From the Editors

greetings from the new editorial collective! This is the first issue published by the Collective, and we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as well as the new editorial model for Journal of American Folklore/JAF: A Global Quarterly.We first acknowledge the inspiring work and express our deepest gratitude to the previous Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Lisa Gilman, as well as the Associate Editors Benjamin Gatling, Debra Lattanzi Shutika, and Lijun Zhang at George Mason University, who worked tirelessly to expand the journal internationally and to open up access in multiple ways beyond our traditional audiences and authors. This hard, on-the-ground labor entails not only vision but also, and more importantly, backbone, as well as ongoing effort. The Collective intends to continue this essential work of opening up the journal to authors, topics, and folklorists of all stripes that historically have been underrepresented. Accordingly, we encourage potential authors to reach out to the Collective with any questions and to explore the various avenues available within the journal's framework for publication. A surprising number of folklorists do not envision themselves as publishing in JAF; we aim to continue to change that perception.Additionally, as a Collective, we are expanding the work above by introducing and workshopping an alternative organizational and structural editorial model. We do this in the hope that people who have been historically excluded from editorship positions might eventually be able to participate. The traditional Editor-in-Chief model, while effective, relies on the time and labor of a single person, albeit one who is supported by associate editors and staff. This person has conventionally been someone at a research university in the United States who has access to university resources, such as paid time and graduate assistants. This model closes off opportunities for participation for those who might be interested and qualified to assume the editorship of the journal but whose situation may be prohibitive insofar as they might be outside of a US research university or academia in general. Furthermore, as the landscape in academia continues to shift, universities themselves are more hesitant to provide resources to support the editing and production of academic journals. We strongly believe that a new more collective model in which labor and resources are spread out is likely to be in the best interest of the journal itself and allows for broader participation by AFS members.Finally, a collective model moves us out of isolation. Academic folklorists in particular often work alone, even as we study the exchange of ideas among peoples in various communities. A collective model requires collaboration and the exchange of ideas, opinions, methods, and perspectives. This is difficult work but is also extremely rewarding, and such exchange can only enhance and expand our own perspectives on both folklore and the world.We have taken on this work during challenging times: amidst deep cuts to federal funding structures upon which university-based and public folklorists rely; within a context of attacks on anything deemed to be DEI, threatening folklorists’ work in historically marginalized communities; and concurrent to the rise of generative AI in classrooms and scholarship. Because of these and other intersecting crises, we called on folklorists in Spring of 2025 to use our Perspectives section to reflect on the theme of “crisis and action.” These essays, which will be featured in both this and our subsequent issue, serve as valuable shop talk, to help us survive, navigate, and grow during the seemingly challenging years ahead of us. We also believe it is important for JAF to participate in the ongoing discussions around developing guidelines for how academic journals should approach the use of generative AI in scholarship. This topic is among our priorities, and the collective has initiated work on crafting a policy that will provide guidance on the use of generative AI in scholarly practices (more about this in upcoming issues).In this first issue, we have not reached all of our goals, but we have made a start. Members of the current Collective consist of scholars across three different countries (the United States, Canada, and Sweden) and in different research settings, but all participants remain based in universities, albeit not all research-focused universities. In this first instantiation of a JAF Collective, we have been able to spread the labor among more people, pool our institutional resources, and work collaboratively. Each of us will take a turn chairing the Collective. It is our hope that this model will eventually serve future editorial teams that work in various contexts and may have never imagined being in the role of editor for JAF. We ask that you consider this an open invitation to explore new possibilities and ask that you join us in continuing the work of JAF as an inclusive and open space for serious scholarship and for charting the future of our field.Sincerely, Norma E. CantúCoppélie CocqTim FrandyLisa GabbertShelley Ingram