Simon J. Bronner
Encyclopedia
Simon J. Bronner is an American folklorist, ethnologist, historian
, educator, and author
.
(B.A., 1974) and then he received his M.A. in American Folk Culture at the Cooperstown Graduate Programs of the State University of New York (1977), where he also studied social history, ethnology, and museum studies (including work with historically oriented ethnologists Louis C. Jones, Bruce Buckley, and Roderick Roberts). He stayed in Cooperstown
to work for the New York State Historical Association
as director of the Archive of New York State Folklife, before moving to Indiana University
, Bloomington, where he completed his Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies (1981) and worked for the Indiana University Museum of History, Anthropology, and Folklore (now the Mathers Museum of World Cultures), and was assistant to Richard M. Dorson on the Journal of the Folklore Institute (now the http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/Journal of Folklore Research
]). In 1981, he became assistant professor of American Studies and folklore at the Pennsylvania State University
in the graduate American Studies Program at Harrisburg, and was promoted to the rank of Distinguished University Professor in 1991. He has also taught as Walt Whitman Distinguished Chair in American Cultural Studies at Leiden University
in the Netherlands(2006), Visiting Professor of Folklore and the History of American Civilization at Harvard University
(1997–1998), Fulbright Professor of American Studies at Osaka University
in Japan (1996–1997), and Visiting Distinguished Professor of American Studies at the University of California at Davis (1991).
In 1990, he was founding director of the Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. He served as Coordinator of the American Studies Program at the college from 1987 to 2002, founding director of the college's doctoral program in American Studies in 2008, and received the Mary Turpie Prize from the American Studies Association in recognition of his program building, teaching, and advising. From 2002 to 2003, he served as interim director of the School of Humanities at the college. He also received awards for research, teaching, and service from the college. He has edited the journals Folklore Historian (1983–1989), Material Culture (1983–1986), and book series American Material Culture and Folklife (UMI Research Press), Material Worlds (University Press of Kentucky), Pennsylvania German History and Culture (Pennsylvania State University Press), and Jewish Cultural Studies (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization). In 2011, he was named the editor of the Encyclopedia of American Studies online (published by Johns Hopkins University Press). He was elected to the Fellows of the American Folklore Society
in 1994 and received the Wayland Hand Prize for best article on history and folklore and the Peter and Iona Opie
Prize for best book on children’s folklore from the Society. He also received the John Ben Snow Foundation Prize and Regional Council of Historical Societies Award of Merit for Old-Time Music Makers of New York State and the Encyclopedia of American Folklife was designated an outstanding academic title by Choice and "Editor's Choice" by Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin for 2006. He received a National Endowment for the Humanities
Research Fellowship in 1984 at the Winterthur Museum, Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1978–1981), and two Fulbright Program
lecturing awards (1996–1997, 2006). He is married to Sally Jo (Kahr) Bronner; they have two children.
, especially in relation to modernity
, folk culture
and popular culture
, and creativity
. He has been an advocate of "structuralist" and “symbolist” approaches to the interpretation of cultures integrating historical, ethnographic, and psychological perspectives with particular attention to developmental issues across the life course. He has also highlighted the politics of tradition and culture and the ways that contested public debates can be symbolically analyzed in behavioral, material, and verbal rhetoric to show systems of belief and communication in conflict. Examples are the animal rights
protest movement, the national campaign of Joseph Lieberman for vice-president, and anti-hazing
campaigns in the Navy. He has proposed in Grasping Things and other works an analytical perspective on “praxis,” i.e., cultural practices and processes that symbolize socially shared ways of thinking and draw attention to tradition as an adaptive strategy. Many of his essays raise questions about traditions regarding the personal motivations and psychological states, historical conditions and precedents, social identities, and underlying mental processes that explain the function and persistence of cultural expressions.
Bronner's main area of study has been the United States and he has been a figure in the academic development of American cultural studies. He has also promoted international comparative studies, with field research in Japan, Poland, England, Israel, and the Netherlands. Bronner’s major scholarly contributions have been in the topics of material culture
and folklife (particularly in folk art and architecture) in books such as American Material Culture and Folklife
, Folk Art and Art Worlds, The Carver’s Art, and Grasping Things, consumer culture (Consuming Visions), history and theory of folklore
studies (Following Tradition: Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture and American Folklore Studies: An Intellectual History), ethnic studies
(particularly for Jews, Pennsylvania Germans, and African Americans), ritual
and belief
(Crossing the Line), masculinity
studies (Manly Traditions), American roots music (blues
and old-time music
) in Old-Time Music Makers of New York State, animal-human relations (in practices such as hunting
and gaming), and developmental psychology
and culture across the life course (particularly in childhood and old age) in American Children’s Folklore, Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Student Life, and Chain Carvers: Old Men Crafting Meaning. He has also contributed to the study of literary journalism with Lafcadio Hearn's America and articles offering a psychological profile of the famous nineteenth century writer Lafcadio Hearn
who worked in America and Japan. He edited the most comprehensive reference work in American folklife studies, Encyclopedia of American Folklife, in 4 volumes (2006).
Bronner has been active in the public sector, serving as consultant to many museums, festivals, and historical and cultural organizations. These activities combine with his development of the academic field of heritage studies, also called “public heritage,” focusing on issues of public presentations of history, art, and culture, especially as communities interpret their legacies for themselves. His book Popularizing Pennsylvania (1996), for example, examined the links of Progressive politics, environmental conservation, and public history and folklore in the career of Henry W. Shoemaker (1880–1958), America’s first official state folklorist, chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, ambassador to Bulgaria (1930–1933), and prominent newspaper publisher. Bronner has been the project scholar for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Oral History Project, chair of the Cultural Heritage Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, and reviewer for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Annotated Edition, 1989.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, educator, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Life and career
Bronner’s parents were Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the United States from Israel in 1960. His childhood in the U.S. was spent in Chicago and New York City. His undergraduate study was in political science, history, and folklore (mentored by prominent European and American folklorist W.F.H. Nicolaisen) at Binghamton UniversityBinghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
(B.A., 1974) and then he received his M.A. in American Folk Culture at the Cooperstown Graduate Programs of the State University of New York (1977), where he also studied social history, ethnology, and museum studies (including work with historically oriented ethnologists Louis C. Jones, Bruce Buckley, and Roderick Roberts). He stayed in Cooperstown
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
to work for the New York State Historical Association
New York State Historical Association
The New York State Historical Association is a private, non-governmental educational organization founded in 1899 to encourage research, educate general audiences, and start a library and museum of manuscripts, artwork, and other objects associated with the history of New York State, USThe...
as director of the Archive of New York State Folklife, before moving to Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, Bloomington, where he completed his Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies (1981) and worked for the Indiana University Museum of History, Anthropology, and Folklore (now the Mathers Museum of World Cultures), and was assistant to Richard M. Dorson on the Journal of the Folklore Institute (now the http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/Journal of Folklore Research
Journal of Folklore Research
The Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology is a peer-reviewed academic journal of folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicology.- History :...
]). In 1981, he became assistant professor of American Studies and folklore at the Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
in the graduate American Studies Program at Harrisburg, and was promoted to the rank of Distinguished University Professor in 1991. He has also taught as Walt Whitman Distinguished Chair in American Cultural Studies at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
in the Netherlands(2006), Visiting Professor of Folklore and the History of American Civilization at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(1997–1998), Fulbright Professor of American Studies at Osaka University
Osaka University
, or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
in Japan (1996–1997), and Visiting Distinguished Professor of American Studies at the University of California at Davis (1991).
In 1990, he was founding director of the Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. He served as Coordinator of the American Studies Program at the college from 1987 to 2002, founding director of the college's doctoral program in American Studies in 2008, and received the Mary Turpie Prize from the American Studies Association in recognition of his program building, teaching, and advising. From 2002 to 2003, he served as interim director of the School of Humanities at the college. He also received awards for research, teaching, and service from the college. He has edited the journals Folklore Historian (1983–1989), Material Culture (1983–1986), and book series American Material Culture and Folklife (UMI Research Press), Material Worlds (University Press of Kentucky), Pennsylvania German History and Culture (Pennsylvania State University Press), and Jewish Cultural Studies (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization). In 2011, he was named the editor of the Encyclopedia of American Studies online (published by Johns Hopkins University Press). He was elected to the Fellows of the American Folklore Society
American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...
in 1994 and received the Wayland Hand Prize for best article on history and folklore and the Peter and Iona Opie
Peter and Iona Opie
Iona Archibald Opie and Peter Mason Opie were a husband-and-wife team of folklorists, who applied modern techniques to children's literature, summarized in their studies, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren...
Prize for best book on children’s folklore from the Society. He also received the John Ben Snow Foundation Prize and Regional Council of Historical Societies Award of Merit for Old-Time Music Makers of New York State and the Encyclopedia of American Folklife was designated an outstanding academic title by Choice and "Editor's Choice" by Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin for 2006. He received a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
Research Fellowship in 1984 at the Winterthur Museum, Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1978–1981), and two Fulbright Program
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
lecturing awards (1996–1997, 2006). He is married to Sally Jo (Kahr) Bronner; they have two children.
Academic and public focus
Much of Bronner’s scholarship has been on the issue of traditionTradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
, especially in relation to modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
, folk culture
Folk culture
Folk culture refers to the lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the "old ways" over novelty and relates to a sense of community. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place...
and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, and creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
. He has been an advocate of "structuralist" and “symbolist” approaches to the interpretation of cultures integrating historical, ethnographic, and psychological perspectives with particular attention to developmental issues across the life course. He has also highlighted the politics of tradition and culture and the ways that contested public debates can be symbolically analyzed in behavioral, material, and verbal rhetoric to show systems of belief and communication in conflict. Examples are the animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
protest movement, the national campaign of Joseph Lieberman for vice-president, and anti-hazing
Hazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
campaigns in the Navy. He has proposed in Grasping Things and other works an analytical perspective on “praxis,” i.e., cultural practices and processes that symbolize socially shared ways of thinking and draw attention to tradition as an adaptive strategy. Many of his essays raise questions about traditions regarding the personal motivations and psychological states, historical conditions and precedents, social identities, and underlying mental processes that explain the function and persistence of cultural expressions.
Bronner's main area of study has been the United States and he has been a figure in the academic development of American cultural studies. He has also promoted international comparative studies, with field research in Japan, Poland, England, Israel, and the Netherlands. Bronner’s major scholarly contributions have been in the topics of material culture
Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
and folklife (particularly in folk art and architecture) in books such as American Material Culture and Folklife
Folklife
Folklife is an extension of, and often an alternate term for the subject of, folklore. The term gained usage in the United States in the 1960s from its use by such folklore scholars as Don Yoder and Warren Roberts, who wished to recognize that the study of folklore goes beyond oral genres to...
, Folk Art and Art Worlds, The Carver’s Art, and Grasping Things, consumer culture (Consuming Visions), history and theory of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
studies (Following Tradition: Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture and American Folklore Studies: An Intellectual History), ethnic studies
Ethnic studies
Ethnic studies is the interdisciplinary study of racialized peoples in the world in relation to ethnicity. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English, ethnology, Asian studies, and orientalism...
(particularly for Jews, Pennsylvania Germans, and African Americans), ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
and belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
(Crossing the Line), masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
studies (Manly Traditions), American roots music (blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and old-time music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
) in Old-Time Music Makers of New York State, animal-human relations (in practices such as hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and gaming), and developmental psychology
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
and culture across the life course (particularly in childhood and old age) in American Children’s Folklore, Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Student Life, and Chain Carvers: Old Men Crafting Meaning. He has also contributed to the study of literary journalism with Lafcadio Hearn's America and articles offering a psychological profile of the famous nineteenth century writer Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
who worked in America and Japan. He edited the most comprehensive reference work in American folklife studies, Encyclopedia of American Folklife, in 4 volumes (2006).
Bronner has been active in the public sector, serving as consultant to many museums, festivals, and historical and cultural organizations. These activities combine with his development of the academic field of heritage studies, also called “public heritage,” focusing on issues of public presentations of history, art, and culture, especially as communities interpret their legacies for themselves. His book Popularizing Pennsylvania (1996), for example, examined the links of Progressive politics, environmental conservation, and public history and folklore in the career of Henry W. Shoemaker (1880–1958), America’s first official state folklorist, chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, ambassador to Bulgaria (1930–1933), and prominent newspaper publisher. Bronner has been the project scholar for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Oral History Project, chair of the Cultural Heritage Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, and reviewer for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Books
- Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2011.
- (ed.) Revisioning Ritual: Jewish Traditions in Transition. Oxford: Littman, 2011.
- (ed.) Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity. Oxford: Littman, 2010.
- Greater Harrisburg's Jewish Community. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2010.
- Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008.
- Steelton.Charleston: Arcadia, 2008 (with Michael Barton).
- (ed.)Jewishness: Expression, Identity, and Representation. Oxford, UK, and Portland, OR: Littman, 2008.
- (ed.)The Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007.
- (ed.)Encyclopedia of American Folklife. 4 vols. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006.
- Crossing the Line: Violence, Play, and Drama in Naval Equator Traditions. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University PressAmsterdam University PressAmsterdam University Press is a university press that was founded in 1992 by the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is based on the Anglo-Saxon university press model and operates on a not-for-profit basis...
, 2006.
- (ed.)Manly Traditions: The Folk Roots of American Masculinities. Bloomington: Indiana University PressIndiana University PressIndiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana....
, 2005.
- Folk Nation: Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.
- (ed.) Lafcadio Hearn’s America. Lexington: University Press of KentuckyUniversity Press of KentuckyThe University Press of Kentucky is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 1949 the press was established as a separate academic agency...
, 2002.
- (ed.) The Meanings of Tradition. Los Angeles: California Folklore Society, 2000.
- Following Tradition: Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1998.
- Popularizing Pennsylvania: Henry W. Shoemaker and the Progressive Uses of Folklore and History. University Park: Penn State Press, 1996.
- Ethnic Ancestry in Pennsylvania: An Analysis of Self-Identification. Middletown: Pennsylvania State Data Center, 1996.
- The Carver’s Art: Crafting Meaning from Wood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
- Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Student Life. Little Rock: August House Publishers, 1995.
- (ed.) Creativity and Tradition in Folklore: New Directions. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1992.
- (ed.) American Material Culture and Folklife. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1992.
- (ed.) Folk Art and Art Worlds. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1992 (with John Michael Vlach).
- Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Campus Life. Little Rock: August House Publishers, 1990.
- American Children's Folklore. Little Rock, August House Publishers, 1988.
Annotated Edition, 1989.
- (ed.) Consuming Visions: Accumulation and Display of Goods in America, 1880–1920. New York: W. W. NortonW. W. NortonW. W. Norton & Company is an independent American book publishing company based in New York City. It is well known for its "Norton Anthologies", particularly the Norton Anthology of English Literature and the "Norton Critical Editions" series of texts which are frequently assigned in university...
, 1989.
- (ed.) Folklife Studies from the Gilded Age: Object, Rite, and Custom in Victorian America. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1988.
- Old-Time Music Makers of New York State. Syracuse: Syracuse University PressSyracuse University PressSyracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. The areas of focus for the Press include Middle East Studies, Native American Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Irish Studies and Jewish Studies, among others. The Press has an international...
, 1987.
- Grasping Things: Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986.
- (ed.) Folk Art and Art Worlds. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986 (with John Michael Vlach).
- American Folklore Studies: An Intellectual History. Lawrence: University Press of KansasUniversity Press of KansasThe University Press of Kansas is a publisher that represents the six state universities in the US state of Kansas — Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University...
, 1986.
- Chain Carvers: Old Men Crafting Meaning. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1985.
- (ed.) American Material Culture and Folklife: A Prologue and Dialogue. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985.
- (ed.) American Folk Art: A Guide to Sources. New York: Garland Publishing, 1984.