Faunalore journal article
Love, Loss and Blue Ribbons: An Ethnographic Study of 4-H Animal Projects in Rural Community Fairs
Abstract
An ethnographic study of 4-H animal projects at county and community fairs in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Ohio (fieldwork 2020–2021), examining how raising and showing animals teaches children foodways, material culture, and community values — and how the bonds children form with their animals shape the experience of parting with them.
This work is the flagship of the faunalore thesis: animals studied as cultural subjects — how the practice of raising and showing an animal carries meaning between people and across generations.
The essay won the 2022 W. W. Newell Prize from the American Folklore Society’s Children’s Folklore Section, awarded for the best essay in children’s folklore by a student or emerging scholar.
Citation
Lochetto, Stephen M. 2023. “Love, Loss and Blue Ribbons: An Ethnographic Study of 4-H Animal Projects in Rural Community Fairs.” Children's Folklore Review 41 (1). https://doi.org/10.14434/cfr.2023.vol41.36167.