About Nancy Yan

Nancy Yan received her PhD in folklore from The Ohio State University and taught First Year Writing, Comparative Studies, and Asian American studies for several years before returning to organizing work.

NBN Episodes hosted by Nancy:

Tom Mould, "Overthrowing the Queen: Telling Stories of Welfare in America" (Indiana UP, 2020)

August 20, 2021

Overthrowing the Queen

Tom Mould
Hosted by Nancy Yan

It is a familiar story: A recipient of public assistance funds is caught buying expensive steaks, seafood, or other luxury foods with food stamps at t…

Jeanne Pitre Soileau, "Yo' Mama, Mary Mack, and Boudreaux and Thibodeaux: Louisiana Children's Folklore and Play" (UP of Mississippi, 2016)

July 6, 2021

Yo' Mama, Mary Mack, and Boudreaux and Thibodeaux

Jeanne Pitre Soileau
Hosted by Nancy Yan

Children’s folklore is simultaneously a conservator of tradition and a site for creativity and innovation. For over five decades, Dr. Jeanne Pitre So…

Margaret Magat, "Balut: Fertilized Eggs and the Making of Culinary Capital in the Filipino Diaspora" (Bloomsbury, 2019)

May 26, 2021

Balut

Margaret Magat
Hosted by Nancy Yan

Balut is a fertilized chicken or duck egg that is boiled at the seventeenth day and sold as a common street snack in the Philippines. While it is wid…

Rachelle Hope Saltzman, "Pussy Hats, Politics, and Public Protest" (UP of Mississippi, 2020)

January 25, 2021

Pussy Hats, Politics, and Public Protest

Rachelle Hope Saltzman
Hosted by Nancy Yan

On January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, hundreds of cities in the U.S. and across the globe organized Women’s Mar…

D. T. Lawrence and E. J. Lawless, "When They Blew the Levee: Race, Politics, and Community in Pinhook, Missouri" (UP of Mississippi, 2018)

December 4, 2020

When They Blew the Levee

David Todd Lawrence and Elaine J. Lawless
Hosted by Nancy Yan

The town of Pinhook in Missouri was founded in the 1940s by southern Black farmers who were looking for land that they could purchase and own in the f…

Rachel V. González, "Quinceañera Style: Social Belonging and Latinx Consumer Identities" (U Texas Press, 2019)

September 18, 2020

Quinceañera Style

Rachel Valentina González
Hosted by Nancy Yan

A quinceañera is a traditional fifteenth birthday celebration for young women (though in contemporary times, it can also be for young men) in many Lat…