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From the Dean:

Research and Publications

Research Interests

My current research interests include oral traditions, especially intersections of orality and textuality; medieval folklore and storytelling; frame tales; the 1001 Nights, especially its reception in the United States; world mythology; pedagogy and professional development in higher education.

In literary and oral tradition studies, my primary influences have been Walter Ong, Edward Said, and John Miles Foley.

I'm also interested in the ways in which the theories and criticism of other disciplines can inform our study of literature. E.H. Gombrich's work in art has taught me a lot about frames; Clifford Geertz has enlightened my perspectives on culture; Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi's work on flow informs my work on mythology. Of course, any scholar has more influences than they can count; the above is just a brief selection of my scholarly inspirations.

Publications

Articles
"Frame Tales and Oral Tradition" Oral Tradition 18 (2003) 125-126.
"Narrative in the Decameron and the 1001 Nights." Approaches to Teaching Boccaccio's Decameron . Ed. James H. McGregor. MLA Approaches to Teaching World Literature . NY: Modern Language Association, 2000.
"The Courage to Change." Universities 21 6:1 (Fall 2000): 1, 3.
"Framed (for) Murder: The Corpse Killed Five Times (AT 1537) in the 1001 Nights ." In T elling Tales: Medieval Narratives and the Folk Tradition . NY: St. Martin's , 1998.
"Frame Tale, East and West." MLA Options for Teaching Oral Traditions . Ed. John Miles Foley. NY: MLA, 1998.
"What's in a Frame?: The Medieval Textualization of Traditional Storytelling." Oral Tradition . 10 (1995): 27-53.

Encyclopedia Entries
"Veiling," The Encyclopedia of Women's Folklore . Forthcoming, 2004.
"Assassins," The Encyclopedia of Medieval Folklore. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
"Frame Tale," The Encyclopedia of Medieval Folklore . Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
"Harun ar-Rashid," The Encyclopedia of Medieval Folklore . Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
"The Seven Sages," The Encyclopedia of Medieval Folklore . Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
"The Thousand Nights and a Night." The Encyclopedia of Medieval Folklore . Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
"Sunnite," Medieval Trade, Travel, and Exploration: An Encyclopedia . Ed. John B. Friedman and Kristen Mosler Figg. NY: Garland, 2000.
"Shi'ite" Medieval Trade, Travel, and Exploration: An Encyclopedia . Ed. John B. Friedman and Kristen Mosler Figg. NY: Garland, 2000.
"Frame Tale," Folklore and Literature Encyclopedia . Ed. Bruce Rosenberg and Mary Ellen Brown. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1998.
"1001 Nights." Folklore and Literature Encyclopedia . Ed. Bruce Rosenberg and Mary Ellen Brown. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1998.

Reviews
Review of Places Where Men Pray Together: Cities in Islamic Lands, Seventh Through the Tenth Centuries. Journal of American Folklore . Forthcoming 2004.
Review of Theme in Oral Epic and in Beowulf and Beowulf and the Demise of the Germanic Legend in England . ethnologies. 21 (1999): 251-254.
Review of Wisdom of the Mythtellers. Journal of American Folklore 110 (1997): 345-347.
Review of The Dialogic Emergence of Culture. Cross-Cultural Poetics (Xcp) 1 (1997): 108-111.

Under Consideration

"From Voice To Pen To Cyberspace: The Impact of Technology on Literature." Chapter in book Technology and Us "Approaches to Teaching the 1001 Nights ." Edited volume; proposal approved by Modern Language Association

Conference Presentations

National and International
"Culture and Community in the Writings of Arab American Women." Accepted for presentation at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention. Philadelphia. December 2004.
"Scheherazade, Bookseller." Accepted for presentation at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention. Philadelphia. December 2004.
"Who's Really in the Bottle?: Arab Djinn and American Genies" Accepted for presentation at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City. October 2004.
"From China to Baghdad: Portraits of Interfaith Conflict and Tolerance in the 1001 Nights ." Modern Language Association Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. 27 December 2003.
"Practicing Theory: Can Leadership Be Taught?" National Collegiate Honors Council Conference. Chicago, IL. 7 November 2003.
"Integrating Creativity and Critical Thinking in Honors." National Collegiate Honors Council Conference. Chicago, IL. 6 November 2003.
"Their Culture, Our Domain: Arabia in Las Vegas." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, NM. 11 October 2003.
Forum: "Guerilla Folklore: Teaching Folklore Without a Department." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, NM. 9 October 2003.
"Arabic Folk Traditions." Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting. Denver, 18 November 2001.
Brownbag Roundtable: "Service Learning: Bringing Public and Academic Folklorists into Partnership." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Anchorage, AK, October 2001.
"The Arabian Nights in Animated Film." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Anchorage, AK, October 2001. "Conferences as Festivals: Celebration, Commemoration, Edification." Modern Language Association Meeting. Washington, DC, 30 December 2000.
"Approaches to Teaching Boccaccio's Decameron ." Discussant, Modern Language Association Meeting. Washington, DC, 29 December 2000.
"Eastern Tradition Meets Western Pop Culture: ABC'S Arabian Nights ." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Columbus, OH, 26 October 2000.
"Gendering the Frame Tale: Shahrazad as Matrioshka." Modern Language Association Meeting. San Francisco, 29 December 1998.
"The Frame Tale East and West." Modern Language Association Meeting. San Francisco, 29 December 1998.
"Intersections of Myth and Sport." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Portland, Oregon, 30 October 1998.
"The Folklore of Medieval Folklore." Participant in Roundtable discussion. International Congress on Medieval Studies, 7 May 1998.
"The Legend in the Tale: Representations of Harun ar-Rashid in the 1001 Nights ." International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, 7 May 1998.
"Memory and Immanent Structures in Medieval Narrative." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Austin, 30 October 1997.
"Performance Keys in the Medieval Frame Tale." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, 18 October 1996. "The 1001 Nights and Medieval Ideas of Writing." Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting. Kansas City, 12 April 1996.
"Arabs and All That Jazz: Diana Abu-Jaber and Arab-American Fiction." Modern Language Association Convention. Chicago, 30 December 1995.
"Circles and Squares: Unifying Structures in Traditional Narrative." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Lafayette, Louisiana, 12 October 1995.
"The Corpse Killed Five Times (AT 1537) in the 1001 Nights ." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Milwaukee, 20 October 1994.
"The Development of a Genre: Arab, Jewish, and Christian Contributions to the Frame Tale in Spain." Modern Language Association Conference. Toronto, 29 December 1993.
"The Frame Tale and the Oral Tradition of the Middle Ages." Modern Language Association Conference. Toronto, 29 December 1993.
"Gender and Culture Stereotyping in Disney's Aladdin ." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Eugene, 30 October 1993.
"From the Frying Pan Into the Fire: Kitchen Imagery in the Poetry of Ibn Quzman." Popular Culture Association Conference. St. Louis, 5 April 1989.

Regional
"Storytelling, Performance, and Authenticity in the 1001 Nights ." Accepted for Presentation at the Midwest Modern Language Association Conference. St. Louis. November 2004.
"There Is No Text in This Class: Interfacing the Internet and the Oral Tradition." Illinois Philological Association Conference. Decatur, IL. 29 March 2003.
"The Arabian Nights in Children's Film." Illinois Philological Association Conference. Chicago, IL, 21 April 2001.
"Including Folklore in a Language Arts Curriculum: Using Orality to Encourage Literacy." 36th Annual East Central-EIU Reading Conference. Charleston, IL, 6 October 2000.
"Teaching Oral Traditions in a Literature Class," Illinois Philological Association Conference. Charleston, IL, 1 April 2000. "Orientalism for Kids: The Middle East in Children's Literature and Film." Illinois Philological Association Conference. Macomb, 4 April 1998.
"Stories Creating Communities: Medieval Narrative Structures and Audience Mnemonics." Illinois Medieval Association Conference. Charleston, 21 February 1998.
"Teaching Folklore and Literature Hybrids: Hurston's Mules and Men. Midwest Modern Language Association Annual Convention. Minneapolis, 8 November 1996.
"The Seven Sages in Spain: Reception and Change." Midwest Modern Language Association Convention. St. Louis, 4 November 1995.
"The Cid's Daughters: Pawns or Martyrs?" Illinois Medieval Association meeting. De Kalb, 24 February 1995.
"The 1001 Nights of the Western Imagination." Midwest Modern Language Association Convention. Chicago, 11 November 1994.
"The Libro de los enganno s and the Perception of Female Power." Midwest Modern Language Association Convention. Minneapolis, 4 November 1993.
"The Frame Tale and Medieval Notions of Time." Mid-America Medieval Association Conference. Kansas City, 27 February 1993.
"Feminine Narrative Voice in the Spanish Versions of the Seven Sages ." Conference on Women and Print Culture in Spain and Latin America. Berkeley, 4 March 1989.
"Cooking With Ibn Quzman: Kitchen Imagery in Azjal nos. 90, 68, and 118." Philological Association of the Pacific Coast Conference. Portland, 13 November 1988.
"The Seven Sages: A Comparison of the Arabic and Latin Versions." Medieval Association of the Midwest Conference." Cleveland, 8 October 1988.

Interviews

Interviewed on future of academic conferences for article entitled, "Starry Events Lose Shine" for Times [of London] Higher Education Supplement. 19 March 2004.
Interviewed on frame tales for National Public Radio program, Studio 360. http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/show102602.html .
Interviewed on "Studying the Ritual of the MLA Conference" for "Verbatim," Chronicle of Higher Education , 19 January 2001.

Department Colloquia

"Using the Interview: A Composition Committee Workshop" Eastern Illinois University English Department. 19 November 2002.
"English and the State of the Liberal Arts" Eastern Illinois University English Department Colloquium (Panel Discussion with Michael Loudon, John Martone). 18 November 1998.
"'Why Should I use Small Groups Anyway?': Principles and Pedagogy of Using Peer Response Groups in English Classes" Eastern Illinois University English Department Colloquium (Panel Discussion with Thom Schnarre, Linda Coleman, and Bob Funk). 18 November 1996.
"Connotations of The Arabian Nights ." Eastern Illinois University English Department Colloquium. 25 October 1994. "Folklore in 50/50 Freshman Composition." Iowa State University Freshman English Colloquium. April 1994.
"Teaching Research Intensive Freshman Composition." Iowa State University Freshman English Colloquium. 14 April 1992.

Local Presentations

"Scheherazade." Presentation as part of Booth Library celebration of Elizabeth I. Panel entitled, "Women of Power, Women of Culture, Elizabeth's Medieval Heritage." 11 March 2004.
"I Can Speak English!" (Presentation on the role of technology in English Studies), EIU School of Technology Centennial Lecture Series, November 2002.
Moderator, New Faculty Panel. EIU New Faculty Orientation, August 2002.
Faculty Commencement Speaker, Eastern Illinois University, December 1999 and May 2000.
Panelist, 38th Annual Eastern Regional History Fair, Eastern Illinois University, 25 March 2000.
Convocation Speaker, Eastern Illinois University, 20 August 1998.
"We Are the Stories We Tell." Guest Speaker at American Business Women's Association Business Associate Night, Mattoon, IL, 14 May 1998 "We Are the Stories We Tell." Workshop on Women and Folklore given as part of Women's History and Awareness Month, sponsored by Women's Advocacy Council. Eastern Illinois University, 9 March 1998.
"Family Folklore." Workshop given as part of Celebration ofthe Humanities Month, sponsored by College of Arts and Humanities. Eastern Illinois University, 22 October 1997.
"Teaching the Classics/Opening the Canon." Panel discussion as part of "Dante in the Nineties: A Conference for Secondary-School English Teachers." Eastern Illinois University. 4 October 1997.
"Nawal as-Saadawi and Arab Feminism." Panel discussion on Middle Eastern Women sponsored by the Women Studies Council, Eastern Illinois University. 7 March 1995.
"United States' Myths and Legends." Presentation for Brazilian Exchange Students, Eastern Illinois University. 9 February 1995.
"The Literature and Culture of the Middle East." Iowa State University Summer Enrichment Program Friday Reading. 22 July 1994.
"Frame Tales and Oral Tradition." Guest Lecture, NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers. University of Missouri. 5 July 1994.
"The Literature and Culture of the Middle East." Iowa State University Summer Enrichment Program Friday Reading. 2 July 1993.
"Studying Folklore." Iowa State University Fall Investigation Series Conference for Gifted 7th-10th Graders. 14 November 1992.

Works in Progress

Monograph: Scheherazade on My Mind : The Arabian Nights in American Culture .
Articles: "Frames in Art and Literature." "There is no Fun--there is no Why. We're talking about Family.': Humor in Arabian Jazz."

 

Editorial and Consulting Work

Referee, Journal of American Folklore, Fall 2000.
Referee, Mosaic, a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, 1998, 2000, 2001.
Reviewer, Text on World Mythology, Prentice-Hall, 1997
Editorial Board, Oral Tradition: An Encyclopedia, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, University of Missouri, Columbia, 1992-96.
Reviewer, A Writer's Reference, 2nd edition, Bedford-St. Martin's Press, 1994.

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