Interview with Carlos Vargas-Ramos Author of Blessing La Politica: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement

In the interview below, Carlos Vargas-Ramos, co-editor with Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo of Blessing La Politica: The Latino ReligiousExperience and Political Engagement in the United States, discusses the highlights of their research for the book, which includes a refutation of the widespread notion that Latinos are less likely to participate in politics due to their largely Catholic faith.

What prompted you to write Blessing La Política? What "message" do you want to communicate? 

There was a clear need to address the impression that Latinos are less engaged in political activities because they are, by and large, Catholic. See, traditionally there had been the opinion and perception in popular culture and academia that Latinos were less politically active because they had a political culture that was less conducive to democratic participation as a result of a lack of a democratic tradition in the Latin American countries where many Hispanics find their origins as well as the dominant Catholic faith which presumably nurtured a fatalistic or compliant attitude towards authority, be it civilian, military and/or religious.

More recently, however, with the work of Sidney Verba, Kay Schlozman and Henry Brady, which focused on the linkages between socioeconomic status, institutional recruitment, skill-building qualities of associational affiliations and political participation, there was a shift in explaining that Hispanics were relatively less engaged in politics than the population as a whole or some other groups in American society (e.g., African Americans, non-Hispanic whites) because belonging to the Catholic Church, they argued, short-changed these Latinos in skill-building and mobilization opportunities for political engagement. Shifting from cultural to institutional explanations for reduced Latino political involvement nevertheless maintained the onus on being Catholic, and this just did not seem to square with what we collectively understood those reasons to be.

Latinos do exhibit lower levels of involvement in somepolitical activities, particularly those that are most visible and common: voting and contacting elected officials. However, this relatively lower level of Hispanic engagement in the political system in the United States is not the result of being Catholic.

What was the highlight of your research? In the course of your research, what discovery surprised you the most? What surprises readers/others the most about your research?

One of the most noteworthy features of our collective research is how consistent the findings are. Catholic Latinos are not anymore disengaged from those Latinos who are not Catholic. Indeed, Catholic Latinos may be more engaged in some forms of political activity than other Latinos, depending on the context and on the issues around which people mobilize.

Another aspect about the volume readers may find relevant is that Catholics in general and Latino Catholics in particular are not homogeneous. Rather, there are significant differences among them in terms of attitudes, orientations, and policy positions, as well as religious devotional practices—singularities that make a difference in the political arena. For instance, the Charismatic tradition is very vibrant and extended among Latino Catholics.

As described in Blessing La Politica, about one quarter of the Latino Catholics who turned out to vote in 2008 identified as born-again or evangelical Christians. This proportion often surprises readers given that in popular discourse being born-again or an evangelical Christian is perceived as a Protestant experience. That such a large proportion of Latino Catholic voters also identifies as born-again or evangelical Christian will surprise many readers. Indeed, other surveys show that nearly 40% of Latino Catholics identify as born-again or charismatic. Their positions on social justice, abortion, the death penalty, gender relations, etc., are distinct and varied. Positions some Latino Catholics hold coincide squarely with the teachings and dogmas of the Catholic hierarchy, while the positions of other Latino Catholics may be at odds. This makes for very interesting dynamics in making political appeals to Latino Catholics based on the position of the Catholic hierarchy or some subset thereof.

How did your research change your outlook on Latinos, politics, and religion?

We as scholars need to increase our attention to the role of religion and communities of faith on politics and political activity, and not simply among those hew closely to the teachings and practices of specific denominations. Rather, we as students of politics need to incorporate front and center the ideological and institutional role of religion in models that explain political activity and governance.

How have people reacted to your book and/or the ideas you set forth? Is it what you hoped for, or is there more work to be done?

Reception has been very positive. There’s a hunger for this type of focus and analysis. Certainly this volume is but one piece of a larger research field that needs to be explored and engaged fully. There’s a lot of work to do.

What's next for you?

I am currently working on the impact of transnationalist practices on political participation in the United States and the country of origin of Latin American migrants. I am contrasting a migration paradigm that is very much in vogue (i.e., transnationalism) with more traditional approaches to migration (e.g., assimilation).

Carlos Vargas-Ramos is research associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at the City University of New York, Hunter College. He is author of Migration and Political Behavior: The Political Incorporation of Puerto Rican Return Migrants; and the articles "Black, Trigueño, White … ? Shifting Racial Identification among Puerto Ricans" in Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race and "Caribbeans in New York: Political Participation, Strategic Cooperation and the Prospect of Pan-ethnic Political Mobilization in the Diaspora" in Caribbean Studies.

Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States

In the essay below, Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, co-editor with Carlos Vargas-Ramos of Blessing La Politica: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States, discusses the effect of religion on voting patterns among Latinos. In particular, he examines perceptions of trends related to Latino Catholicism and Protestantism within academic circles and how the book resulted from his initial desire to "set the record straight" on this important topic.

The academic community had been fascinated with the rise of membership in Protestant Evangelical denominations for the better part of the decade when George W. Bush ran as the "first Hispanic president." Based in part on trends in Latin America, the evidence was clear that a Catholic monopoly over religion could not be presumed. As a long-time scholar of religion among Latinos and Latinas and with a solid background in Latin American studies, I found too much "drama" in these research conclusions. I say "drama" because the Protestant and Evangelical presence had been constants for Latinos and Latinas within U.S. borders in the immediate aftermath of the invasions and annexations into the Mexican Southwest, including Texas and California and then later into the island of Puerto Rico. As the unofficial "establishment" Christianity, Protestantism utilized its influence with the state to ensure that the previous patterns of Catholic dominance were replaced in the public schools, in political organization, in civic associations and social life. In other words, Protestant and Evangelical leadership was a century-old reality among those Latinos and Latinas living in the United States.

The Latin American phenomenon after the late 1980s had operated on a different set of premises. For one, liberation theology had made progressive Catholicism a target for reactionary politics after Ronald Reagan. Uncomfortably, Reagan's people had defended the business and military class in many South and Central American countries, including organizations like Arena in El Salvador that had been linked to the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the rape and murder of Maryknoll religious women. Perhaps a larger reason for the rapid rise in Evangelical membership in Latin America was the division in the Catholic Church where a conservative Vatican censured its own clergy. Finally came the process of urbanization in which the traditional forms of "inherited" Catholicism for agricultural communities were destroyed in migration to sprawling Latin American cities. A typical result was a search for supportive social groups such as in the tight-knit Evangelical churches.

By conflating these two related but essentially different trends, academia had projected an "Evangelical tide." Aided by a secular media eager for anything "new" and an aggressive policy from within the Pew Foundation to foster research supporting the rise of Pentecostalism, it was frequent to encounter predictions that Evangelical growth among Latinos and Latinas would produce a majority population in the United States for Protestantism.

In fact, however, in less promoted research there was abundant data to confound the idea that there was an inevitable Evangelical tide. Blessing La Politica was motivated by a desire to set the record straight. The immediate stimulus came from the findings by Sidney Verba and his colleagues at Harvard in their study of volunteer leadership connected to faith-based institutions. Verba confirmed the premise that Hispanic Protestants and Evangelicals were more politically engaged than Hispanic Catholics. Partly because of the high reputation of Dr. Verba and partly because of the importance of the finding to community organizing, several research projects had focused upon the same trends. In fact, the Program for the Analysis of Religion Among Latinos/as (PARAL) Study which I directed employed exactly the same wording in the questionnaires in order to test the validity of Verba's finding of a political superiority for Latino Evangelicals. In the PARAL Study, as well as in others, Verba's findings were not replicated.

Operating first as academics, PARAL organized a panel of scholars representing diverse sectors of the Latino community to present findings that challenged Verba's conclusions. I was motivated to make these presentations into a cohesive book that would go beyond the narrow and often unpleasant task of refuting another scholar. I hoped that we could explore not just statistical reports on surveys but also inject readers into the internal workings of Catholic organizations where political mobilization was frequent and well-developed. There were all kinds of obstacles that arose to the book project such as the lack of interest in some publishing quarters for a book that had no "sensational" edge. The vagaries of academic life—marriage, mobility and the like—also forced us into reshuffling the contributors to the volume.

The side benefit in all of this was that each election cycle confirmed the initial realization that religion really made an important difference in voting by Latinos and Latinas. In fact, we found data for the 2004 election that being Catholic or Evangelical was more predictive of voting patterns for Democrats or Republicans than the stock-in-trade distinctions of Mexican or Cuban. At the heart of the matter was the Catholic inclination to make social justice issues more important in election decisions than the matters relating to abortion, stem-cell research and homosexuality. Our researchers had highlighted how immigration reform mobilized Catholics, and in 2006 and 2008 the Evangelicals had changed course from identification with Republicans and joined Latino Catholics in voting for Democrats. It appears that in 2012 these trends are being repeated as Democrats have promoted reforms like the DREAM Act while Republican candidates have rejected them emphatically. Moreover, the media has caught up to the defining role that new Latino and Latina voters have in changing the color of traditionally red states like Colorado into blue havens for Democrats. As in other regions of the country, the electoral map is now tilting in favor of the Democratic Party.

This book does not claim the sort of "sensational" label that characterized popular assessment of Evangelical religious identity among Latinos and Latinas. In fact, the book was written to combat such facile flag-waving. In making the case that the drama should be drained away from political assessments, the book provides a historical background to the public understanding of the Latino impact on U.S. politics. There is no inevitability either to Latino assimilation as the "latest immigrant group" or to the notion that one is more American if one is Protestant. The modern principles of democracy, volunteer organization, and individual conscience are not the exclusive property of Protestants. Contrary to the assertion of Verba that Latino political power in the future would follow Protestants, Latino Catholics have been the ones providing the leadership. The current mobilization for the party of social justice sets the pattern rather than fixation on the sexual and gender issues of the Republican Party. The book Blessing La Política tells the reader why this has happened.

Highlights from Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States

• Examines the key statistics on how Latinos and Latinas vote and explains how many come to political decisions because of what they hear and learn in the churches
• Demystifies the preconceptions that all Latinos and Latinas are becoming Pentecostal or that Catholics are deficient in sophisticated modern political commitments
• Combines political science with historical and anthropological perspectives of how and why religion "works" at the local level in forming political opinions
• Discusses Latino politics within a framework of understanding the social and cultural dynamics that shape political mobilization rather than simplistic, static categories of voting results

Anthony Stevens-Arroyo is professor emeritus of Puerto Rican and Latino studies at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. First president of the Program for the Analysis of Religion Among Latinos/as (PARAL), he was also founder and director of the Center for the Study of Religion in Society and Culture (RISC) at Brooklyn College where he conducted the PARAL Study. Stevens-Arroyo is author of the landmark of Catholic studies, Prophets Denied Honor; was editor of the four-volume PARAL series on Latino religion; coauthored Recognizing The Latino Resurgence In U.S. Religion: The Emmaus Paradigm; and has published more than 40 scholarly articles.

Celebrating Banned Books Week: Herbert N. Foerstel on Book Banning and Curriculum Censorship

What prompted you to write your book Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools?

As a professional librarian, I have always believed in the Right to Read.  Some years ago, while serving on the Maryland Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee I interviewed a number of proud censors, individuals motivated by a religious conviction that America's children were being perverted by public library books that mention Halloween, witches, homosexuality, evolution, and a world of other topics.  I was driven to discover the origin of the major bookbanning controversies around the country and the responses of banned authors.

Many readers are familiar with books that were famously banned in decades past. But is book banning really still a major problem in the United States?

In some ways, "book banning" is a misnomer.  Today, books are "challenged" by religious groups, after which school or library boards sometimes remove the books or restrict access to them.

In your forthcoming book with Praeger Studied Ignorance (Apr. 2013), you've shifted the focus of your research away from book banning toward what are perhaps less conspicuous tools of censorship—curriculum design and the textbook adoption process. What drove you toward these new paths of research?

I have discovered that the silent self-censorship by textbook publishers is more insidious than direct bookbanning.  Even when pressure groups fail to force direct censorship of textbook content, timid publishers excise the challenged content in subsequent editions of their texts.

What has surprised you about your new research?

Curricular censorship is a growing problem in American schools, often resulting from the same religiously motivated censors who challenge library books.  The removal of courses on evolution is the best example of this.  But a relatively new form of curricular censorship has emerged from the "teaching-to-the-test" requirements of No Child Left Behind.  Today, schools across the country are removing courses on social studies, music, art, physical education, and a variety of other subjects in order to concentrate on the only subjects covered in mandatory standardized tests: reading, science, and math.  The result is a restricted national curriculum that leaves students under-educated, teachers threatened with dismissal, and schools closed if test scores are inadequate.

What banned book would you like to recommend to your readers this year in celebration of Banned Books Week?

A look at the appendices in Banned in the USA reveals that most banned books are those written for children, but several standard literary works appear on banned book lists every year.  They include titles like Of Mice and Men, Slaughterhouse-Five, Native Son, and To Kill a Mockingbird.  I would recommend them all.


Herbert N. Foerstel is the retired Head of Branch Libraries at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He has Masters degrees in mathematics and library and information science. He currently serves on the board of the National Security Archive, located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous books, including, Banned in the USA: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools; Refuge of a Scoundrel: The Patriot Act in Libraries, and the forthcoming Studied Ignorance: How Curricular Censorship and Textbook Selection Are Dumbing Down American Education.

Banned in the USA: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools

"Simply put, Banned in The U.S.A is a straightforward and fact-filled resource which should be found on the shelf of every academic and public library in the country."

-Midwest Review

"A valuable reference tool for librarians who are dealing with censorship. ... Librarians and teachers need this book, but patrons who want to better understand the threats to their First Amendment rights should be led to it as well."

-School Library Journal

 Refuge of a Scoundrel: The Patriot Act in Libraries

"This is the most important book this reviewer has read this year—and the most frightening. It succinctly details the latest effort by the U.S. government to undermine the rights of Americans to free expression and privacy, with a particular focus on libraries and librarians. ... Foerstel's impressive documentation proves that despite the book's brevity, it covers the subject fully and deeply. Highly recommended."

-Library Journal

Bracero Program's 70th Anniversary Highlights Legacy of Migrant Workers

Howard R. Rosenberg, "Snapshots in a Farm Labor Tradition," Labor Management Decisions, Winter-Spring, 1993

The year 2012 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Bracero Program, a guest worker program coordinated between the United Statesand Mexican governments. From 1942 to 1964, the Bracero Program offered an estimated 4.5 million work contracts to almost 2 million Mexican men to offset labor shortages in the United States.

U.S.labor shortages as a result of World War II led the U.S. government to seek out an alternative source of inexpensive labor. In 1942, the United States negotiated a treaty with Mexico providing for a guest worker program, mainly in the area of agriculture, where Mexican workers were allowed to enter the United States on a temporary basis under contract to U.S. farmers. This source of labor provided economic relief to Mexican families, but it was not without incident. Many participants in the program faced abuses and contract violations by their employers, including instances of discrimination as well as substandard wages and living conditions. Hardships were also endured by the families of braceros, who went months and even years without contact from family members. Nevertheless, the program made an enduring impact not only on the U.S. economy but also on Latino history by rooting Mexican communities in the United States.

These many facets of the bracero experience have been documented though various efforts. The Smithsonian Institution, in conjunction with Brown University, George MasonUniversity, and the Institute of Oral Historyat the University of Texas at El Paso, launched the Bracero History Archive. This collection preserves the testimonies of individuals who participated in the program and of those affected by the absence of family members working in the United States.

Find out more about the Bracero Program by reading the complete Feature Story on the Latino American Experience, which includes a collection of oral histories selected from the Bracero History Archive that offer a close look into the lives of former braceros and their families. Each oral history, which is presented in the original Spanish text with added English translations, is enriched by a corresponding audio interview and supplementary reference materials. If you are not already a subscriber, click here for a free trial.

Interview with Mary Lou Décosterd, Author of Right Brain/Left Brain President

What prompted you to write Right Brain/Left Brain President: Barack Obama's Uncommon Leadership Ability and How We Can Each Develop It? What "message" do you want to communicate? 

I wrote the book to call attention to what a unique leader Barack Obama is – to help readers understand that while he may seem different in many ways, his differences typify the evolution leadership needs to take in order to meet the challenges we face today.


What was the highlight of your research? In the course of your research, what discovery surprised you the most? What surprises readers/others the most about your research? 

When I started the book and the research I knew I would find certain definitive leadership strengths that President Obama has – he is brilliant (literally) and he has a combination of determinism and compassion that is truly rare. His unusual upbringing - his mother’s background as both a traveled anthropologist and human rights activist would certainly color his world view in a favorable way. When I delved deeper and understood the nature of influence his more rooted maternal grandparents served and came to see how his biological father’s proclivities and impediments shaped Obama into the man he both wanted to be and did not want to be, I found it fascinating how Obama took charge of his destiny. This is exceptional for any one and speaks to his potency as a leader.

What readers have told me is how clearly the book maps for them who this man is and why what they previously thought were weaknesses, they could now see as positive leadership traits in him.   


How did your research change your outlook on this subject? 

I no longer see President Obama as simply interesting and complex, I see him as the model for what leaders should aspire toward. I see how he does in fact leverage right and left brain strong suits in consort in the manner our brains were set up for. I realize writing this now, in the midst of the vastly contested political debate for the 2012 elections, what I am writing may be difficult for some to swallow. The book was never intended to be a political testament. It does not refer to his politics. It refers to the state of leadership today, to the complexities of our world and how Obama can advance us at home and abroad.

How have people reacted to your book and/or the ideas you set forth? Is it what you hoped for, or is there more work to be done?

I have been so touched and pleasantly surprised by the reactions. Leadership students have found the tools accessible and the examples taken directly from Obama’s addresses and interviews easy to follow as they chart their own paths. Most surprising has been the reactions from political conservatives who were shocked to use their words by how the book positioned a man that was beforehand troubling to them to say the least. 

Additional work though would be with respect to how in my mind Obama underestimated the ingrained political challenges he faced in Washington. I would very much desire to do additional research, perhaps including interviews close to the source on what he will do differently in the years to come, to move the meter in this regard.

What's next for you?

I am currently writing a book on how women are transforming leadership. As a leader, business owner and coach to executives, I feel that it is time for a candid look at the state of leadership today and to be able to set forth more current research on how women’s voice and perspectives are sorely needed in shaping the future culture of leadership. We are past the days of women fitting into the masculine leadership culture and at the critical juncture where women need to be let in as equal thought partners.

Mary Lou Décosterd, PhD, is founder and managing executive of The Lead Life Institute, LLC, a learning consultancy offering programs and services to help executives, leadership teams, and organizations become their best. She is the author of the Praeger title Right Brain/Left Brain Leadership: Shifting Style for Maximum Impact and a children's book, Magical Max Makes Friends. She has more than 25 years of experience in organizational development, applied psychology, university teaching, and organizational training. Her areas of expertise include leadership and interpersonal development, implementation and execution, women's executive development, cultural and team alignment, anxiety and stress management, attitude and motivation, strategic change and mediation. Décosterd works as an executive coach to leaders and leadership teams and as a facilitator, trainer, and speaker in both the profit and nonprofit sectors.

New Paradigms Needed for True Representation of Latinos In Higher Education

By: Leonard A. Valverde

The Pew Research Center just issued a report showing a large increase of Latinos in college enrollment (a 24% growth from 2009 to 2010). However, the numbers and percentages reported show that Latinos still lag behind another historically underrepresented group in higher education, African Americans. While many Latino leaders greet the great increase in enrollment with favor, there are many others who have stated that higher education must do more to bring about better representation and participation by Latinos in colleges. Why? Because even though enrollment numbers are now looking good, such improvements have been so slow and long in coming.

As the Pew Research Center report accurately states, most of the growth in college enrollment is due to the ever-increasing numbers of Hispanics in the U.S. general population. If Latinos are going to reach true parity, not to mention success in college as defined by high graduation rates, then educational systems at all levels will have to insert new paradigms. There are some practices still in place that have acted as big barriers to Hispanics and have kept their enrollment in colleges down considerably. For example, K-12 dropout rates are still too high and will likely get greater given the push for higher standards even as teachers receive no assistance to help students achieve. Reading and math scores are far below grade level for too many Latinos. Latino high school graduates who do go on to college enroll in community colleges for many reasons (e.g., cost, proximity to family and work) and have to take remedial courses to compensate for a poor high school education. The consequence is loss of financial aid since remedial courses do not count toward transferability to four year colleges. Compounding the financial assistance factor is the alarming trend that higher education is becoming more and more expensive. For Latinos, this translates into part time attendance and the phenomenon of “stopping-out” a semester to raise funds. 

It is critical that Latinos come to believe that they can go to college, no matter their personal circumstances. Once they have made a commitment to go to college, we must share with them what they need to know and do in order to be successful in college. Additionally, current paradigms must be changed. When studying why students drop out, it is clear that they have negative experiences in school both academically and socially for the following reasons: they do not see the relevance of course material to their life; they sense a disconnect between the amount of education and the type of careers open to their group in the world of work; they have no hope for a better future; their teachers have low expectations of them; and they perceive an incompatibility between their home/community life and school structure and values.

This short essay cannot cover all of the paradigm changes needed to help improve Latino students' experiences in school. However, a good starting point is the traditional practice of college recruitment, which touches so very few Latino students. High schools with majority Latino student bodies rarely have college recruitment nights. And college recruitment events for those that do can be characterized as the “farmer’s market” type—that is, we (college recruiters) are here to pick the best of your crop (seniors). This process results in exclusion, as only a handful will be encouraged to apply and even fewer will be admitted). The new paradigm calls for colleges and universities to start early in the process of helping the farmer (K-12 teachers) plant the seeds (early intervention at least the 8th grade), and advise what minerals (classes) are best for the crop to be abundant. This new paradigm is more than colleges telling K-12 districts which courses students need to take, what grades they have to earn, and how many units they need to have upon graduation. Rather, this means that working partnerships exist, cooperative efforts are taken, and frequent exchanges take place at both the district/school and at the college campus. Community colleges should be part of this triad. Colleges of education are natural linkages, but others need to be involved, such as admission personnel and recruitment staff. There should be many contact points between Latino secondary students and colleges. For example, college faculty and students from various academic disciplines should speak to secondary school students on regular basis, and school districts should schedule routine visits to college athletic or theater events. By the time senior year rolls around, for Latinos college life should not be a mystery or a foreign place that is not attainable. It should be a natural expectation.

In short, the new paradigm of college recruitment requires colleges to change their ways to accommodate a new population; to transform from being exclusive to being inclusive; to  move away from homogeneous groups to heterogeneous groups; and to respect diversity as an added value rather than a deficit. And before anyone thinks that the present day system is good and does not need to be changed because it has worked well for former generations, I offer a reminder about the ever growing concern by college and university administrators, staff, and faculty that college freshmen student retention over the past two decades on average has been about 50%—that is, half do not complete their first year or return for their sophomore year. 

In closing, my observations should not be taken as a condemnation of public education and colleges, but rather as an opinion that our educational systems need to evolve as society changes much more rapidly than in the past. Out of necessity, I stress that more educational systems must initiate new paradigm shifts so that Latinos and other groups of color can gain access and succeed in higher education commensurate with their true numbers. 

The Latino Student's Guide to College Success

Leonard A. Valverde this year became professor emeritus at Arizona State University. His 40+ years in education include him serving as a department chair at the University of Texas at Austin, vice president of academic affairs at UT San Antonio, a college of education dean at ASU. Also, he has been the director of the Office of Advanced Research in Hispanic Education and the executive director Hispanic Border Leadership, a five state consortium (K-12 districts, community colleges and four year universities). He authored and edited a book directed to the above issues entitled: Latino Change Agents in Higher Education: Shaping a System that Works for All. 

Part ll: Interview with Jan Harold Brunvand, Author of Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, Updated and Expanded Edition

What role does the Internet play in the study and spread of urban legends?

Not to repeat myself too much (see “Internet Resources,” pp. 328-330), the Internet is “both a tool for researching urban legends and a conduit for the dissemination and discussion of rumors and legends.” For the scholar, urban legends archives, indexes, journals, newsletters, etc. are often available online. For the non-academic enthusiast, the Internet, including email and social media, offers a rapid means of swapping stories and resources for checking them out.

Have you heard any new urban legends lately?

“New” is a relative term in this context, since so many of the rumors and stories that go around are variations on older themes. Here’s a “new” example that ties together several things I’ve already mentioned:

A college student in Buenos Aires emailed me to ask about a story she had heard; evidently she had not come across it in the lectures or readings for her folklore class, although she had read some of my books. It seems that an Argentine girl goes with her class on their high school graduation trip to the well-known “party town” (and ski resort) Bariloche, and after meeting a boy in a club she has unprotected sex with him. When the group is ready to leave for home on their tour bus, the boy gives her a box that, he says, contains a surprise. As soon as the bus starts off, the girl opens the box finding inside only a black rose and a note reading “Welcome to the Club of AIDS.” 

I replied to her email explaining that this was a localized version of the “AIDS Harry” (aka “AIDS Mary”) legend (Type 05540 in my index). It is a story told internationally in many variations. The black rose is an unusual touch, and the note more often reads “Welcome to the AIDS club,” or something similar in another language. (She did not give me the presumed Spanish text of the note.) Even the graduation trip and the long bus ride to and from Bariloche fit the local tradition with comfortable long-distance coaches complete with meal service, videos, and restrooms as the norm of such travel in Argentina.

What’s new in urban legend studies?

While I was proofreading my Encyclopedia, the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR) held its annual conference in Göttingen, Germany, from June 5-9, 2012. Abstracts of the papers presented appeared in the newsletter Foaftale News, which I consulted online. Among the topics discussed were these:

            Two papers on Russian legends, one concerning a constitutional crisis set off by an action of President Boris Yeltsin in 1993, and the other about Russian children’s horror legends of the 1970s-‘90’s.

            The so-called “snuff films” and some legendary reactions to them in Germany.

            Legends and legend-tripping involving the ritualistic decorative painting of railway trestle-bridges by adolescents in Canada.

            Protests among Dutch Protestants against supposed “Gay Jesus” films as well as against some real movies about Jesus.

            “New spiritualities” as represented by stories about a supposed “mystery” area of South West France.

            Scam letters and emails similar to the “Double Theft” urban legends.

            A prototype system developed for computerized cataloging of Polish urban legends.

            Emergent legends critical of Barack Obama, circulated mainly as email forwards by far-right detractors of the president.

            Legends about Frank Lloyd Wright.

            Child Abduction legends from Eastern European counries.

            “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” revisited [again!] and also as circulated in Portugal both orally and in a short film shown on YouTube.

            A “friendly ghost” figure in recent Japanese legends that helps people deal with current social problems.

            Legends about the kidnapping of children in Mexico.

And a topic that illustrates the emergence of new legends from current events:

            Post BP-Oil Spill rumors and legends from Costal Louisiana.

This researcher reported stories of outsiders illegally becoming “spillionaires” by falsely claiming losses from the spill or by securing huge clean-up contracts that employed outside workers rather than locals. Other stories claimed that New Orleans restaurant workers and Bourbon Street strippers were supposedly “receiving generous settlements (because their income from tips might be affected if tourism dropped).”


Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, Updated and Expanded Edition is available now at abc-clio.com!