2005 Gerald L. Davis Memorial Lectures

From the Philadelphia Folklore Project - An afternoon gathering on Folklore and self-knowledge

how stories tell us who we are. . . .

“I am not confused about who I am. I am not defined by the accident of my gender or my size or my exceedingly good looks. I am defined by any choices I may have made. . . But where I have gotten to is sacrosanct,” wrote the late great African American folklorist, writer and filmmaker Gerald L. Davis. Davis found in African American folklore emotionally powerful and aesthetically satisfying tools for the necessary work of self-naming and self-knowing.

Philadelphia Folklore Project and ODUNDE inaugurate
The first Gerald L. Davis Memorial Lectures, in honor of ODUNDE’s 30th anniversary and Art Sanctuary's Celebration of Black Writing.

Featuring scholars and storytellers:
Dr. John Roberts (folklorist, author of From Trickster to Badman)
Dr. Kathryn Morgan (folklorist, author of Children of Strangers)
Linda Goss (storyteller, author of Talk That Talk)
Thelma Shelton Robinson (South Philly born and raised “poetic storyteller")

Saturday, February 19th 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., 2005
Church of the Advocate, 18th and Diamond Streets

Admission: $5 or a good story about why you don’t have it! (Three special prizes)
More information available - http://www.folkloreproject.org/archive/pubs/afamfolklore.shtml

For everyone who’s ever listened to or loved a story, told a lie, or whispered a prayer. Come hear what two of today’s most insightful folklorists and two of the region’s most thoughtful storytellers have to say about how stories tell us who we really are, how they help us to know ourselves and others, how they place us in time and space. Pioneers in their own right, these scholars and artists of the spoken word will share stories and talk about how stories carry cultural and individual self-knowledge. Reading, telling , Q & A and discussion. Followed by a reception. Introduction by Lois Fernandez.

Copyright 2000 - 2003, Philadelphia Folklore Project
Comments & questions: pfp@folkloreproject.org