FOLKLORE
SCHOOLS or ORIENTATIONS (understanding field basic to all scholarly work)
From
Barre Toelken, The Dynamics of Folklore: Revised and Expanded Edition. Logan:
Utah State University Press, 1996.
Ø
woven
object (like a “textile”)
Ø
culturally
constructed final product of folk performance
Ø
Usually
grouped into genres & scrutinized for content, structure, interrelationships
with other texts
Ø
“What
is the item like and how does it function?”
EXAMPLES (major categories)
·
WORDS:
ballad, tale, proverb
·
PHYSICAL
MATERIAL: quilt, barn, chimney
·
MUSIC:
fiddle tune
·
PYSICAL
MOVEMENTS: dance, gesture
·
THOUGH
& BEHAVIOR (culture-based): popular belief, custom
Ø
Focused
on GROUP of people (folk) that produces lore and provides live cultural matrix
of text
Ø
TEXT is
artifact of importance, but dynamics of group are key
Ø
“How
does a particular culture express itself and its shared values in shared
traditional ways?”
GROUP
DYNAMICS STUDIED
·
How it
function
·
How it
perpetuates itself
·
What its
coordinates for reality & logic are
·
What its
systems (subgroups, clans, status levels, moieties, kinship patterns) may be
·
How all
these functional societal realities are expressed in vernacular forms
Ø
Individual
performer or creator of traditional artifacts is viewed operating in and for an
audience made up of the group of people at the performance event
Ø
“Who is
expressing what for whom – and when, how and why?”
FUNCTIONAL
Ø
Explanation
of how and why certain kinds of folklore continue to operate in any given
instance
Ø
Seeks to
account for folklore’s survival
Ø
Studies
particular instances and applications of traditional expression and behavior
Focus on
·
Why
certain elements come into being
·
Why we
continue to pass on certain folklore elements/forms
Ø
Addresses
details of immediate surroundings in which folklore takes place and out of which
folklore may grow
Ø
Often
involves psychological considerations
·
Psychosocial,
psychological, personal, biological drives and constraints felt by an individual
as a tradition is practiced
o
Freud and
Jung
Ø
Immediate
physical context in which text is produced
·
People
present
·
Weather
·
Occupational
situation
·
Any other
setting that may induce or modify traditional behaviors or performances
Ø
Geographical
factors (region may exert influence on tradition)
Ø
Historical
context (humanity’s experience may occasion the development or dismemberment
of folk tradition)
·
Social
·
Political
·
Economic
CONTEXTUAL
PERSPECTIVE demanded of all folklorists today
Folk
Aesthetics:
concern with aesthetic ideas of folk performers & their communities (new)
Like
folklore itself, folk studies is dynamic (not static)
“All folklore participates in a distinctive, dynamic
process. Constant change, variation within a tradition, whether intentional or
inadvertent, is viewed here simply as a central fact of existence for folklore,
and rather than presenting it in opposed terms of conscious artistic
manipulation vs. forgetfulness, I accept it as a defining feature that grows out
of context, performance, attitude, cultural tastes, and the like.” (Toelken,
p. 7)