Conference: 'Art, tradition, environment: Folklore in place', Qinghai, September 2026. Exploring mutual importance of art and place. With visits to Hui Muslim sites in Xining and multiday fieldtrip to Tibetan Buddhist monastery town of Rebgong. folkknowledgeplace.org/post/3562-ar...

Conference announcement: 'Supernatural animals, mystical beasts, and uncanny creatures: Folklore in place', 9-13 November 2026, Guangzhou, China -Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2026- folkknowledgeplace.org/post/3461-su... #folklore #animals #China #legends #myths

I have a new article out with Ping Su in the British journal 'Folklore' on 'An experience-centred approach to animal folklore in Denmark: Challenging rationalistic interpretations of supernatural animal narratives'. doi.org/10.1080/0015...

New article: 'Ritual labour and maintenance of tradition in a village temple: An occupational folklore approach to Chinese religion', published with Qi Pan in 'Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore'. #folklore #China folklore.ee/folklore/vol...

Conference call for papers: 'Knowing place through film and audiovisual media', 9-12 February 2026, Alta, Norway Academic conference on how films, series, and other audiovisual media and arts serve to represent, imagine, understand, and produce place and home. folkknowledgeplace.org/post/3087-kn...

New 'Island Studies Journal' article: 'If Islands Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent Them: Grappling with Divergent Ascriptions of Islandness in Island Studies' By Adam Grydehøj, Ping Su, Ulunnguaq Markussen, & Asinate Mausio islandstudiesjournal.org/article/137602

Island Studies Journal celebrates its first two decades with the publication of Volume 20, Issue 1. This issue consists of 13 articles on islands in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Atlantic, including a special section on 'Islands in speculative fiction'. islandstudiesjournal.org/issue/12263

this is amazing. just came across the Xinsheng project, an initiative by 1.5 gen Chinese Americans and college students to counter right-wing misinformation rampant on WeChat. www.xinshengproject.org/about

Blue Humanities has just launched: bluehumanitiesjournal.org. Studies of oceans, rivers, lakes, and other aquatic spaces. This peer reviewed, non-fee charging open access journal has its intellectual roots in Asia’s long tradition of thinking with water and has its editorial office is in Hangzhou.

I'm teaching a class on Jews and the problems of racialization next year, and I'm realizing that I'm going to have to teach these two Elon Musk tweets juxtaposed to each other.

New 'Island Studies Journal' article: 'Understanding Islandness Effects through the Challenges of Water Infrastructure: A Case Study on the Kinmen Islands' By Mei-Huan Chen doi.org/10.24043/001...

New 'Island Studies Journal' article: 'Economic Globalisation and the Islands of the Indian Ocean: An Econometric Analysis' By Zafiira BeeharryYaşam Demir islandstudiesjournal.org/article/1259...

Beewolf Press is launching the diamond open access journal 'Blue Humanities' in 2026. With its roots in Asia and its editorial office in Hangzhou, the journal is dedicated to critical studies of marine, river, lake, wetland, and other water-related environments. More information coming soon!

Reviewing academic texts, I find myself repeating a mantra. So here is for everyone, what my (PhD) students get to hear: 1) think of your reader 2) demonstrate first, then declare 3) use active language 4) write short sentences 4) treat humans - including yourself - not as actors #anthropology

'Hao Dong Xi' (2024), a comedy about being a middle class, divorced mother (and other forms of womanhood) in urban China. Society sets women impossible standards, and knowing this doesn't mean knowing how to fix it. The lesson: You don't need to be perfect to be OK. www.imdb.com/title/tt3180...

New article in 'Folk, Knowledge, Place': '"I have become a warrior in the Xiang Army" : Legacies, nostalgia, and identity in Chinese regional hip-hop' By Xihuan Hu folkknowledgeplace.org/article/1270...

New 'Folk, Knowledge, Place' article: 'Down with the tide: How wilderness and islandness are represented in two novels from Ireland and Iceland' By Chiara Mastronardo folkknowledgeplace.org/article/1270...

In 'Encountering folk, knowledge, and place', Yaso Nadarajah and I introduce our motivations for and the background of this new, and radically open, journal project: seeking new ways of knowing in the pluriverse. doi.org/10.24043/001...

Join the Island Studies conversation! #wedoislands go.bsky.app/HnTxhpJ

New article in 'Folk, Knowledge, Place': 'Belonging to the land: Indigenous Māori narratives of home and place' By Cinnamon Lindsay-Latimer, Tanya Allport, Mel Potaka-Osborne, & Denise Wilson folkknowledgeplace.org/article/1257...

'Island Studies Journal', Volume 19, Issue 2 has just been published: islandstudiesjournal.org/issue/11123 15 papers on islands around the world, including special sections on 'Island transport challenges' and 'Policy-oriented research and island management'.

I have visited similar places, including one very grim example in Pingtan. This kind of speculative tourism development continues, and it points to deep flaws in project conceptualisation and financial management. We need research-led tourism policy. www.sixthtone.com/news/1016241

New 'Island Studies Journal' article: 'Insular Perspectives of the State: Territorial Policy and Management as Seen From Guaitecas' By Álvaro Román, Katherine Bassaletti, & Javiera Larraín doi.org/10.24043/001... Guaitecas, islandness, Chile, local politics, centre-periphery dynamics, #islands

A few years late, I have come across Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa's great article 'Decolonizing seascapes: Imaginaries and absences on an island hub', published in 'Postcolonial Interventions' in 2021. doi.org/10.5281/zeno....

More context for the Flann O'Brien quote from The Third Policeman (1967) that I've been using as a metaphor for how we can perceive the heinous attacks on trans rights, and how cis folks and others might not understand how not only will their rights also be violated, *it's already happening*

Hey folklorists, help me add to this folklorist starter pack. Suggest accounts and I’ll try to add them: go.bsky.app/HnHejQX

this took a long time. I'm so happy to share my latest paper in @risjnl.bsky.social, looking at racial entanglement, masculinism, and gendered East/West binaries in global reactionary discourse (via another look at Chinese anti-baizuo discourse). www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is a man who has obsessively, incessantly claimed to defend Jews when he was standing with the Israeli government. Now he is siding with perhaps the most dangerous antisemite in America. This is a perfect example of how so many of these warriors don’t care for Jews, but love using us.

Looking forward to attending the 2024 Folk, Knowledge, Place Conference in Singapore next month! islanddynamics.org/2024-folk-kn...

'Island Studies Journal' article: 'The Correlation between Asian Port Cities and Traditional Portuguese Urban Forms Based on Map and Machine Learning Analyses' By Yile Chen, Liang Zheng, & Jianyi Zheng doi.org/10.24043/001...

'Folk, Knowledge, Place' article: 'Teaching Places and Teaching Place' By Michael A Lange doi.org/10.24043/001...

"this is fine" British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

Part Deux go.bsky.app/KkXvsnP

Hello, here's a starter pack for folklore research, do let me know if you want in!

I made a starter pack for people interested in Chinese politics, economy and foreign policy! Share, follow, and write here if you want to be added! go.bsky.app/NZzqdpY

My recent article reflecting on some seriously weird experiences studying isolation as a BA student. doi.org/10.24043/001...

Faced with the prospect of trying to read a 643-page book on my laptop, I finally bought an eBook reader. I am very happy with my Onyx Boox Note, which is perfect for sitting in the window and taking in Chün-fang Yü's 'Kuan-yin: The Chinese transformation of Avalokitesìvara'.

'Island Studies Journal' article: 'Chinese White Dolphins in the Anthropocene: Human-Animal Relations among the Islands of the Pearl River Delta' By Kejun Du, Xiqin Liu, Tingyu Shi, & Shuneng Zhong doi.org/10.24043/001...

Marco Casagrande's article 'Perceptions of Lampedusa as an Immigration Hub: Four Populations in One Small Island Place?' has been published in 'Folk, Knowledge, Place'. doi.org/10.24043/001...

Conference call for papers: 'Placemaking across time: Histories of spatialised knowledge', 6-9 October 2025, Næstved, Denmark, islanddynamics.org/placemaking-... Places are formed through human knowing and experience, individual and collective. #conference, #Denmark, #folklore, #geography

'China-USA competition: Saying no to a new Cold War' grydehoj.com/china-usa-co... #China, #politics