Teaching with Monsters: From Whimsy to Shadow
A Call for Submissions | Vol. 13 (2026) | Guest Editors: Camille Maria Acosta and Sheila Bock
Publication Scheduled for Fall 2026. Sign up here for updates.
All Inquiries may be sent to info@jfepublications.org.
Full Articles due April 1, 2026 to our submission portal.
Keywords: art, communication, community, cryptids, culture, disability, diversity, education, folklore, identity, legendary creatures, literature, mental health, monsters, monstrosity, narrative, otherness, pedagogy, perspective, social impact, survival
The 2026 Journal of Folklore and Education seeks submissions that recognize monsters, cryptids, and the legendary beings of our family stories and community narratives as powerful communicative tools in the classroom and beyond. The exploration of monstrosity can serve as a medium that helps us to talk about topics that can be difficult to address in other ways. Bringing together the perspectives and experiences of educators who take monsters seriously as “meaning-making machines” (Judith Halberstam, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters, Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), the aim of this special issue is to share insights into how individuals and communities use legendary creatures as opportunities for playfulness and creativity, as well as to grapple with cultural fears and anxieties surrounding, among other subjects, gender, sexuality, race, the environment, technology, and the body. We also seek to shed light on monstrosity as a mode of empowerment, particularly for marginalized groups. Considering the role that monsters play in informal modes of education within a diverse range of communities, this issue will provide models for thinking about how educators both inside and outside the classroom might engage with these expressions of folklife in their pedagogy.
We seek submissions that present case studies, programs, lesson plans, teaching modules, and research based in education through monster and legendary creature exploration. Examples might include:
- Stories and/or examples of diverse teaching approaches in classroom settings and beyond, in which monsters, cryptids, and legendary creatures serve as an educational tool
- Lesson plans and/or curricula that involve education through monsters, cryptids, or their related creatures–from the whimsical to the terrible
- Interdisciplinary approaches to monstrosity as a communicative tool to explore complex information through education, such as diverse art forms, narratives, movies, TV shows, podcasts, memes, TikToks, and other media
We want submissions from educators, artists, folklorists, monster theorists, monster researchers, and monster enthusiasts alike.
Our audiences include:
- Educators in diverse settings across subject areas
- K-12 teachers and educators working in higher education
- Community educators working in a range of contexts, including but not limited to libraries, youth groups, arts councils, museums, and media
- Students and community members who view monsters as a gateway for the exploration of complex topics
Questions you might consider to inspire a submission include:
- How do educators (both academic and community-centered) engage with the concepts of “monstrosity” and “monsterization” in their work, and to what ends?
- How do the meanings associated with specific monsters, cryptids, or legendary beings change across time and space? To what extent do the meanings stay consistent? How do educators make sense of this continuity and change in their work? Examples might include La Llorona, Pokémon, Loup-garou in Louisiana, cryptids like Mothman in West Virginia, or the Jackalope in the Western region, and so forth.
- How do explorations of monsters provide vibrant opportunities for students to learn about complex subjects, including (but certainly not limited to) history, race, gender, sexuality, mental health, disability, neurodiversity, the environment, technology, and the body?
- Why do we (both teachers and students) find monsters appealing? Why do people joke about dating monsters and being friends with monsters?
- How have certain monsters become symbols for marginalized groups?
- How do educators use monsters and monstrosity as entry points into potentially difficult topics and conversations?
- How do monsters make conversations about mental health and mental health resources accessible to marginalized communities, serving as educational tools for those who may not have access to more formal forms of education?
- How does pedagogical engagement with monsters, cryptids, and other legendary creatures deepen communication for individuals and/or communities both inside and outside the classroom?
- How can the methodological and theoretical tools of folklore studies help educators engage productively with monsters and monstrosity in their pedagogy?
- What specific assignments and activities do educators use to encourage reflection on what monsters, cryptids, and other legendary creatures can help us learn about ourselves (fears, anxieties, coping strategies, etc.)? How do educators assess student learning for these assignments and activities?
- What challenges do educators face in taking monsters seriously?
About the Guest Editors
Camille Maria Acosta is a folklorist and monster enthusiast originally from the border town of El Paso, Texas. She pursued Performance Studies with a BA in Theatre from El Paso Community College and Western Kentucky University before completing her MA in Folk Studies from the same institution. Within this program, she delved into the beauty of Latinx horror through the lens of La Llorona, and how monsters are mirrors guiding us toward our own brilliance, our own truth. Upon graduating in 2021, she pursued folklore and cultural studies work with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress as well as the New Mexico Arts Folk Arts Program, culminating in the YouTube documentary La Llorona: Picante pero Sabroso. Her work has been featured in several publications including De Los: Los Angeles Times, HipLATINA, Borderlore, and the two-part Tubi documentary series Scariest Monsters in America and Scariest Monsters in the World. In 2023, Acosta launched her podcast Floaties for Krakens, diving into the world of the other and exploring how being monstrous is synonymous with a powerful resilience. Today, she is fulfilling the position of Folklife Specialist under the Kentucky Folklife Program.
Sheila Bock is a folklorist and professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Addressing a diverse range of topics, her scholarship employs narrative and performance approaches to examine how individuals and communities position themselves, and are positioned by others, within contested domains of experience. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters and the book Claiming Space: Performing the Personal Through Decorated Mortarboards (University Press of Colorado, 2023). She is an award-winning teacher, and conversations in her undergraduate seminar “Monsters and Monstrosity” helped inspire the theme of this special issue. She trained in Folklore at The Ohio State University, where she received her PhD from the Department of English.
We are grateful for our 2026 Advisory Committee for their input on this special issue:
Bernadette Marie Calafell, University of Oregon
Norma Cantú, Trinity University
Michael Dylan Foster, University of California, Davis
Rachel González-Martin, University of Texas at Austin
Rosemary Hathaway, West Virginia University (Emeritus)
Rhonda Jackson Garcia (Joseph), Lone Star College
Andrea Kitta, East Carolina University
Lynne McNeill, Utah State University
Domino Renee Perez, University of Texas at Austin
David Puglia, CUNY
Emily Zarka, Arizona State University
More About Submissions: We seek submissions of articles, model projects, multimedia products, teaching applications, and student work accompanied by critical writing that connects to the larger frameworks of this theme. We particularly welcome submissions inclusive of perspectives and voices from underrepresented communities. Co-authored articles that include teachers, students, administrators, artists, or community members offer opportunities for multiple points of view on an educational program or a curriculum. We publish articles that share best practices, offer specific guides or plans for implementing folklore in education, and articulate theoretical and critical frameworks. We invite educators to share shorter pieces for “Notes from the Field.” Nonconventional formats are also welcomed, such as lesson plans, worksheets, classroom exercises, and media submissions, including short video and audio clips. When considering a submission, we highly recommend reviewing previous issues of JFE. We encourage authors to contact the editors to learn more and explore whether their concept might be a good fit.
Research-based writing that theorizes, evaluates, or assesses programs that use folklore in education tools and practice are also welcomed. These research articles may intersect with the theme, but all submissions with a research component will be considered. We expect that, regardless of the format, all projects presented in submissions will have appropriate institutional permissions for public dissemination before submission to JFE, including approval from Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and/or data licensing for the acquisition of existing data, as may be required. See the protocol for publishing a study used by ArtsEdSearch for guidance.
Format: Articles should be 1,500-4,500 words, submitted as a Word document. We use a modified Chicago style (not APA) and parenthetical citations. All URL links hyperlinked in the document should also be referenced, in order, at the end of the article in a URL list for offline readers. Images should have a dpi of at least 300. Be in touch with the editors to discuss submission and media ideas and to learn formatting, technical specifications, and citation style.
The Journal of Folklore and Education (ISSN 2573-2072) is a publication of Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education.