MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Anthony Bak Buccitelli, interim assistant dean for graduate programs and associate professor of American studies and communication at Penn State Harrisburg, will co-edit a newly launched series on ethnology and folklore.
Buccitelli will co-edit the SEIF — International Soceity for Ethnology and Folklore — series, called "New Directions in the Study of Everyday Life, Past and Present," with Hande Birkalan-Gedik, research fellow at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at the Goethe University in Germany.
The series will focus on publishing works that push the intellectual boundaries in the contemporary or historical study of the “everyday,” or that address everyday issues of pressing concern around the world.
The series is an "exciting" chance to bring together scholars from two distinct but interrelated fields, Buccitelli said. Folklore and European ethnology are relatively small academic fields, he said, but they cover an immense territory of study, focusing on the kinds of cultural forms and social practices that people engage constantly throughout their lives.
“Although we often take them for granted, it is these seemingly trivial elements of our daily lives, from the stories and jokes we tell, to the places that are special to us, to the ways we celebrate or mourn, that give us the greatest sense of meaning,” Buccitelli said. “I am pleased and honored to be able to be part of this wonderful project to enrich our understanding of the nature of everyday life throughout history.”
Proposals are being accepted for the series, which will be supported by an international editorial board comprised of ethnologists and folklorists at leading institutions around the world. A formal launch will take place at the SIEF Congress in Aberdeen, Scotland, in June 2025.