Editor's Note

Abstract

Editor's Note Solimar Otero This special issue of the Journal of Folklore Research is dedicated to the "Folklore of Epidemics." The pieces offered here mirror the long and twisted journey we have all encountered in navigating the COVID-19 crisis. Thus, many of the articles in the special issue speak to research conducted in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic. We at JFR believe this provides a rich timeline with which to witness the ways that communities continue to grapple with the virus and its afterlives. As guest editor Juwen Zhang asserts in his introduction "In Search of Hope amid Despair in Folklore of Epidemics," the consideration of how folklore is enacted in times of epidemics varies, crosses geographical locations, and situates temporally in memories of previous turmoil. The rest of the works in this volume also mark important moments specific to the generation of COVID-19 folklore: from street art to medical humor; from xenophobic legends about Chinese restaurants to misinformation and its amplifications; and finally, some considerations of the relevance of Chinese folktales of previous epidemics to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. This special issue speaks to an ongoing dialogue that resonates as we still encounter difficulties with COVID-19 and other contemporary health crises such as the mpox public health emergency, the seasonal COVID-flu-RSV "tridemic," and so on. Folklore is central to how we negotiate, communicate, and create culture from these challenges, or, as our colleague Juwen Zhang puts it: find hope amid despair. [End Page 1] [End Page 2] Solimar Otero Indiana University Bloomington Copyright © 2023 Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University