CURRICULUM VITAE
NAME: John Holmes McDowell
DATE OF BIRTH: September 24, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, D.C.
WORK: E-MAIL:
Folklore Institute McDowell@indiana.edu
Indiana University
504 N. Fess
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 335 1027
CURRENT POSITION:
Professor and Chair, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University
Director, Folklore Institute, Indiana University
EDUCATION
5/75 Ph.D. Anthropology (Folklore). University of Texas, Austin
Major: Folklore
Minors: English literature and linguistics
5/69 B.A. Music. Swarthmore College, PA
AWARDS AND PRIZES
2002 Dean of Faculties Capstone Course Grant, Indiana University.
2001 National Endowment for the Humanities, Education Division.
“Tales On-Line: An Electronic Database of Folk Narrative.”
Indiana University Intercampus Research Fund.
“Hungarian-American Consciousness.”
2000 Overseas Conference Travel Grant, IU International programs.
History, Culture and Society in the African Diaspora in Latin America.
Cuba, July 2000.
1997 Summer Faculty Fellowship. Indiana University.
1996 Multidisciplinary Seminars Program. Dean of Faculties, Indiana University.
“Popular movements and collective identities in Latin America.”
Emergency Grant-in-Aid of Research. RUGS. Indiana University.
“Nahuatl folktales in Tlaxcala, Mexico.” With Joe Campbell and Refugio Nava.
1994 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
"Poetry and Violence on the Costa Chica of Mexico."
Grant-in-Aid of Research. RUGS, Indiana University.
“The musical contours of the Mexican corrido.”
1991 Multi-Campus Publication Support Grant. Indiana University. For Spanish translation of Sayings of the Ancestors: The Spiritual Life of the Sibundoy Indians.
1990 IU Learning Resources: Radio-TV.
“Mexican balladry of the Costa Chica.”
1988‑90 National Endowment for the Humanities, Interpretive Research: "Hispanic Folk Poetry in Performance." To undertake field documentation of the corrido in performance in Guerrero, Mexico.
1987‑88 Fulbright Lectureship in Ghana, West Africa. To teach courses on "Oral Literature" and "Folklore and Linguistics" at the University of Ghana, Legon.
1987 Indiana University Faculty Summer Fellowship. For participation in multidisciplinary seminar on "Performance in Art and Society".
1985 Indiana University Faculty Summer Fellowship. For preparation of materials for the multidisciplinary seminar, "Insider‑Outsider: The Approaches, Methods, and Ethics of Contemporary American Indian Scholarship."
1982 Indiana University Grant in Aid of Research. For the project, "Ingano Language and Oral Tradition," intensive interviews with Francisco Tandioy, a native
of Colombia's Ingano indigenous community.
1979 Chicago Folklore Prize for Children's Riddling,
(Indiana University Press, 1979)
1978‑79 Fulbright‑Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship. For a field study of the folkloric traditions of the Kamsá Indians of Andean Colombia.
1976 Indiana University Faculty Summer Fellowship.
For fieldwork in the Sibundoy Valley of Colombia.
1974‑75 Southwestern Educational Development Laboratory. Grant funding research and preparation of dissertation on the verbal folklore of Chicano children in Austin, Texas.
1972 University of Texas Grant in Aid of Research.
For the collection of folk music in Guerrero, Mexico.
1971‑74 NDEA Title IV Fellowship.
TEACHING
1990 Professor. Indiana University.
1981‑1989 Associate Professor of Folklore. Indiana University
(tenure effective July, 1983)
1975‑81 Assistant Professor of Folklore. Indiana University
1975 Lecturer. University of Texas
FIELDWORK
1996 Fieldwork on the Costa Chica, Guerrero, Mexico. Recording performances and
interviews in relation to Mexican traditional song and arts.
1990 Fieldwork in Guerrero, Mexico, documenting the corrido, a ballad form, in its performance contexts.
1989 Fieldwork in Guerrero, Mexico, documenting the corrido in performance context.
1987‑88 Field documentation of festivals, libations, and rites associated with fetish priestess in Ga, Akan, and Ewe speaking areas of Ghana, West Africa.
1984‑85 Fieldwork among the Ingano Indians of Colombia. Ethnographic research focused on myth and cosmology, the interpretation of dreams, and the notion of spiritual health.
1978‑79 Sustained fieldwork among the Kamsa Indians of Colombia. As an adopted member of the community, I conducted participant‑observation aimed at documenting various forms of expressive culture (mythic narrative, proverbs, nicknaming, weaving, etc.).
1974‑75 Fieldwork in East Austin's Chicano community. An ethnographic inquiry into the verbal art and speech play of Chicano children, based on observation of peer‑group interaction.
1972 Fieldwork in Guerrero, Mexico. Directed toward the collection of corridos and other folk music of the region.
CONSULTING
1984 Northern Rockies Folk Festival, Hailey, Idaho
1982 NEH Summer Stipends Panel, Washington, D.C.
1979‑80 "Tough, Pretty, or Smart"; film by Dillon Bustin and Richard Kane
1976 Presenter at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife
1974 Researcher, Texas Children's Folklore Project
EDITORIAL
1991– Editor, Special Publications of the Folklore Institute
1986-1991 Editor, Journal of Folklore Research
1983‑84 Advisory Board, Journal of Folklore Research
1975 Editor, Folklore Annual (University of Texas)
DISSERTATION
1975 The Speech Play and Verbal Art of Chicano Children: An Ethnographic and Sociolinguistic Study. University of Texas, Austin.
MEDIA PRODUCTIONS:
2002 “Sibundoy Verbal Art.” Web production for the Archive of Indigenous Languages
of Latin America, University of Texas, Austin. Five sample performances in Inga
and Kamsá, with audio files and companion transcripts.
2001 “La Pasión de Cristo”: Easter Passion Play in El Treinta, Guerrero.” Folklore on Video,
Folklore Institute, Indiana University, a 14-minute video. (With Patricia Glushko).
2000 “Corridos of the Costa Chica,” a 70-minute CD.
1992 "Brass Bands of Guerrero." Folklore on Video, Folklore Institute, Indiana University.
1991 (with Patricia Glushko) "Que Me Troven un Corrido" ("Write a Corrido for Me").
Indiana University Television.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION:
2001-02 “Dancing the Ancestors: Carnival in South America.” At the Mathers Museum
of World Cultures, Indiana University. (With Pravina Shukla).
PUBLICATIONS:
Books
in preparation Corridos from Guerrero’s Coasts
2000 Poetry and Violence: The Ballad Tradition of Mexico’s Costa Chica
University of Illinois Press: Music in American Life, and Folklore and Society Series.
1994 "So Wise Were Our Elders": Mythic Narratives of the Kamsá. University Press of Kentucky.
1989 Sayings of the Ancestors: The Spiritual Life of the Sibundoy Indians. University Press of Kentucky.
1979 Children's Riddling. Indiana University Press.
Edited Books
2001 Dancing the Ancestors: Carnival in South America. INARI Press, Bloomington. (With
Pravina Shukla).
1996 Stith Thompson’s A Folklorist’s Progress: Reflections of a Scholar’s Life. Publications
of the Folklore Institute, v. 5.
1992 Andean Cosmologies through Time: Persistence and Emergence. Indiana University Press. (with Robert Dover and Katharine Seibold).
1987 Andean Musics. Andean Studies Occasional Papers, v.3. Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Indiana University.
Articles
2002 “From expressive language to mythemes: meaning in mythic narratives.” In Myth, A New Symposium. William Hansen and Gregory Schrempp (ed.). Indiana University Press, pp. 29-45.
Interview. In Voicing Folklore: Careers, Concerns and Issues. A Collection of Interviews. M.D. Muthukumaraswamy. National Folklore Support Centre, Chennai, India, pp. 48-55.
2001 “Return of the first people,” in Dancing the Ancestors: Carnival in South America.
INARI Press, Bloomington, pp. 1-12.
2000 “Collaborative ethnopoetics: the view from the Sibundoy Valley.” In Translating Native American Verbal Art: Ethnopoetics and Ethnography of Speaking, Marta de Gerdes, Kay Sammons, and Joel Sherzer (ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press,
pages 211-232.
1999 “Exemplary ancestors and pernicious spirits: Sibundoy concepts of cultural evolution.”
Revised and reprinted in Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook.
Margaret MacDonald (ed.), pp. 513-521. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.
1998 “Native American Traditions (South).” In Translating Oral Tradition, pp. 162-173. John Miles Foley (ed.). New York: Modern Language Association.
“What is Myth?” Folklore Forum 29: 79-81.
“Play.” The New Book of Knowledge. Grolier, pp. 333-4.
“Corrido.” Encyclopedia of Folklore and Literature, pp. 144-6. Mary Ellen Brown and Bruce Rosenberg (ed.). ABC-CLIO.
1997 “Corridos.” Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society, and Culture, pp. 348-352. Michael Warner (ed.). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn
1996 “American Folklore.” The New Handbook of Knowledge. Grolier.
1995 "Immanence and immanent truth," Oral Tradition 10: 235-62.
"Discourse authority in the Sibundoy Valley," Opción 16: 35-64.
"The transmission of children's folklore," in Children's Folklore: A Source Book,
Brian Sutton‑Smith et. al. (ed.), pp. 49-62. New York: Garland.
1994 "Riddle." The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Vol. 7: 3578-3580.
1993 "Hispanic oral tradition: form and content." For the Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States, pp. 218-225. Houston: Arte Publico Press. (With María Herrera-Sobek and Rodolfo J. Cortina). Francisco Lomelí, editor, Literature and Arts volume.
1992 "Folklore as commemorative discourse," Journal of American Folklore 105: 403-423.
"Exemplary ancestors and pernicious spirits: Sibundoy concepts of culture evolution,"
in Robert Dover, Katharine Seibold, and John McDowell (ed.), Andean Cosmologies through Time: Persistence and Emergence, pp. 95-114. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
"Speech play" (re-issue). In Richard Bauman (ed.), Folklore, Cultural Performances,
and Popular Entertainments: A Communications-Centered Handbook.
New York: Oxford University Press.
1990 "The community-building mission of Kamsá ritual language," Journal of Folklore Research 27: 67-84. Also published in Ellen Basso (ed.), Native Latin American Cultures through Their Discourse, Special Publications of the Folklore Institute, n.s. 1.
1988 "Speech play," in The International Encyclopedia of Communications, ed. Erik Barnouw, New York: Oxford University Press.
1987 "The Kamsá musical system," in Andean Musics, pp. 21-36. R. Dover and J.McDowell (ed.).
Andean Studies Occasional Papers, v. 3, Indiana University.
1986 "Semiotics in folkloristics," in The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Thomas Sebeok (ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
1985 "The poetic rites of conversation," Journal of Folklore Research 22: 113‑132.
"Verbal dueling," in Handbook of Discourse Analysis, (pp. 203‑211) Teun A. van Dijk (ed.). London, Academic Press.
"Halloween costuming among young adults in Bloomington, Indiana: a local exotic," Indiana Folklore and Oral History 14: 1‑19.
1984 "Introduction: conversational genres of folklore," Folklore Forum 17: 120‑125.
1983 "The semiotic constitution of Kamsá ritual language," Language in Society 12: 23‑46.
"Children's folklore," in Handbook of American Folklore, Richard Dorson (ed.).
New York: McGraw‑Hill.
1982 "Beyond iconicity: ostension in Kamsá mythic narrative,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, 19:119‑139.
"The anatomy of frivolity (on taking nonsense seriously)," Semiotica 39: 167‑173.
"Sociolinguistic contours in the verbal art of Chicano children," in Lucia Elias-Olivares and Jon Amastae (ed.), Spanish in the United States: Sociolinguistic Aspects, pp. 333-353.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Also appears in Aztlán: Chicano Journal of the Social Sciences and the Arts 13: 165‑193.
1981 "Towards a semiotics of nicknaming," Journal of American Folklore 94: 1‑18.
"The corrido of greater Mexico as discourse, music, and event," in Roger Abrahams and Richard Bauman (ed.), "And Other Neighborly Names": Social Process and Cultural Image in Texas Folklore, pp. 44-75. Austin: University of Texas Press.
"Speech play," Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 26‑28.
1980 "Animal categories in Chicano children's spooky stories," in Nickolai Burlakoff and Carl Lindahl (ed.), Folklore on Two Continents: Essays in Honor of Linda Degh.
Bloomington: Trickster Press.
"Hey diddle diddle, what's in a riddle?" Center for Southern Folklore Magazine, 3: 13.
"Riddling and enculturation: a glance at the cerebral child" (re-issue), in Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (ed.). Language and Speech in American Society: A Compilation of Research Papers in Sociolinguistics. Austin, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
1976 "Riddling and enculturation: a glance at the cerebral child," Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, no. 36.
1975 "La rebelión cristera de México: enfoque sociológico," Comunidad 52: 232‑245.
1974 "Coherency and delight: two canons of narrative excellence," Folklore Forum, Bibliographic and Special Series, no. 12: 97‑106.
"Interrogative routines in Mexican American children's folklore," Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, no. 20.
"Some aspects of verbal art in Bolivian Quechua," Folklore Annual 6: 68‑81.
1973 "Cultural evolution and the singing, dancing throng," Folklore Annual 4: 1‑9.
"Performance and the folkloric text: a rhetorical approach to 'The Christ of the Bible'," Folklore Forum 6: 139‑148.
1972 (with Susan McRae) "Differential response of the class and ethnic components of the Austin speech community to marked phonological variables," Anthropological Linguistics 14: 228‑239.
"The Mexican corrido: formula and theme in a ballad tradition," Journal of American Folklore 85: 205‑220.
Reviews
2001 Music, Race, and Nation: Música Tropical in Colombia, by Peter Wade. In the Journal of Folklore Research, April, 2001.
1997 Fields of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Kenneth Goldstein, edited by Roger Abrahams et. al. In Folklore Forum
Andean Oral Traditions: Discourse and Literature, edited by Margot Beyersdorff and Sabine Dedenback-Salazar Sáenz, Bonner Amerikanstische Studien 24, Bonn, Germany, Holos, 1994. In Anthropological Linguistics 39: 163-66.
1996 Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border, by Américo Paredes. In Western Folklore 55: 245-6.
Dancing With the Devil: Society and Culturral Poetics in Mexican-American South Texas, by José Limón. In Journal of Folklore Research 33: 176-8.
1994 Tambo: Life in an Andean Village. Julia Meyerson. In American Ethnologist 19: 402-03.
1993 Jokes and their Relations, by Elliott Oring. In American Anthropologist 94: 1059-1060.
1992 Signs, Song, and Memory in the Andes: Translating Quechua Language and Culture, by Regina Harrison. In American Ethnologist 19: 176-77.
1990 The People of the Bat: Tales and Dreams from Zinacantán, ed. Carol Karasik, col. Richard Laughlin. Journal of American Folklore.
1985 Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse, ed. by Deborah Tannen. Poetics Today 6: 785‑787.
The Language of Riddles: New Perspectives, by W.J. Pepicello and Thomas Green. Journal of American Folklore 98: 483‑485.
1984 Stories on a String: The Brazilian Literatura de Cordel, by Candace Slater. Journal of American Folklore 97: 83‑85.
Dialogue Games: An Approach to Discourse Analysis, by Lauri Carlson. Anthropological Linguistics 26: 123‑124.
South American Indian Narrative, Theoretical and Analytical Approaches, by Susan Niles. Folklore Forum 17: 99‑101.
1981 A Discourse Production Model for 'Twenty Questions', by Michael Fortescue. Language in Society 10: 453‑456.
1978 An Annotated Bibliography of Chicano Folklore from the Southwestern United States, by Michael Heisley. Folklore Forum 11: 315.
1977 One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children, by Mary and Herbert Knapp. Folklore Forum 10: 38‑40.
PAPERS GIVEN
2002 “Corridos of 9/11.” Paper given at the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Rochester, N.Y., in October.
2001 “Chante Luna and the commemoration of actual events.” Paper given at the
conference, “Folklore on the Borders,” UCLA, in June.
“Articulations of difference in Sibundoy carnival.” Paper given at the annual
meeting of the American Folklore Society, Anchorage, Alaska, in October.
“Meditations on the cycle of violence.” Paper given at the annual meeting of
the Hoosier Folklore Society, Indiana State University, in December.
“Traditional Andean Religion in Colombia’s Sibundoy Valley.” Talk given in
La Casa series, “Latinos: People of Many Faiths.” In March.
“From field tape to CD: odyssies in sound.” Talk given in departmental
colloquium series, “Focus on Fieldwork.” In April.
“Songs from the Costa Chica.” A talk/performance for the Ethnomusicology
Students Association, Hoagy Carmichael room, in December.
2000 “The Africa Thesis on Mexico’s Costa Chica.”
History, Culture and Society in the African Diaspora in Latin America.
Cuba, July 2000.
“Ballads and Other Mexican Folklore.”
Invited presentation, DePauw University. March 9.
1998 Third International Congress on the Corrido. UCLA, June 3-5.
“Does the corrido celebrate violence?”
1995 IU-Purdue Fort Wayne.
“The Mexican Corrido: Shaping History through Song.”
Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana.
“Oral traditions of Mexico.”
1993 IU Fine Arts Museum.
“Spiritual aspects of planting in the Andes.”
1989 Keynote Lecture. Seminario: "Sociedad Agraria y Sociedad Minera en la Historia y Literatura Chilena," Santiago, Chile. "La literatua oral y el alma popular."
1988 International Congress of Americanists, Amsterdam.
“The community-building mission of Kamsá ritual language.”
1987 Inter‑Faculty Lecture, University of Ghana, Legon.
"The Resonance of Oral Tradition."
1986 Annual History Conference, Eastern Illinois
University, Charleston, Illinois.
"The Perils of Ageism."
American Folklore Society, Baltimore.
"Anatomy of a Joking Session"
1985 American Folklore Society, Cincinnati, Ohio.
"The Interpretation of Dreams, Andean Style"
Teachers College, Columbia University.
"The Concept of Spiritual Health in the Sibundoy Valley of Colombia,"
1984 Native South American Discourse Conference, Austin, Texas.
"Kamsa Ritual Language: A Discourse of Social Etiquette"
California Folklore Society, San Francisco, CA.
"Sayings of the Ancestors"
1983 Semiotics Summer Institute, Bloomington, Indiana.
"Proverbialisms and the Achievement of Topical Closure"
Modern Language Association, New York.
"Speech Metaphor in the Mexican Corrido"
American Folklore Society, Nashville, Tennessee.
"Inhabitable Representations."
American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
"Myth, Place, and the Concept of Cultural Survival "
Humanities Forum, Indiana State University, Evansville.
"Mythology in the Sibundoy Valley of Colombia"
1982 The Anthropological Association for the Study of Play, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"Fictive Worlds in Children's Play"
1981 American Folklore Society, San Antonio, Texas.
"Beyond Iconicity: Epiphany in Kamsa Mythic Narrative"
1980 American Folklore Society, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"Towards a Semiotics of Nicknaming"
The Society for Ethnomusicology, Bloomington, Indiana.
"Speech as Music"
1977 American Folklore Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"The Oral Texture of Riddles"
1973 American Folklore Society, Nashville, Tennessee.
"Folklore, History, Mentalite"
American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, La.
"A Resource Model of Verbal Art"
WORKSHOPS
1985 The NEH Folklore Institute, Teachers College,
Columbia University, New York.
1984 The NEH Folklore Institute, Queens College, New York.
1983 American Folklore Society, Nashville, Tennessee.
"Conversational Genres of Folklore"
American Folklore Society, Nashville, Tennessee.
"Halloween in Bloomington"
DISCUSSANT
1990 IU Archives of Traditional Music.
Conference on “A century of field recording.”
1984 Midwest Modern Language Association, Bloomington, Indiana.
Folklore and Literature Seminar.
1982 American Folklore Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Panel on the Use of Computers in Folklore Archives.
1979 American Folklore Society, Los Angeles, California.
Panel on Chicano Folklore.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
2002 Member, Archives of Traditional Music Advisory Committee
Member, Steering Committee: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Member, Advisory Committee: Latino Studies
Member, Interdepartmental Committee on Mythology Studies
Named adjunct professor, Department of Anthropology
Named adjunct professor, Latino Studies Program
1999–2003 Chair, Folklore Department, now Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology;
Director, Folklore Institute.
1998 Acting Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
1997-8 Member, Humanities Committee. College Incentive Plan.
1997 Chair, Review Committee. Oral History Research Center.
1993-1994 Mentor. FASE Mentoring Program.
1991-1999 Member, Steering Committee. Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
1991-5 Member, Advisory Board. IU Archives of Traditional Music.
1986-1990 Associate Director, American Indian Studies Research Institute
1984‑1990 Director, Andean Studies Group
1984‑1986 Member, Committee for the Undergraduate Program in Semiotic Studies.
1983‑1985 American Indian Studies Advisory Committee
1982‑1987 Faculty Advisor, Folklore Institute Archives
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2003 Evaluator: John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
2002 Member of editorial board, Archivos de Folklore Chileno (folklore journal).
2001 Promotion and tenure review: UCLA.
Manuscript evaluation: University of Illinois Press; Africa Today.
2000 Editorial adviser: Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Encyclopedia.
Promotion and tenure review: UCLA.
Manuscript evaluation: UCLA.
1999 Evaluator: The Rockefeller Foundation
1998 Chair, Review Committee: IU Oral History Research Center.
Manuscript evaluation: American Anthropological Association; American Folklore Society; Journal of American Folklore; Journal of Pragmatics; University of Texas Press.
1996-8 Contributing Editor. Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook. Fitzroy Dearborn.
1996 External Assessor, University of Ghana, Legon.
Manuscript evaluation: American Anthropological Association; Simon and Schuster.
1995 Promotion and tenure review, IUPFW
Manuscript evaluation: Language in Society; IU Press; Journal of American Folklore; Anthropological Linguistics.
1994 President, Hoosier Folklore Society.
American Folklore Society: State of the Profession Committee
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Association of University Professors
American Folklore Society
American Anthropological Association
Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas