FSU English professor wins prestigious Chicago Folklore Prize for Boxing Day monograph
Seventeen years ago, Professor of English Jerrilyn McGregory traveled to the Bahamas to observe the traditional Junkanoo Parade on Boxing Day. She was particularly taken by the expressive style of drumming she heard performed throughout the day. Later, McGregory asked one of her students to describe Boxing Day, to which the student replied, 鈥渋t鈥檚 one grand noise.鈥
That phrase inspired a new line of research, and today, 鈥淥ne Grand Noise鈥 is now the title of McGregory鈥檚 comprehensive monograph chronicling the origins and modern evolution of Boxing Day. The book also won McGregory the prestigious 2022 Chicago Folklore Prize in October, which is presented by the American Folklore Society to the author of the best book-length work of folklore scholarship for the year. The award, first presented in 1904, is the oldest international award recognizing excellence in folklore scholarship.
鈥淲inning the Chicago Prize caused me to feel validated, not just by my peers, but by a higher power,鈥 McGregory said. 鈥淗owever, in conjunction with winning this prize, I received confirmation of what I call 鈥榮erendipity comprised evidence of living a mystical life,鈥 which deepened my own spirituality. As an ethnographer, you can only be in the right place at the right time so often before this propensity appears to be divine.鈥
Most people know Boxing Day as a British holiday celebrated annually on Dec. 26 with holiday traditions similar to Black Friday in the U.S. However, Boxing Day arguably holds its greatest significance in the Anglicized Caribbean world, or ACW, which encompasses the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, St. Croix and St. Kitts. ACW Boxing Day traditions vary from region to region, but they usually involve parades and gatherings where people wear ornate traditional festival clothing, dance and create music.
鈥淭his publication constitutes the first comprehensive monograph about Boxing Day from its inception into the 21st century,鈥 McGregory said. 鈥淢any consider globalization to be a process of homogenization or Americanization by which the world becomes increasingly uniform, but this study speaks to transnational cultural flows among Caribbean isles.鈥
鈥淥ne Grand Noise鈥 chronicles ACW Boxing Day festival and performative events that have been under-documented and places them in historical context. McGregory鈥檚 book centers itself around investigating and exploring what celebrating traditions rooted in past colonization mean to people living in formerly colonized, now independent, places.
McGregory begins by linking Boxing Day to Pharaoh Akhenaton鈥檚 reign from 1351-1334 B.C. when he originated the belief in one God. Much later, during the Crusades, McGregory connects Boxing Day鈥檚 origins as being a homonym of the Middle East鈥檚 tipping custom, Baksheesh. Boxing Day developed as the occasion when Britain鈥檚 employees distributed gratuities to their service workers until the Victorian Era.
In these contexts, McGregory says that the irony should not be lost regarding Boxing Day marking the beginning of Carnival season in the ACW, centering Christmas Day as Boxing Day Eve. Carnival celebrations typically occur in February and March, and the tradition began in the ACW well before the end of slavery in the region.
鈥淥riginally, [enslaved people] utilized Carnival as a cloaking device or a venting mechanism to rebel,鈥 McGregory said. 鈥淣ow, on Boxing Day the Bahamas鈥 Junkanoos, Belize鈥檚 Charikanari, Bermuda鈥檚 Gombey Dancers, St. Croix鈥檚 Christmas Festival Jump Ups, and St. Kitt鈥檚 J鈥檕uvert use these time-honored fetes as a ritual to keep the collective spirit of resistance alive.鈥
鈥淥ne Grand Noise鈥 marks the 15th publication of McGregory鈥檚 career, which has spanned nearly 30 years at FSU. She came to the university in 1993 after earning her doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and was drawn by FSU鈥檚 location. FSU is close to Wiregrass Country, which encompasses most of southwest Georgia bordering the Florida Panhandle, and the region holds deep cultural significance for spiritual activism among African Americans.
According to chair and Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Gary Taylor, McGregory has been an essential part of the department for decades, forming the core of African American studies alongside Lawton and Distinguished Research Professor Maxine Montgomery, and her mentorship has been integral to the increasing diversity of both the department鈥檚 offerings and its student body. McGregory has also anchored the department鈥檚 approach to literature from the perspective of folklore, in what until recently was called the 鈥淟iterature, Culture, and Folklore鈥 program.
鈥淎s her new book demonstrates, that approach, from the perspective of oral storytelling, created an interdisciplinary understanding not only of modern African American culture but of its links to African and Caribbean culture,鈥 Taylor said. 鈥淭hat is particularly important in Florida, which in many ways is a Caribbean as well as a North American state.鈥
Next up for McGregory is a book she presently has in progress aiming to document African American names from 1619 to the present, provisionally titled 鈥淎areck to Zsaneka: African American Nominals, Un/naming, and Aesthetic Justice.鈥
For more information about the Chicago Folklore Prize, its history and previous recipients, visit the .