Juan Alejandro Forrest de Sloper
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
Juan Alejandro Bosque (John Forrest when in English-speaking countries) was born in Argentina, grew up in Australia, and went to university in England and the U.S. He taught at Purchase College in the anthropology program for 32 years and also contributed to the dance and media, society, and the arts (now media studies) programs. He was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005 and the Juanita and Joseph Leff Distinguished Professorship, a title that accompanies a competitive, one-year senior faculty research award, in 2007–08.
More About Me
His publications include The History of Morris Dancing, 1438–1750 (University of Toronto Press, 1999); The Natural History of the Traditional Quilt (Univ. of Texas Press, 1995), co-written with his late wife, Deborah Blincoe; Annals of Early Morris, with Michael Heaney (London: Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language, University of Sheffield, 1991); Lord I’m Coming Home: Everyday Aesthetics in Tidewater North Carolina Cornell University Press, 1988); and Morris and Matachin: A Study in Comparative Choreography (London: Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language, University of Sheffield, 1984).
Publications
An Introduction to Holistic Anthropology (with Badger Forrest-Blincoe) Wiley-Blackwell (forthcoming 2025)
Subject Lessons: Reciprocal Empowerment Through Life Histories Berghahn (forthcoming 2024)
A Life in Anthropology
NOVA Science 2024
Creation, Procreation, and Isolation: An Anthropological Introduction to Genesis.
Sean Kingston Press. 2024
Messy Ethnography: Does Englishness Exist?
NOVA Science, 2023.
Doing Field Projects: Methods and Practice for Social and Anthropological Research.
Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
The History of Morris Dancing (1458-1750)
University of Toronto Press, 1999. (U.S. & Canada)
James Clarke and Co., 1999. (Great Britain)
The Natural History of the Traditional Quilt (with Deborah Blincoe)
University of Texas Press, 1995
Prejudice and Pride: Gay Traditions in American Culture (edited with Deborah Blincoe)
New York Folklore Society, 1993
Annals of Early Morris (with Michael Heaney)
University of Sheffield, Centre for English Cultural Tradition and
Language Publications, Bibliographical and Special Series #6, 1991.
Lord I’m Coming Home: Everyday Aesthetics in Tidewater North Carolina
Cornell University Press, 1988.
Morris and Matachin: A Study in Comparative Choreography
University of Sheffield, Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language Publications #4, 1984.
Electronic Books:
The Thinking Christian: Essays to Prod the Believer
March, 2016
New Australian: Memories of an Immigrant Childhood
http://www.amazon.com/New-Australian-Memories-Immigrant-Childhood-ebook/dp/B00J9N1Z08/ref=sr_1_12?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459019042&sr=1-12
March 2014
Articles:
“Repacking the Sacred Bundle: Suggestions for Teaching Four-Field Anthropology” (with Badger Forrest-Blincoe). Teaching and Learning Anthropology Journal 5/2:38-56. 2022. https://doi.org/10.5070/T35251957.
“Qualitative Research in Cultural Anthropology” (with Katie Nelson) in Qualitative Research in Social Science. Pranee Liamputtong (ed). Edward Elgar Publishing. 2022
“New Approaches to Four-Field Anthropology.” (with Badger Forrest-Blincoe) Anthropology News November 24, 2020. DOI: 10.14506/AN.1546
“Long Banga Music and Dance.” In Cecilia Lawing (ed.) Festivals of the Orang Ulu. Damai Sukung Uman. 24-27. December 2019.
“How to Read The History of Morris Dancing.” In The Histories Of The Morris In Britain. 7-16. English Folk Dance and Song Society Publications. 2018.
“Kim Chi, K-Pop, and Taekwondo: The Nationalization of South Korean Martial Arts” (with Badger Forrest-Blincoe). IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology.18/2, 2018.
Consultant reader and editor for over 50 entries, including: “Country Dance,” “Maid Marian,” “Matachin,” “Masque,” “May Game,” “May Lord,” “Maypole,” “Moorish,” “Moresco,” “Moresk,” “Morisco,” “Morisk,” “Morris,” “Morris Dance,” “Mummer,” “Sword Dance,” In Oxford English Dictionary 3rd ed.
“The Early History of Morris Dance in England: Lessons for the Study of European Folk Dance” Proceedings of the Symposium: Moreška Past and Present. Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb. 2002.
“An Antedating for the Morris Dance” (with Michael Heaney) Notes and Queries June 2002
“Rana povijest plesa morris u Engleskoj: primjer za istrazivanje Europskoga folklornog plesa.” Narodna Umjetnost 38/2:117-128, 2001
“Isle of Man,” “Matachines (United States),” “Morris Dancing,” “Sword Dancing,” and “Wales.” In Selma Jeanne Cohen, gen. ed. International Encyclopedia of Dance Oxford University Press. 1998
“The Structure and Notation of Traditional Dance Music: A New Mexican Example.” Folk Music Journal 7:167-87, 1996
“The Dangers of Authenticity.” (with Deborah Blincoe) New York Folklore 19(1/2):1-14, 1993
“Visual Aesthetics for Five Senses and Four Dimensions: An Ethnographic Approach to Aesthetic Objects” In Ray Browne ed. Digging into Popular Culture Popular Press, 42-51, 1991.
“Charting Early Morris (1450-1750)” (with Mike Heaney) Folk Music Journal 6:169-186, 1991.
“Analyzing Aesthetic Forms through Appropriate Contexts: A West African Example” in Art and Culture in Nigeria and the Diaspora: Studies in Third World Societies # 46, 1991
“The Optimal Matching Method for Studying Anthropological Sequence Data: An Introduction and Reliability Analysis” (with Andrew Abbott) Journal of Quantitative Anthropology 2:151-170, 1990
“Get Real: Empowering the Student through Oral History” (with Elisabeth Jackson) Oral History Review 18/1:29-44, 1990
“Why Do Duck Decoys Have Eyes?” Reprinted in Daniel W. Patterson and Charles G. Zug III eds. Arts in Earnest: Field Studies in North Carolina Folklife Duke University Press, 1989.
“The Devil Sits in the Choir” In Daniel W. Patterson, James L. Peacock, and Ruel Tyson eds. Diversities of Gifts University of Illinois Press, 1988
“Who Calls the Tune? New Methods for Exploring the Relationships Between Dances and their Music” Folk Music Journal 5:448-468, 1988.
“The Aesthetics of a Tidewater Community: Tradition and Change” In James L. Peacock and James C. Sabella eds. Sea and Land: Cultural and Biological Adaptations in the Southern Coastal Plain. University of Georgia Press, 1988.
“The Relationship Between Tradition and Revival in South Midland Morris Dance” Talking Folklore 1/2:4-10, 1987
“May Day” In Mircea Eliade ed. Encyclopedia of Religion. Macmillan, 1987.
“Optimal Matching Methods for Historical Data” (With Andrew Abbott) Journal of Interdisciplinary History 16:473-96, 1986.
“Morris Music: Some Questions” Number 10 in the Series: Morris Dancing in the South Midlands, Chandler Press, Oxford, 1985.
“Here We Come A-Fossiling” Dance Research Journal 17:27-34, 1985.
“Foodlore and Folklife in Tidewater, North Carolina” North Carolina Folklore Journal 31:76-84, 1983
“Why Do Duck Decoys Have Eyes?” North Carolina Folklore Journal 31:23-30, 1983.
“The Role of Aesthetics in the Conversion Experience in a Missionary Baptist Church” In Carol Stack and Robert Hall eds. Holding on to the Land and the Lord. University of Georgia Press, 1982.
Review article: “Folklore for a New Century” International Folkloristics: Classic Contributions by the Founders of Folklore, Alan Dundes, ed. 2007
Review: Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism, Timothy Matovina and Gary Riebe-Estrell, and, Dancing with the Virgin: Body and Faith in the Fiesta of Tortugas, New Mexico, Deidre Sklar in Reviews in Anthropology 35:139-54, 2006.
Review: Diagnosing America: Anthropology and Public Engagement Shepard Forman ed. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2:1996.
Review: Anthropology, Art, and Aesthetics Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton eds. Museum Anthropology 19/1:67-68, 1995.
Obituary: “Fr. Kenneth Loveless: A Personal Memory” English Dance and Song Spring 1995,12-13.
Review: Chaseworld: Foxhunting and Storytelling in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens Mary T. Hufford. Man 29:207-08, 1994.
Review: Traditional Dance (Volumes 5 and 6) ed. Theresa Buckland Folk Music Journal 5:624-627, 1989
Review: The Performer-Audience Connection Judith Lynne Hanna Dance Research Journal 16:34-35, 1984
Abstract: “In Comes I Brut King: Tradition and Modernity in the Drama of the Jacksdale Bullguisers” Ian Russell Literature in Performance 4:103, 1983
Abstract: “Why Do They Laugh? An Interactional Approach to Humor in Traditional Iranian Improvisatory Theater” W. Beeman Literature in Performance 3: 98-99, 1982
Review: The Phantom Limb Phenomenon D.B. Price and N.J. Twombly Southern Folklore Quarterly 43: 335-38, 1979
Review: An Interim Checklist of Chapbooks Containing Traditional Play Texts M.J. Preston et al. Southern Folklore Quarterly 41: 286-88, 1977
MSS in Preparation
The Street Life of Phnom Penh (book plus video)
Text and Context: How to Read the Bible Like an Anthropologist.
Being Argentino, Becoming Porteño: Radically Reflexive Ethnography.