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  • Editorial Note
  • Elaine J. Lawless

It is with great delight that I undertake the editorship of the Journal of American Folklore, particularly in such a propitious year as 2000. My expectations are high for our discipline in the new millennium. My hopes for JAF are that it will continue to serve honorably as the signature journal for the American Folklore Society, with all the high standards such an imprimatur implies. At the same time, it is my intention to push the boundaries, explore the borders, and expand the parameters of what we call folklore, how we conduct our ethnographic inquiries, and how we address the social and political concerns inherent in these endeavors both of the participants in our studies and among ourselves. I hope that in these pages we can share the best of what we do and honor thinking that is offered by our peers, colleagues, students, and teachers. I believe our concerns about what folklore is and how it functions in the world should invite inquiry and interpretation from all sectors of the American Folklore Society, from public and applied folklorists, from academics, and from independent scholars/consultants. And I hope that we can develop deeper and more meaningful dialogue with our colleagues in associated fields and in countries beyond U.S. borders.

That said, in the months I have been working on JAF, I have not yet established any kind of agenda for the next five years. In truth, I do not want to institute any kind of fixed policies that would deny us flexibility as we bring the journal into the new century. Certainly, we are moving toward electronic publication, almost immediately. The entire journal is already available on-line at Project MUSE. Beginning in 2001, all reviews will be published on the AFS website, possibly in other on-line venues, in addition to appearing in the journal. All of this is to say that AFS and JAF are cognizant of the ways in which technology has already impacted our field and will continue to influence it in the next few years. For now, you can expect a printed version of the journal in your mailbox four times a year, as usual—in case too many of these changes are already making you nervous!

Working on the journal for the past several months, however, has provided much "food for thought" in terms of immediate changes that can be made with the journal, changes that can be pondered for future issues, and, hopefully, changes that can continue to improve the journal for all the members of the AFS and beyond. Putting reviews on-line and thus making them immediately available to a larger audience is one such change. In the journal itself, we have added a new section entitled "Dialogues"; in this section, we want to publish essays that might invoke and/or provoke serious dialogue and discussion from our readers. We invite your responses to these thoughtful essays and, of course, we solicit your articles. We can only insure a high-quality journal with the submission of your best work and with input from the entire AFS membership. We definitely solicit your opinions, your concerns, your ideas about JAF, and (especially) your articles for publication!

No one person could possibly be the editor of JAF without a great deal of help from some very important people. Already in the time I have been working on the journal, [End Page 3] I have come to appreciate the wise and supportive assistance of Shalom Staub (and his staff), and, more recently, Tim Lloyd, Jo Radner, and Peggy Bulger within AFS and Elisabeth Graves and Suzanne Mattingly at the American Anthropological Association. How fortunate we are to have these folks at our instant disposal for problem solving and as a sounding board for ideas, plans, and concerns. In a similar way, I am hoping to draw on the collective wisdom and assistance of a new Editorial Board for JAF: Barbro Klein, Patricia Turner, Anand Prahlad, Debora Kodish, Jeff Todd Titon, and Diane Goldstein. Also, Peter Narváez will continue as sound recordings review editor. Betty Belanus has agreed to serve as exhibits review editor; Moira Smith will serve...

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