Welcome to the page of Daisy Ahlstone (they/them)

My research focuses on ecology, emergence, and folklore through a post-human lens, drawing on environmental folklorists, ethnoecologists, media studies, cognitive science, Indigenous ontologies, and community-engaged research methodologies. I have published research on topics ranging from thylacine and extinction legend cycles, systems theory and Anthropocene folklore, and intergenerational conflict online. I collaborate on several folklore and community-centered projects including the Western States Folklore Society (http://www.westernfolklore.org/), and am the director of a YouTube and Twitch streaming channel called Folkwise, which brings the discipline of folklore to community-engaged digital platforms (https://www.twitch.tv/folkwise).

My dissertation explores the question “what holds us together?” through a lens of folklore and environmental humanities as the definition of “us” expands to include the complex entanglement of our communities and our environments. Each chapter covers this question at a different scale: communally, philosophically, and disciplinarily (folklore + mycology), ending with how we fall apart, together. I see this as an opportunity for folklorists to decompose the categories that no longer serve our collective togetherness and folkloric inquiry.

Feel free to send me an email about my work, professional studies, or folklore! CV available via my website.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2023. “Gaming Extinction: Representations of the Thylacine in Video Games.” Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger, edited by Gareth Linnard and Branden Holmes, 176-179. CSIRO Publishing.

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2023. “Narrating Perseverance: An Overview of Thylacines in Fiction.” Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger, edited by Gareth Linnard and Branden Holmes, 175. CSIRO Publishing.

Tartaglia, Dominick, and Kaitlyn Kinney, Christine J. Widmayer, Anna Morel, Daisy Ahlstone, Jared L. Schmidt. 2022. “Becoming Folkwise: Sustaining Digital Community while Socially Distant.” Cultural Analysis.

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2022. “Giving Life to Legends: Material Representation of Ostensive Behavior.” Western Folklore. 82(1): 3-59.

Sleight-Price, Camille, Daisy Ahlstone, and Michelle Jones. 2018. “Forbidden Foodways: Tide Pods, Ostensive Practice, and Intergenerational Conflict.” Contemporary Legend 3, no. 8: 86-112.

FORTHCOMING:

Ahlstone, Daisy and J. S. Jordan. 2024. “Wild Systems Theory and the Contextual Reality of Meaning: Folklore, Embodied Context, and Community” Journal of Folklore Research. Special Issue: Disturbed Traditions: Folklore in the Anthropocene.

BOOK REVIEWS:

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2022. “Posthuman Folklore” by Tok Thompson. Western Folklore 81, no. 1 (Winter): 75-78.

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2021. “Lifelong Learning and Dementia: A Posthumanist Perspective” by Quinn, Jocey, and Claudia Blandon. Disability Studies Quarterly 41, no. 1 (Winter).

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2019. “Culture and Value: Heritage, Tourism and Property” by Regina Bendix. Western Folklore 78, no. 4 (Fall): 357-359.

SELECTED MEDIA APPEARANCES:

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2023. “S2E1 Mark My Wizard (Research, Inclusivity, & Collaboration)” Interviewed by Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus. Digital Folklore Podcast, Apple Podcasts. 06 September 2023. Audio, 00:48:37.

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2021. “Episode 156 - Thylacines with Folklorist Daisy Ahlstone” Interviewed by Paul Romero and Ben Radford. Squaring the Strange, Apple Podcasts. 16 August 2021. Audio, 01:36:49.

Ahlstone, Daisy and Kerry Kaleba. 2021. “Cicada Brood X Mini Lecture with Kerry Kaleba and Daisy Ahlstone!” Virtual Lecture. Discusses the relationship between Brood X, Ecology, and Foodways. Folkwise, YouTube. 31 May 2021.

Ahlstone, Daisy. 2021. “Interview with… Daisy from Folkwise?” Interview by Dom Tartaglia. Discusses current dissertation research, environmental folklore, extinction, and thylacines. Twitch, Folkwise. 16 March 2021. Video, 01:03:20.

Find me on Social Media:

Substack: https://daisyahlstone.substack.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daisyahlstone/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzj72KhvvLfz1E3oI3Bmt9A?view_as=subscriber

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/folkwise