Abstract: This article explores the history and contours of a belief narrative found in many historically Black communities in the United States. Known in many places as “The Plan,” it draws from the experiences of centuries of forced displacement episodes and the ways people have sought through art and narrative to make sense of the inexplicable. Often dismissed as conspiracy thinking or rumor, The Plan plays important roles in Black communities. Partly because of its historically large Black population, Washington, D.C., is the city most often associated with The Plan narrative. This article connects scholarship from literary studies, history, and political science to situate The Plan’s history within Washington’s history and to unpack the narrative’s key motifs of genocide and displacement.
Abstract: Legend scholarship has routinely advanced the concept of ostension since its introduction in folkloristics by McDowell (1982) and Dégh and Vazsonyi (1983), yet much of this advancement has been predicated on understanding narrative proper as the springboard for modifying human behavior. Using the Pizzagate conspiracy theory complex as a case study, this article rethinks ostension beyond the strictly narrative to include non-narrative statements of belief, which make up a large portion of conspiracy theories. Adding action-oriented response to the framework of ostension may open new pathways for folklorists and other social scientists to understand the complex and intimate ways in which verbal expressions of belief guide and motivate human action.
In a classic book of the same name, Joshua Fishman (2006) writes, "Do not leave your language alone." His idea that language vitality requires the language community's intentional efforts could easily be applied to culture as well. In the face of unprecedented threats- including (but not limited to) climate-and politically-induced migration, economic pressures, and the attractions of new forms of cultural production in an increasingly networked world-sustaining cultures and the communities that maintain them requires active, intentional "work." Doing this "work" relies also on presence in and direct engagement with communities. Too often, however, I have encountered people simply resigned to cultural and linguistic shift. Mei banfa (sic) Bkod pa med (sic),"There's nothing to be done." Building on observations from fieldwork with Tibetans in Western China during the summer and fall of 2023, this article articulates a vision of cultural transmission that builds out from essential principles of presence and "work."
State-sponsored media in Turkey presents a & scedil;ure as a "national dessert," often at the expense of Alevi communities who prepare the dish for the sacred commemoration of the Karbala Massacre (680 CE/61 AH). These popular representations of asure focus almost entirely on pluralist notions of belonging and tolerance, to the strategic exclusion of Alevi mourning narratives and repertories of sacred music and poetry. While the state presents asure as a national dessert, Alevi religious organizations reconstruct it through activist discourses and understand asure as a form of resistance and a response to the increasing authoritarian regime in Turkey. Through a close examination of Muharrem commemorations in Istanbul and a critical analysis of state-sponsored media depicting those practices, in this article I demonstrate that asure, caught between state pluralism and Alevi activism, is fragmented, with different groups adopting various versions based on their perspectives.
