{"id":25553,"date":"2021-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/downs-joins-texas-folklore-society-at-tarleton\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:47:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:47:03","slug":"downs-joins-texas-folklore-society-at-tarleton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/downs-joins-texas-folklore-society-at-tarleton\/","title":{"rendered":"Downs Joins Texas Folklore Society at Tarleton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Downs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Downs<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n

Thursday, April 29, 2021<\/p>\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Folklorist Dr. Kristina Downs has joined the Texas Folklore Society (TFS) at Tarleton State University\u00a0as secretary-editor\/executive director. She also is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Languages.<\/p>\n

In addition to teaching classes in folklore, she will coordinate and work at expanding the partnership between TFS and the Tarleton College of Liberal and Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve known about their excellent publications for years and am delighted by the opportunity to play a part in producing future publications. Texas has an especially rich and diverse folk culture, and I look forward to helping bring attention to folklore throughout the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Downs earned her PhD in Folklore from Indiana University and an MA in Folklore from George Mason University. She was managing editor of the\u00a0Journal of Folklore Research\u00a0<\/em>for five years and she is co-editor of the forthcoming edited volume\u00a0Advancing Folkloristics\u00a0<\/em>(Indiana University Press, 2021), which considers current issues in the field of folklore studies.<\/p>\n

Lori Najvar, President of the Texas Folklore Society, said she\u2019s delighted to welcome Dr. Downs into the society. \u201cHer expertise in folklore and her interest in digital formatting will help TFS preserve folklore for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downs\u2019 research focuses on the persistence of traditional narrative in contemporary environments. In her dissertation she examined representations of indigenous women as folk heroines in the United States and Mexico. She has conducted fieldwork at the Princess Pocahontas Pageant in Laredo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn welcoming Dr. Downs to this leadership role, we are moving forward in our partnership with the Texas Folklore Society,\u201d said Dr. Eric Morrow, Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe brings tremendous experience and scholarly work that aligns with the mission of TFS, and she will be a key leader in strengthening and advancing the work of the society, as well as that of Tarleton State and our college, in being among the leading institutions in Texas in the preservation and presentation of the rich culture and history of this state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folklorist Dr. Kristina Downs has joined the Texas Folklore Society (TFS) at Tarleton State University as secretary-editor\/executive director. She also is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Languages.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-153-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on April 29, 2021","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on April 29, 2021 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025 4:47 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Person with long hair and red lipstick, smiling slightly.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53835,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25553\/revisions\/53835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}