Kay Turner

Kay Turner is a public folklorist and scholar. Turner served as president of the American Folklore Society from 2016–2017.

Personal life

Turner was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan[1] and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.[2]

Career

Kay Turner received her B.A. in literature and philosophy from Rutgers University in 1971. In 1989, she earned her MA/PhD in folklore and anthropology from the University of Texas. Turner's research focuses women’s studies, queer studies, and folk and contemporary art.

Before earning her PhD, Turner worked as the interim director of the Folk Arts Collections at the San Antonio Museum of Art from 1982 to 1984.[3] In 1984, Kay Turner, Pat Jasper, and Betsy Peterson founded Texas Folklife Resources.[4] She continued on as the associate director of Texas Folklife Resources until 1991.[5] Turner went on to work as director of the Brooklyn Arts Council's Folk Arts Program from 2000-2014.[6] In 2011, she joined the board of the New York Folklore Society.[7]

Turner has published articles in journals such as Journal of American Folklore and Western Folklore.[8] As a public folklorist, Turner has researched, organized, and produced public programs, museum exhibitions, and folk music festivals.[9]

Turner, who served as president of the American Folklore Society from 2016–2017, has said "To be a folklorist is to be entrusted with a diverse body of critical cultural knowledge, art, and practice and to be just ornery enough to believe the world is better off if we share it out in teaching, researching, writing, consulting, public programming, advocating, archiving, and engaging with each other as members of our Society."[10]

Along with Gretchen Phillips and Betsy Peterson, Kay Turner formed the lesbian-feminist rock band Girls in the Nose in 1985 in Austin, Texas. The band performed between 1985 and 1996.[11] Turner's work as a musician has continued as she created Otherwise: Queer Scholarship into Song, which she began organizing and performing in 2013.[12]

Awards and honors

  • Kay turner was awarded the Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize in 2000.[13] The Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize is given to folklorists who create "superior work on women’s traditional, vernacular, or local culture and/or feminist theory and folklore."[14]
  • In 2013, Turner was awarded the Benjamin A. Botkin Prize. The prize honors the recipient for outstanding lifetime achievement in public folklore from the American Folklore Society.[15]
  • Also in 2013, Turner was inducted as a Fellow of the American Folklore Society.[16]

Public Programs

  • Turner, Kay (1986). Art Among Us/Arte Entre Nosotros: Mexican American Folk Art of San Antonio. San Antonio Museum Association. (with Pat Jasper)
  • Brooklyn Maqam: Arab Music Festival
  • Days of the Dead in Brooklyn: Diverse Traditions of Mourning and Remembrance
  • Here was New York: Memorial Images of the Twin Towers

Published Works

  • Turner, Kay (1993). I Dream of Madonna: Women's Dreams of the Goddess of Pop. Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-0002552578.
  • Turner, Kay (1996). Between us: A Legacy of Lesbian Love Letters. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0811814423.
  • Turner, Kay (1999). Baby Precious Always Shines: Selected Love Notes Between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312198329.
  • Turner, Kay (1999). Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women’s Altars. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500281505.
  • Turner, Kay (2012). Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0814334812. (with Pauline Greenhill)

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Diana. "Interview with Kay Turner (2007)". What is Performance Studies?. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "AFS Presidents". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kay Turner". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Faires, Robert. "Articulations". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Kay Turner". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "NYFS Board of Directors". New York Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Kay Turner". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "JSTOR Search Results: Search Results - Kay Turner", Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "AFS Presidents". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Kay Turner". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "Live from the Middle Ages: Girls in the Nose 30th Anniversary Tour". Dixon Place. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  12. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer. "Queer Theory May Not Have a Beat, but Academicians Can Still Dance to It". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  13. ↑ "Kay Turner". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize Recipients". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Benjamin A. Botkin Prize", Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "Fellows of the American Folklore Society", Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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