Sheila Bock, an  Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas studied folklore at The Ohio State University.

 "I earned my MA (Comparative Studies) and PhD (English with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Folklore Studies), and UC Berkeley, where I earned my BA (Anthropology). The majority of my work employs narrative and performance approaches to examine vernacular responses to stigma. Additional research interests include the contested domains of illness experience, foodways, material sites of personal expression, the intersections between folklore and popular culture, and the multivocality of ethnographic research. My work has appeared in the Journal of American Folklore; Journal of Folklore Research; Western Folklore; Journal of Folklore and Education; Western Journal of Black Studies; Journal of Medical Humanities; Health, Culture, and Society; Patient Experience; Diagnosing Folklore: Perspectives on Health, Trauma, and Disability; The Stigmatized Vernacular: Where Reflexivity Meets Untellability; and Comfort Food: Meanings and Memories.

Folklorists have much to contribute to the public conversations taking place in our current political climate, though their perspectives remain relatively absent. As a member of the AFS Executive Board, I would work toward enhancing the visibility of our field, making the value of our disciplinary perspectives and insights legible to those outside our field and to the public more broadly. Relatedly, I would help facilitate the Society’s ongoing work to support and to actively participate in advocacy efforts that are so necessary in these troubled times.

It is also important for the Society to continue taking concrete steps to recruit, support, and retain members that represent diverse backgrounds and experiences. Attending to issues of diversity–not only in the work we do, but also in how we explicitly envision and enact our scholarly/professional community–is crucial for enriching the intellectual community the Society seeks to foster".

Bock helps us to interpret Brett Kavanaugh’s proverbial discourse.

For further details, see her 2014 article in Western Folklore: