MO, are scheduled to teach Guatemalan dancing on Saturday, November 5. Their performance will be organized by Axel Fuentes of the Rural Community Workers Alliance, and sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council, the Missouri Folklore Society, and Truman State University’s Multicultural Affairs Center.

The public is invited to attend these events and to sample many other events during the Conference. There will be three jam sessions, talks about fiddling and basket weaving, Amish customs and osteopathy, and much more.

(The website will be updated several times over the next few weeks.) For more information about the grants program of the Missouri Humanties Council, call 314-781-9660 or 800-357-0909 or write to the MHC, 543 Hanley Industrial Court, Suite 205, St. Louis, Missouri 63144-1905.

Donkey12