Department of World Languages & Cultures

James Dow

I am Professor Emeritus of German. From 1991-1997 I was Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and I chaired the ISU Linguistics Program from 1998-2004. The English Department also granted me a courtesy appointment as Professor. I have taught courses at all levels of German, as well as courses in linguistics and English. Much of my research effort has been devoted to transmitting the theoretical developments in German Volkskunde (folklore) to the English speaking world, and during the last eight years I have expanded this work to include Austria. I have also been intensively involved with documenting the activities of folklorists in Europe and in the United States, through my editorship of the Internationale Volkskundliche Bibliographie (1978-1988 - computerized under my editorship), and as co-section head of volume 5 (Folklore) of the MLA International Bibliography, and as Chair of the MLA Bibliography Advisory Committee (1992). As of 2002 I am the section head of volume 5, and was once again reappointed to the MLA Bibliography Advisory Committee (2002-2005). Finally, I have conducted extensive fieldwork among the German-speaking populace of Iowa, specifically the Old Order Amish of Kalona and the Amana Colonists of Amana. Recently completed research projects: (1) The Study of Ethnology in Austria, Ashgate Publishers, 2004); (2) a revision of the 807 page Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Facts on File, 2004); (3) the first postwar meeting of German folklorists, in 1951 in Jugenheim an der Bergstra?e, where NS folklorists met with those whom they had persecuted during the Third Reich - Jahrbuch für Volkskunde 2004: 7-22. I have two major research projects underway at this time: (1) A Handbook of German Folklore, Greenwood Press, delivery date January 1, 2006, and (2) a publication of a Cymbrian Grammar, for which I have been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for 2005-2006. During the Fall of 2002 I was on sabbatical and spent my time in Berlin (Bundesarchiv), Marburg (Deutscher Sprachatlas and the Herder Institut), and finally in Vienna where the bibliography and footnote work on my book with Ashgate was completed. During the Summer Semester 2003 I was Guest Professor of Linguistics at the Universit?t Bremen, where I taught courses on “The History of the German Language in America,” and on “Pennsylvania German.” In 2001 the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences granted me an award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, in 2002 the University designated me Distinguished Humanities Scholar, and in 2003 a Regents Faculty Excellence Award was granted. In October 2004 I was made a “Fellow” of the American Folklore Society. I have completed my teaching career and retired officially on January 1, 2005, but there are still many of my research projects which will take much of the next two or three years to complete.