1998 MA in Folklore, Indiana University: Thesis title: “Choctaw Folk Tales.”
Passed with .... In In Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music
and.
Tom Mould Associate Professor of Anthropology, Elon University Elon University Campus Box 2035 Elon, NC 27244 (336)278-5746
[email protected]
EDUCATION 2001 PhD Folklore, Indiana University. Dissertation title: “Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future.” GPA: 4.0. Minor: Museum studies with coursework in Anthropology and Journalism. 1998
MA in Folklore, Indiana University: Thesis title: “Choctaw Folk Tales.” Passed with Distinction. GPA: 4.0
1992
B.A. in English Literature. Washington University. GPA: 3.5. Minor: Fine Arts. Mortar Board, Member of Golden Key Honor Society, Dean’s List.
CURRENT POSITION • Associate Professor of Anthropology, Elon University • Social Sciences Director of the Elon College Fellows Program • Director of PERCS: The Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies RESEARCH INTERESTS • Oral Narrative • Prophecy and Sacred Narrative • Social & Cultural Constructions of Identity TEACHING EXPERIENCE Courses Taught • Folklore • Cultures of the South • Video Ethnography • American Indian Folklore • North American Indian Literature • North American Indian Cultures • Language and Culture
• • •
Ethnography; video, collaborative American Indian Cultures Cultures of the American South
• • • • • •
Global Experience Literary Journalism Paths of Inquiry Interpreting Literature College Writing Indiana Folklore
Teaching Positions Present Elon University: Associate Professor of Anthropology (2003) Courses in anthropology, folklore, ethnography, general studies, interdisciplinary studies and literary journalism. 2003 (2001)
Elon University: Assistant Professor—English and Sociology/Anthropology Courses in video ethnography, folklore, literature and writing.
2002 (2001)
University of North Carolina Greensboro: Lecturer—Anthropology Courses in folklore and language and culture.
2001 (1998)
Indiana University: Associate Instructor—Folklore Courses in American Indian culture, folklore and oral literature and Indiana folklore
2000 (1997)
Indiana University: Associate Instructor—Journalism Courses in basic journalistic reporting and writing, magazine writing and visual communication
1997 (1996)
Indiana University: Assistant Instructor—Folklore Led two discussion sections of Introduction to Folklore.
RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE Present Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies (PERCS) (2003) Coordinator: developed ethnographic program for Elon University to assist student and faculty ethnographic research and provide a resource for the local community. Recently launched Project PERCS: a multi-year, interdisciplinary, collaborative ethnographic research project in Cowee, NC that partners students, faculty and community members. Present (2003)
Elon College Fellows Program Director: developed Paths of Inquiry course for first year Fellows students and direct the Social Science Fellows.
1999
Traditional Arts Indiana Fieldworker: conducted fieldwork throughout southern Indiana, consisting primarily of recorded interviews with local artists, and culture bearers. Worked with director and other fieldworkers to evaluate and improve program and develop a database for the products of this fieldwork.
1998
Indiana University Art Museum Producer: helped produce a permanent exhibit of Asian art. Worked on project from conception, through research and construction, to final installation.
1997
Choctaw Archives Consultant: worked with archivist to help organize collection including labeling and storing audio and video tapes, photographs, and material objects such as baskets and dolls.
1997
Mathers Museum of World Cultures Producer: produced exhibit on ritual dance outfits of the Totonac Indians. Worked with small group to conceptualize entire exhibit as well as to design and produce the section on Totonac daily life. Individually wrote placards for introduction and conclusion of show.
1997 (1995)
Trickster Press/Folklore Forum Editorial Staff: Jobs have included evaluating and editing submitted articles, processing all book orders, laying out finished articles into desktop publishing program.
PUBLICATIONS Books In Mormon Folklore. Logan: Utah State University Press. Progress Expected publication date: Fall 2011. Co-edited with Eric Eliason: A book of seminal works in the field and current, unpublished studies exploring the breadth of depth of Mormon folklore scholarship. Introductory essays to each thematic section of the book, as well as an introductory essay to the entire book, will provide the larger historical and theoretical contexts to frame the individual studies. In Still the Small Voice: Revelation, Oral Narrative, and the Mormon Folk Tradition. Logan: Progress Utah State University Press. Expected publication date: April 2011 A study of the oral narrative tradition of Mormon personal revelation. This study draws on ethnographic fieldwork, archival collections and mass media publications in the analysis of almost 500 narratives of personal revelation. Narratives are interpreted in their various social, cultural and historical contexts with accompanying essays on current issues relevant in the study of folk narrative today.
In The Role of the Individual in Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Progress Expected publication date: Summer 2011 Co-edited with Ray Cashman and Pravina Shukla: A book of original essays taking a performer-centered approach to the study of folklore. Essays explore the role of an individual in the creation of tradition, historical relationships between performer and tradition as constructed in folklore studies, and theoretical issues involved in fieldwork, analysis and dissemination of scholarship as related to the individual performer. 2004
Choctaw Tales. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi A collection of contemporary and historical narratives of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. An extensive introduction, section on the narrators, and thorough footnotes help to contextualize these narratives historically, culturally, socially and personally to make the tales as accessible as possible to both the scholar and the general public.
2003
Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press Analysis of prophetic discourse among the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This study takes the individual performance as its primary unit of analysis and addresses the intersection of form and function in the creation of artistic performances meaningful on personal, social, and cultural levels.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters 2010 “Chahta siyah ókih”: Ethnicity in the Oral Tradition of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.” In Ethnic Heritage in Mississippi, ed. Shana Walton. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. In press. 2009
Narratives of Personal Revelation Among Latter-day Saints. Western Folklore 68(4):43180.
2008
Genre and the Intratextuality of Personal Experience Narratives. Midwestern Folklore, 34(1):3-22.
2005
The Paradox of Traditionalization: Negotiating the Past in Choctaw Prophetic Discourse. Journal of Folklore Research, 42(3):255-94. This study explores the process narrators engage in to transform their stories from contemporary accounts into traditional performances. It challenges previous definitions of traditionalization by demanding attention to the difference between “traditional” and “tradition.”
2005
“Running the Yard”: The Negotiation of Masculinity in African American Stepping. In Manly Traditions, ed. Simon Bronner, pp. 77-115. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. This study examines the tradition of stepping, which is performed primarily by African American college students. At the heart of this tradition is the negotiation of a series of highly-gendered identities that provide male steppers with the means of creating and transforming idealized male identities on and off the stage.
2002
Prophetic Riddling: A Dialogue of Genres in Choctaw Performance. Journal of American Folklore, 115(457/458):395-421. By examining the structural, functional, stylistic, and linguistic parallels between riddle and prophecy at the nexus of performance, we see how Choctaw narrators maintain one tradition by borrowing from another.
1999
“Not everybody can be a ginseng hunter. You’ve got to have a gift”: Ginseng Hunting in southern Indiana. Midwestern Folklore, 25(2): 5-42. This study explores the culture of ginseng hunters and the rhetoric they employ to talk about what they do. Reconstructs a native typology of ginseng hunters with detailed analysis of the interaction of hunters and buyers.
1998
Choctaw Myths. Folklore Forum, 29(2):109-18. A collection of Choctaw myths annotated with brief biographical and contextual information, to accompany articles in a special issue of the journal on myth.
Encyclopedia Entries 2010 American Indian Folklore. In Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art. ABC-CLIO, Inc. Forthcoming. 2010
Traditionalization. In In Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art. ABC-CLIO, Inc. Forthcoming.
2010
Choctaw Indians. In Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. Forthcoming.
2010
Choctaw Folk Tales. In Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. Forthcoming.
2010
Choctaw Fair. In Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. Forthcoming.
2010
Ginseng Hunting. In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 14, pp. 298300. Edited by Glenn Hinson and William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
2007
Choctaws in the 20th Century. In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 6, pp. 126-28. Edited by Celeste Ray. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press:
2006
Choctaw. In Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell, pp. 250-51. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
2006
Trail of Tears. In Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell, pp. 338-39. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
2005
Choctaw. In Encyclopedia of World Folklore, edited by William M. Clements, pp. 30-38. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Book Reviews 2007 Review of Light on the Path: The Anthropology and History of the Southeastern Indians. In The North Carolina Historical Review, 84(4):421-24. 2007
Review of From Fanatics to Folk: Brazilian Millenarianism and Popular Culture. In Journal of Folklore Research, posted March 8.
2006
Review of Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. In Arkansas Review, 37(3):2024.
2004
Review of Nations Within: The Four Sovereign Tribes of Louisiana. In Arkansas Review, 35(3):212-13.
2004
Review of Loon: Memory, Meaning, and Reality in a Northern Dene Community. In Journal of American Folklore, 117(464):213-14.
2004
Review of The Anguish of Snails: Native American Folklore in the West. In Journal of American Folklore, 118(468):244-45.
1998
Review of Nez Perce Coyote Tales. In Folklore Forum, 29(2):144-45.
1998
Review of A Dictionary of Creation Myths. In Folklore Forum, 29(1):137-38.
VIDEO DOCUMENTARY/ETHNOGRAPHY 2005 Gracious Fanatics: The Passion for Pottery in North Carolina. Premiered on UNC-TV November 9 and has aired regularly since. Producer: Documents the culture of pottery collectors in the context of the dramatic event of the kiln opening. 2003
Strecker Family Potters. Kentucky Educational Television. Co-Producer: two videos studying the art of the Strecker family. One video focuses on the inspiration each person draws from the rest of the family in producing their art, the other focuses on the specific art forms and techniques of each member.
1998
Indiana Folklife. WTIU Indiana Public Television. Co-Producer: 7-part series. Episodes include African-American stepping, covered bridges, morel mushroom hunting, quilting, Miami Indian powwow, euchre, stonecarving.
INVITED LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS 2010 “Choctaw Storytelling in the 21st Century.” Keynote address for Choctaw Cultural Arts Festival. Choctaw, Mississippi. September 24, 2010. 2010
“Sharing the Sacred: The Paradox of Revelation in Contemporary Mormon Culture.” Invited lecture at the Center for Folklife Studies. Ohio State University. January 28.
2010
Lay and Expert Knowledge in a Complex Society: The AFS Teagle Foundation Project.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Nashville, TN. October 14.
2009
“The Future of Communications in Folklore III: New Media.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Boise, Idaho. October 21-25
2007
“Text and Community: Julie Cruikshank’s Do Glaciers Listen?” Invited panelist. American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Quebec City, Canada. October 20.
2007
“Supernatural Stories in American Indian Culture.” Invited lecture at Annual Fall for the Book writers’ series. George Mason University. September 25.
2006
“The Culture of Pottery Collectors in North Carolina.” University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Folklore Colloquium Series. November 30.
2005
“The Collection, the Video, and the Great Book: On the Intellectual, Practical and Ethical Dimensions of Giving Back as You Go.” Remak Fellowship Talk. Indiana University.
2005
“The Supernatural through a Cross-Cultural Lens.” Elon University. Multicultural Center Speaker Series. Elon University.
2004
“The Choctaw Bohpoli.” Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Speaker Series. Oklahoma University.
2003
“Art in Everyday Life: Finding Folklore in Today’s World.” Humanities Forum. Elon University.
1998
“Creation Myths and Meaning.” Honors College Speaker Series. Indiana University
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS 2010 “Retroactive Revelation: The Role of Hindsight in Religious Experience and Narrative.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Nashville, TN. October 13-16. 2010
“In Foucs: Photography for Ethnographers.” Forum sponsored by the Public Programs Section. American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Nashville, TN. October 13-16.
2009
“In this World but not of it: Dislocation in LDS Revelation.” American Folklore Society
Annual Meeting. Boise, Idaho. October 21-25. 2009
“From Prospectors to Collaborators: Rethinking Ethnography, Undergraduate Research and the South.” Southern Anthropological Society Annual Meeting. Wilmington, NC. March 12-14, 2009.
2008
Roundtable Discussion Leader: “How do we move forward to best engage our institutions with the needs of local and global communities?” ANAC Summer Institute. Belmont University, Memphis, Tennessee. June 18-20.
2007
“Burning in the Bosom or Burrito?: A Performance-Centered Analysis of Narratives of Personal Revelation Among Latter-day Saints.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Quebec City, Canada. October 17-21.
2007
“Elon College Fellows: A Path from Inquiry to Research.” Associated New American Colleges (ANAC) Summer Institute. Elon University, June 14.
2006
“Articulating the System of Linear and Simultaneous Models of Fieldwork Relationships.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 18-22.
2006
“Practical Applications of ATLAS in Research and in the Classroom.” Conference on Innovations in Teaching. Elon University. Joint presentation.
2005
“Genre and Intratextuality in the Personal Narratives of Pottery Collectors.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, October 19-23.
2005
“Using the Field as Your Classroom Through Focused Observation.” Conference on Innovations in Teaching. Elon University.
2004
“The Social Use of Stories of Supernatural Encounters.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, Utah.
2003
“Traditionalizing Experience Through Prophetic Discourse.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois. Panel sponsored by Society for Linguistic Anthropology.
2002
“Drawing Strength from Folklore as a Discipline.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2002
“Prophecy as Verbal Art.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting Rochester, New York.
2000
"Spider Webs Are Going to Be All Over": The Riddling of Prophetic Performance. American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Columbus, Ohio.
1999
“Contextualizing Ginseng Hunting. Hoosier Folklore Society Annual Meeting.” Terre Haute, Indiana.
1998
“Transcribing the Third Removal: A Choctaw Prophetic Narrative.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Portland, Oregon.
1998
“Scholarship, Ethics and Public Relations: A Case Study of Collaboration.” Museum Studies Symposium. Bloomington, Indiana.
1996
“Who's Tricking Whom? The Dynamic Roles of Tricksters in Zuni Myth and Ritual.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
PANEL CHAIR 2010 Panel Chair: “The Individual and Tradition: Genre and Performance.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Nashville, TN. October 13-16.
2007
Panel Co-chair: “Folklore and Everyday Life: Mormon Folklore Reconsidered.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Quebec City, Canada. October 17-21.
2006
Panel Co-chair: “Models of Fieldwork Relationships.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 18-22.
2005
Double Panel Chair: “New Directions in Folklore and Genre.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, October 19-23.
2004
Panel Chair: “American Indian Folklore and Narrative.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, Utah.
2002
Panel Chair: “Folklore and Religion.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting Rochester, New York. Chair of panel.
GRANTS & AWARDS 2009 Teagle Foundation Grant in Higher Education. $75,000. Member of 9-person team of folklorists to address a “Big Question” in the Humanities: “What is the relationship between lay and expert knowledge in a complex society?” 2008
Fund For Excellence in the Arts and Sciences grant for Project PERCS. Elon University.
2008
Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning course development grant for interdisciplinary PERCS class. Elon University.
2008
Community Partnership Initiative Grant for collaborative ethnography. Elon University.
2008
Invitation to Who’s Who Among College Professors.
2007
Charles Redd Fellowship Award in Western American History for archival research. Brigham Young University
2007
Summer Research Fellowship for research into narrative traditions of Latter-day Saints. Elon University
2006
Elon College Faculty Excellence Award for Excellence in Service/Leadership
2006
Elon Course Release for development of scholarship and course on prophecy
2005
Henry H.H. Remak Fellowship. Indiana University
2005
Project Pericles Civic Engagement Course Enhancement Grant. Elon University.
2005
Summer Research Fellowship for research into North Carolina pottery communities. Elon University.
2005
Elon Course Release for development of Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies
2005
Who’s Who Among College Professors
2002
Technology Grant to produce video examples of local NC folklore for class instruction. Elon University
2000
Richard M. Dorson Student Paper Prize. Indiana University
1999
Doctoral Student Grant-in-Aid of Research. Indiana University Graduate School. Grant to fund research among Choctaw in Mississippi.
1999
Indiana Humanities Council Research Grant to conduct research on cultural heritage in southern Indiana
1999
Richard M. Dorson Dissertation Research Award
1998
Jacobs Research Fund. Grant to translate Choctaw narratives
1998
Teaching Excellence Award: College of Arts and Sciences. Indiana University
1996
American Philosophical Society: Phillips Fund for Native American Research. Grant to conduct ethnohistorical research among the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
1996
Indiana University Travel Grant to facilitate attendance and presentation at a national conference for a graduate student
STUDENT MENTORING 2009 Angela Ramer. “Occaneechi Eagles: An Ethnography of Walking in Two Worlds.” Funded by Student Undergraduate Research Experience, 2009. 2008
Dillon Wyatt. Southern Black Identity: An Ethnographic Approach. Paper. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum, 2008.
2008
Conor Britain. Ethnography of Youth Baseball. Documentary Film. Funded by Student Undergraduate Research Experience program. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum, 2008. Entered into national film festivals 2009.
2007
Katie Hight. Historicizing the Supernatural: Creating Place Through Stories of Supernatural Encounters in London. Paper. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum, 2007.
2007
Ryan Howard. Esoteric Constructions of the Religious Left. Paper and documentary film.
2006
Kevin Kindle. The Weight of a Nation. Documentary Film.
2005
Brett Tolley: Dying to Get In: Undocumented Immigration at the U.S./Mexican Border. Documentary Film. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum, 2007. National award winner at multiple film festivals.
2005
Kristin Clanton. An Audience-Centered Approach to French Märchen. Paper.
2005
Katie Donovan, Ian MacLaughlin, Justin Goodall and Amy Gillespi. An Oasis for Youth: Parking Lot Culture in Burlington, North Carolina. Documentary Film. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum
2004
John Bagwell, Heather Graf, Amanda Kloer and Alex Miller. The Mean, the Quick, the Mentally Sick: Elon Women’s Rugby. Documentary Film. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum
2004
Susan O’Brien, Ian Smith, Barbara Schutz and Allison Grimes. Video Ethnography of Habitat for Humanity. Documentary Film. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum
2003
Lauren Vilis, Beth Fullerton, Caitlin Molloy and Samiha Khana. Kingpin Studio: Best Prick in Town: An Ethnography of a Tattoo Parlor. Documentary Film. Presented at Student Undergraduate Research Forum
SERVICE Present (2010) Faculty Advisor to the Anthropology Club with Dr. Rissa Trachman. Elon University. Present
(2009) General Studies Review Committee (co-chair). Elon University
Present
(2009) Honors Advisory Committee. Elon University.
Present
(2004) Media Board for American Folklore Society.
Present
(2004) Periodically review book and journal manuscript submissions (including University of Nebraska Press, Journal of American Folklore, and Collaborative Anthropologies)
Present
(2003) Area Director of Elon College Fellows program: winter term coordinator, and Social Science Director (since 2004). Elon University.
Present
(2003) Director of PERCS: Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies. Elon University.
Present
(2006) General Studies Assessment Task Force.
2009
(2008) Physician Assistant Feasibility Study Committee. Elon University.
2009
(2006) Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee. Elon University.
2009
(2003) Board Member for Alamance County Women’s Resource Center. Board secretary. Chair of Public Relations Committee.
2009
Awards Committee for the North Carolina Folklore Society
2008
(2003) Moderator for SURF: Student Undergraduate Research Forum. Elon University.
2007
Honor Code Speaker at Fall New Student Convocation. Elon University.
2007
Spring Convocation Planning Committee. Elon University.
2006
Honor Code Speaker at Fall New Student Convocation. Elon University,
2006
Served as part of Elon team to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Summer Institute for assessment of general studies program. Washington DC.
2006
(2003) Co-Chair Elon Student Documentary Film Festival. Elon University.
2005
(2003) Mentor Carnegie Mellow Fellow from Duke University.
2005
Social Honor Code Committee. Elon University.
2005
(2003) Taught Elon 101. Elon University.
2004
Participated in Faculty Assisting New Students (F.A.N.S.) program. Elon University.
2003
Committee to choose students for Who’s Who Among College Students. Elon University.
2003
(2001). College Writing Committee. Elon University.
2001
President Hoosier Folklore Society. Indiana.
2000
Spring Mill State Park Steering Committee—cultural resource management. Indiana.
