- Information about Contributors
Benjamin Gatling is Assistant Professor in the English Department at George Mason University and Director of Mason's Folklore Studies Program. He is the author of Expressions of Sufi Culture in Tajikistan (2018). His current research considers the experiences of Afghan migrants and refugees in the United States.
Charles La Shure is Associate Professor of Korean Literature at Seoul National University. His research interests include trickster tales, the relationship between orality and literacy, digital folklore, and gaming culture. He also translates both classical and contemporary Korean literature into English.
Andrew Peck is Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Miami University. His research focuses on how digital media offers new possibilities for the practice of everyday communication and frequently deals with topics such as humor, play, internet memes, fake news, vernacular authority, and contemporary legends. He is co-editor of Folklore and Social Media (forthcoming), and his work has appeared in the International Journal of Communication, the Journal of American Folklore, and in the edited collection Slender Man Is Coming: Creepypasta and Contemporary Legends on the Internet (ed. Trevor J. Blank and Lynne S. McNeill, 2018).
Juwen Zhang is Professor of Chinese Studies and Folklore at Willamette University and President of the Western States Folklore Society. He earned his PhD in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, has served on the Executive Board of the American Folklore Society, and delivered the Archer Taylor Lecture at the annual meeting of the Western States Folklore Society in 2019. His research interests and publications include such topics as folkloric identity, rites de passage, filmic folklore, folk narratives, and Asian/Chinese American folklore. He has translated dozens of Western theoretical writings into Chinese and some ancient Chinese texts into English.