Department of NELC at the Ohio State University

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

MARGARET ANN MILLS

 

Department of Near Eastern Languages

and Cultures

Ohio State University

1735 Neil Avenue, Rm 203

Columbus OH 43210-1293

 

Phone: 614-292-9255; 292-7136

Fax: 614-292-1262

email: mills.186@osu.edu

 

 

EDUCATION

 

PhD     Harvard University, 1978:  General Folklore and Iranian Studies (joint degree in Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, with Social Anthropology).  Dissertation:   Oral Narrative in Afghanistan:  The Individual in Tradition.  (Supervisor:  Albert B. Lord)

 

BA       Radcliffe College, Harvard University, 1968.  Cum Laude in General Studies (English Literature, with Anthropology and Archeology)

 

 

LANGUAGE COMPETENCIES

 

Persian (Dari and Farsi): literate and fluent

German:  adequate oral and written fluency

Italian:  limited oral and written fluency

French:  reading knowledge only

Khowar (Chitrali):  limited oral fluency

 

 

 

 

EMPLOYMENT AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

Jan 99 -            Organizing Consultant and Lecturer, Aga Khan Foundation Humanities Project for Central Asia,

present             Seminar on the Oral Tradition, presentation July, 1999

 

Jan 98 -            Professor and Chair, Dept of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Ohio State University

present            

 

July, 1997        Lecturer, Finnish Folklore Summer School, Turku, Finland (also July 1999, July 2002)

 

Jan 95-             Chair and Undergraduate Chair, Dept of Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania

Jan 98             

 

July 1994-        Acting Undergraduate Chair, Comparative Literature Program, University of Pennsylvania

June 1995

 

Jan-Feb            Consultant and Lecturer, Ford Foundation Folklore Research Training Workshop, Bangla

1994                (National) Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh

 

August              Facilitator, Seminar for High School Teachers, "Using Folklore in the High School Curriculum,"  

1993                Philadelphia Schools Collaborative.  On teaching cultural diversity and student community research

projects.

 

July 1993-        UPS Foundation Term Associate Professor, Folklore and Folklife Dept., University of Pennsylvania 

Dec 1997        

 

July 1992-        Graduate Chair, Dept of Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania

June 1995       

 

July 1989-        Associate Professor, Folklore and Folklife Dept, University of Pennsylvania

June 1993       

 

26 Dec.1988-  Workshop Co-Leader, The International Workshop Series on Folkloristics, Telugu University,

13 Jan 1989     Hyderabad, A.P., India.  Fieldwork workshop:  research on and by women. Co-Leader with Joyce

                        B. Flueckiger. Sponsored by Ford Foundation.

 

July 1983-        Assistant Professor, Folklore and Folklife Dept., University of Pennsylvania

June 1989

 

July 1982-        Associate Dean of Students and Dean of Women, Pomona College, Claremont, California. 

June 1983        Academic and career counseling to undergraduates; program development (natural science tutorials,

writing, women's studies); undergraduate teaching (Anthropology and Religion departments)

 

April-               Visiting Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies/Anthropology/Women's Studies departments, University of

June 1982        Washington, Seattle.  Teaching Narrative Traditions of the Middle East and Women in Islamic Societies; participant in Faculty Seminars, Topics in Folklore and Gender Issues in Religion.

 

Oct-                 Adjunct Lecturer, Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, Washington. Teaching World of the

Dec 1982         Folktale.

 

May 1980-       Preparation for publication of a volume of texts and translations of  folktales and romances from

April 1982        Afghan oral tradition in Persian language, under NEH Translation Grant.  (See Books:  1991a)

 

April 1979-      Field Ethnography Consultant, Denver WIN Field Observation Study,Manpower Demonstration

April 1980        Research Corporation, 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY  10016.  Urban policy-related ethnographic

research on aspects of the AFDC system's job placement program for public assistance recipients.

 

June 1978-       U.S. Liaison Officer for Academic Affairs, Reza Shah Kabir University (now the University of

Mar 1979         Northern Iran), Babolsar, Iran.  Coordinating faculty recruiting, curriculum development, materials

acquisition for a newly-organized graduate university.

 

1976-1978;      Assistant Senior Tutor, Currier House, Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges.  Academic administration,

1973-1974       academic and personal counseling to undergraduates, candidate selection for fellowships and

awards.

 

1970-1978       Teaching Fellow, Harvard University.  General Folklore; The Folktale; Myth, Epic and Early and

Popular Literature.

 

1969                Secondary School teacher, The Community School, Tehran, Iran.English language, literature and

creative writing, 9-12th grades.

 

1968                Member, Harvard Archeological Expedition to Darvazeh Tepe, Iran.

 

1967                Volunteer in book and artifact restoration and conservation, Palazzo Davanzati Museum laboratory

and the Synagogue Library, Florence, Italy.

 

 

 

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

 

1994-95           American Institute of Pakistan Studies research grant, for summer 1995 survey of current state of folklore research and documentation in Pakistan.

 

1993-97           University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Small Grants; support for publication preparation,

South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia

 

1993-94           John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship

 

1993                Chicago Folklore Prize, for best academic book in folklore (see Books: 1991a)

 

July-Aug           Fulbright-Hays Group Faculty Training Seminars Grant, Sri Lanka.  Trainee, specializing in Women's

1993                Studies and Folklore of Sri Lanka.

 

1991-92           University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation/ Penn-Peshawar University Exchange grants.  Summer research in Pakistan's Northern Areas:  follow-up on 1990 project and begin work on ethnobotany.

 

Jan-Dec           U.S. Dept of Education Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Fellowship, investigating effect of education

1990                development on women's traditional activities in Ishkoman Valley, Northern Areas, Pakistan.

 

1988                Smithsonian Institution Research Development Grant, Pakistan (summer)

 

1987                University of Pennsylvania Literacy Research Center Research Grant, for preliminary survey of

schooling and literacy practices in Pakistan's Northern Areas (summer)

 

1987                American Council of Learned Societies Travel Grant to Refugee Studies Center, Oxford University,

Oxford, England, for conference: The Crisis of Migration from Afghanistan

 

1987                University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Summer Research Grant,for Pakistani schooling/literacy research (summer).

 

1985                University of Pennsylvania Middle East Center summer research grant, for enhancement of language skills (tutoring in Pashto, Peshawar, Pakistan)

 

1984                University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation summer grant, for Persian translation and editing of book manuscript.

 

1982-83           Emory University Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities (declined)

 

1980-82           National Endowment for the Humanities Translation Grant, to prepare for publication translations of

folktales and romances from Afghan oral tradition in Persian (Dari) language. (Book 1991a and other

projects)

 

1976-77           American Association of University Women Dissertation Grant

 

1974-76           National Science Foundation Supplementary Grant to Improve the Quality of Social Science Research

(Herat, Afghanistan)

 

1974-75           Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellowship, Herat, Afghanistan

 

1974-75           Harvard University Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, Herat, Afghanistan

 

1970-73                     NDFL Title VI (Critical Language) Fellowships, University of Washington, Seattle, and Harvard

University

 

 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

 

                                    American Anthropological Association

                                    American Association of University Women

                                    American Folklore Society

                                                (Program Committee Co-chair, 1993;

                                                Long-Range Planning Committee, 1997-)

                                    International Society for Folk Narrative Research

                                                (Vice President for North America, 1995-present;

                                                Chair, Membership Committee, 1998-present)

                                    Middle East Studies Association

                                    Association for Middle Eastern Women's Studies

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

BOOKS:

 

IN PREPARATION

 

                        South Asian Folklore:  An Encyclopedia, coediting with Peter Claus and

                        Sarah Diamond, under contract to Routledge Publishers/ Taylor and Francis

for publication 2003.

 

                        Tale, Voice and Life (working title).  Repertoire and life-history study of an

Afghan women storyteller before, during and after the Afghan-Soviet war.

1991a              Rhetorics and Politics in Afghan Traditional Storytelling. University of

                        Pennsylvania Press.  Winner, 1993 Chicago Folklore Prize for best academic

book in folklore.

 

1991b              Gender, Genre and Power in South Asian Expressive Traditions. Co-edited

                        with Arjun Appadurai and Frank J. Korom.  University of Pennsylvania Press.

 

1990 (1978)     Oral Narrative in Afghanistan:  The Individual in Tradition. Garland

                        Publishers Harvard Folklore Dissertation Series.

 

1980                The Workings of WIN:  Ethnography of Three Local Work Incentive

                        Offices:  A Report on the Results of the WIN Field Observation Study:

                        Westtown. New York:  Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.

                        690 pp.

 

ARTICLES AND REVIEWS:

 

 

IN PRESS       “On the Problem of Truth in Oral Texts,” for Lauri Honko, ed.,

                        [Textualities: Working Papers in Folklore Research] (provisional title),

                        Turku, Finland, 2002.

 

2002                “The Gender of the Trick”, Asian Folklore Studies 60 (Spring, 2002).

 

2001                “One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Short and Medium-Term Prospects for Women in

Afghanistan”, SSRC Website publication: After September 11

<www. ssrc.org>

 

2000                “Seven Steps Ahead of the Devil: A Misogynist Proverb in Context”, in            

                        Pasi Enges, ed., Telling, Remembering, Interpreting, Guessing: A Festschrift for

Prof. Anniki Kaivola-Bregenhøj on her 60th Birthday, Joensuu: Suomen

Kansatietouden Tutkijain Seura.

 

2000         “Women’s Tricks: Subordination and Subversion in Afghan Folktales,” in

                        Lauri Honko, ed., Thick Corpus, Organic Variation and Textuality in Oral

                        Tradition, Studia Fennica Folkloristica 7, Helsinki: Finnish Literature

                        Society, pp. 453-487

 

1999                “Whose Best Tricks?  Makr—i Zan as a Topos in Persian Oral Literature,”  

                        Iranian Studies 32:2, pp. 261-270.

 

1999                “Folklore: Afghanistan,” for Encyclopedia Iranica (Ehsan Yarshater,

                        general editor).

 

1999                “Cultural Properties, Cultural Documents, and Cultural Effects:  An Ethics         

                        Discussion for the International Society for Folk Narrative Research,”   

                        Fabula, Summer 1999.

 

1999                “Folklore,” for Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion, Macmillan.

 

1999                "South Central Asia," for Daniel Wagner, Brian Street and Richard                   

                        Venezky, eds., Literacy: An International Handbook , Boulder: Westview    

                        Press. 

 

1998                “Gender and Ethnography : A Report from the Twelfth International ISFNR

                        Conference,” in FF Network  (Helsinki:  Finnish National Academy /

                        Folklore Fellows), No. 16, October 1998, pp.8-13.

 

1998                Review of Anita M.Weiss, Walls within Walls: Life Histories of Working

                        Women in the Old City of Lahore (Westview Press, 1992) in Middle East

                        and South Asia Folklore Bulletin,  14:3.

 

1998                Introduction to “International Rites”, Special Issue of Journal of Folklore

                        Research, 35:1, pp. 1-3, (with Regina Bendix and Dorothy Noyes).

 

1997               Entries "Folklore", pp. 192-196, "Narrative", p. 337, and "Translation", p.

                        474, for Blackwell's Dictionary of Anthropology, ed. Thomas Barfield.

 

1996a              "Foodways in a Karakorum Community:  Notes toward a Handbook of

                        Pakistani Cuisine and Food Customs," in William Hanaway, ed., Studies in

                        the Popular Culture of Pakistan .  Islamabad:  Lok Virsa.

 

1996b              "Family Oral Histories in the Wider History of War:  Afghanistan", Suomen

                        Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society.

 

1996c              "Prismatic Personhood:  Ethnographically Constructed Lives," in Sabra

                        Webber and Margaret Lynd, eds.,  Fantasy or Ethnography:  Irony and

                        Collusion in Subaltern Representation, Papers in Comparative Studies, Vol.

                        8 (1993-94)

 

1995a              "Muslim Folklore and Folklife", in Azim Nanji, ed., The Muslim Almanac:

A Reference Work on the History, Faith, Cultures and Peoples of Islam.

                        Detroit:  Gale Research.

 

1995b              "It's about Time -- Or Is It?  Four Stories of/in Transformation," in Roger

                        Abrahams, ed., Fields of Folklore:  Essays in Honor of Kenneth S.  

                        Goldstein.  Bloomington, IN: Trickster Press.

 

1994a              Review of Afsaneh Najmabadi, ed., Women's Autobiographies in                  

                        Contemporary Iran (1990), in  Middle East Studies Association Bulletin.

 

1994b              "The Aesthetics of Exchange:  Women's Work and Embroidery Designs in

                        the Karakorum,"  in Christoph Bürgel and Alma Giese, eds., "God Is   

                        Beautiful and He Loves Beauty":  A Festschrift for Annemarie Schimmel,  

                        New York:  Peter Lang.

 

1994c              "Folk Tradition in Jalal ud-Din Rumi's Mathnavi and the Mathnavi  in Folk

                        Tradition," in Georges Sabagh and Amin Banani, eds., Poetry and       

                        Mysticism in Islam: The Heritage of Rumi, Cambridge University Press.

                       

1993a              "Feminist Theory and the Study of Folklore:  A Twenty-Year Trajectory

                        toward Theory," in Charles Briggs and Amy Shuman, eds., Theorizing

                        Folklore: Toward New Perspectives on the Politics of Culture, Special       

                        Issue of Western Folklore 52: 2,3,4 (Apr-Oct 1993), pp. 173-192.    

                        Revised version forthcoming in book form from University of Kentucky

                        Press, as of 1997.

           

1993b              "Of the Dust and Wind: Folktale Translation and Notes", in Evelyn Early

                        and Donna Lee Bowen, eds., Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East.

                        Bloomington, IN:  Indiana University Press.

 

1993c              "Winds of Change:  Women's Traditional Work and Educational

                        Development in Pakora, Ishkoman Tehsil," in Israr ud-Din and Inayatullah

                        Faizy, eds., Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush

                        Conference, 1990.  London and Karachi:  Oxford University Press.

                        (Publication delayed as of 11/96)

 

1991                "Gender and Performance Style in Afghanistan," in Arjun Appadurai, Frank

                        Korom, and Margaret Mills, eds., Gender, Genre and Power in South

                        Asian Expressive Traditions.  Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania

                        Press.

 

1990a              "Change and Continuity:  Documentation for Action and History," in

                        WUFA (Writers' Union for a Free Afghanistan) Journal of Afghan Affairs,

                        5:4, pp. 93-6.  Special Issue:  Proceedings of the International Seminar on        

                        Social and Cultural Prospects for Afghanistan, in Tribute to the Memory of       

                        Louis Dupree (Peshawar, 1990).

 

1990b              "Critical Theory and the Folklorists:  Performance, Interpretive Authority,

                        and Gender," Southern Folklore Quarterly  47:1, pp. 5-15.

 

1990c              Review of Lila Abu-Lughod, Veiled Sentiments (1986), in The Muslim           

                        World 80:1, p. 55.

 

1990d              "Creative Expression and the Refugee Experience," with S. Peterson, W.          

                        Westerman, and R. Sanchez, in M. O'Brien, C. Norris, C. Little and M.           

                        Schwarzman, eds., Reimaging America:  The Arts of Social Change.            

                        Philadelphia:  New Society Publishers.

 

1990e              "Domains of Folkloristic Concern:  The Interpretation of Scriptures," in

                        Susan Niditch, ed., Text and Tradition:  The Hebrew Bible and Folklore.

                        Atlanta, GA:  Scholars Press, pp. 231-241.

 

1989a              Review of Wheeler M. Thackston, trans., Naser-e Khosrau's Book of

                        Travels (Safarnama) (1988), in Journal of the American Oriental Society   

                        109:4 (711-2).

 

1989b              Review of Virginia G. Geddes, "Various Children of Eve": (AT 758):           

                        Cultural Variants and Antifeminine Images, Etnolore 5 (1986), in Journal  

                        of American Folklore  102:403 (103-105).

 

1988a              Review of Ulrich Marzolph, Typologie des Persischen Volksmärchens           

                        (1984), in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft  138:2

                        (407-408).

 

1988b              Review of Susan Slyomovics, The Merchant of Art  (1987), in  Middle           

                        East and South Asia Folklore Newsletter 5:1.

 

1988c              "Structure, Texture, and the Personal Voice in Afghan Folktales," in      

                        Edebiyat   (Journal of Middle Eastern Literature) n.s. 2:1-2 (77-115).

 

1987a              "The Crisis of Migration from Afghanistan," (conference review),                      

                        Afghanistan Forum, Nov. 1987.

 

1987b              Review of Wheeler M. Thackston & Sekander Amanollahi, Tales from           

                        Luristan (Matalya Lurissu) (1986), in  Middle East and South Asia

Folklore Newsletter 4:4.

 

1987c              Review of Stuart Blackburn & A.K. Ramanujan, eds., Another Harmony: 

                        New Essays on the Folklore of India (1986), in Middle East and South Asia

                        Folklore Newsletter 4:3.

 

1987d              Review of Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem (1986) in Middle East and     

                        South Asia Folklore Newsletter 4:4.

 

1987e              Guest Editor, Middle East and South Asia Folklore Newsletter  4:2.

 

1987f               "Oral Tradition" in Mircea Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, New

                        York:  MacMillan Co.

 

1985-87           Founding Co-Editor, AMEWS News (Association for Middle Eastern  

                        Women's Studies Newsletter)

 

1986a              "Food for Thought:  Meeting the Needs of the Research Community"    

                        (conference review), The Digest  6:3 (7-8).

 

1986b              "Iranian Sofreh:  From Collective to Female Ritual," (with Laal Jamzadeh),

                        in C. W. Bynum, S. Harrell and P. Richman, eds.,  Gender and Religion:        

                        On the Complexity of Symbols, Beacon Press, pp. 23-65.

 

1986c              Review of Henry Munson, Jr., The House of Si Abd Allah:  The Oral

                        History of a Moroccan Family, for The Annals of the American Academy   

                        of Political and Social Science, January, 1986.

 

1985                "Sex Role Reversals, Sex Changes and Transvestite Disguise in the Oral           

                        Tradition of a Conservative Muslim Community in Afghanistan," in R.    

                        Jordan and S. Kalcik, eds., Women's Folklore, Women's Culture,     

                        University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 187-213.

 

1984                Review of two films, Some Women of Marrakesh  and Saints and Spirits ,

                        (Llewellyn-Davies and Fernea), in Journal of American Folklore 97:383        

                        (105-106).

 

1983                "The Lion and the Leopard:  The Composition of a New Fable in Traditional

                        Style Articulates a Family Dispute," ARV: Scandinavian Yearbook of

                        Folklore 1981 (1983), pp. 58-66.

 

1982                "A Cinderella Variant in the Context of a Muslim Women's Ritual," in Alan

                        Dundes, ed., A Cinderella Casebook, Garland Publishers, pp. 180-192.

 

1981                Review of Carla Makhlouf, Changing Veils, in Folklore Women's      

                        Communication Spring Issue.

 

1978                Cupid and Psyche in Afghanistan:  An International Tale in Cultural

                        Context, Asia Society Occasional Paper No.14.

 

1976                "Afghan Folktales," two one-hour radio programs aired on CBC Radio's

                        Ideas Series, November, 1976.

 

1971                "Khidr", in A. Schimmel, ed., Mevlana Güldestesi, Ankara, Turkey.