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| folklore | |
|---|---|
| Name | Folklore |
| Caption | Traditional tale performance |
| Region | Worldwide |
| Cultural origin | Various |
| Subject | Traditional expressive culture |
folklore Folklore is the body of traditional expressive culture transmitted within communities through oral, customary, and performative means. It encompasses narratives, music, ritual, belief, and material practices that circulate among peoples and persist across generations. Scholars and institutions study its forms, functions, and variations in contexts ranging from rural villages to urban diasporas.
Folklore includes oral narratives, songs, proverbs, custom, craft, and belief as practiced among communities such as the Romani people, Sámi people, Haida people, Yoruba people, and Navajo Nation. Definitions advanced by figures at institutions like the British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Folklore Society (London), and universities such as University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University often emphasize transmission, variation, and communal authorship. Key works by scholars associated with Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Indiana University, and the University of California, Berkeley helped delimit scope through collections, fieldnotes, and comparative catalogs. Debates in journals like those of the American Folklore Society and Finnish Literature Society address whether items such as festival customs recorded at events like the Notting Hill Carnival or craft practices in the Czech Republic fall within the remit of the field.
The study emerged in the nineteenth century alongside nationalism and institutions such as the Royal Society and collectors like Jacob Grimm and Alexander Afanasyev. Comparative projects linked local traditions with texts published by presses including the Cambridge University Press and the Oxford University Press. Colonial encounters produced archives in locations like the British Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France while scholars at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the Royal Anthropological Institute codified material. Twentieth-century theorists working at University College London, Columbia University, and the University of Helsinki—responding to movements such as Romanticism, Scientific Revolution, and Communist Party of the Soviet Union policy—shaped methods of collection and interpretation. Postcolonial scholars in institutions across South Africa, India, and Brazil revised earlier paradigms.
Major genres include the oral tale exemplified by collections like those of Grimm brothers, the heroic epic preserved in performances such as those of the Serbo-Croatian gusle tradition, and lyric forms recorded in archives at the Library of Congress. Ritual sequences observed in ceremonies like the Day of the Dead celebrations and practices at pilgrimage sites such as Vatican City illustrate ritual genres. Material culture appears in craft traditions from regions like Kashmir and Andalusia while belief forms include magic practices documented in studies of communities in Haiti, Sicily, and Okinawa. Performance genres range from street theater in Buenos Aires to masked dances in Bali and storytelling salons in Paris.
Traditional expressive culture plays roles in identity formation among groups such as the Scottish Highlands community, the Basque Country, and the Inuit populations. It mediates social memory in commemorations like the Armistice Day observances and serves legitimizing functions for institutions including monarchies in Thailand and civic ceremonies in Tokyo. Folktales, proverbs, and songs operate as pedagogic tools in family contexts across diasporas from Lebanon to Philippines, and ritual performance can regulate social relations in villages in Ghana and barrios in Mexico City.
Transmission occurs via interpersonal networks exemplified by elder storytellers in Sierra Leone, itinerant musicians in Istanbul, and urban popularizers in New York City. Performance contexts span household hearths, market squares like those in Marrakesh, national theaters in Moscow, and broadcast media such as public radio in Beijing. Institutions like the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage lists and museums in Vienna influence modes of preservation and presentation, while festivals such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe mediate contemporary reception.
Methods include ethnographic fieldwork practiced by researchers at institutions like University of Chicago, archival work in repositories such as the National Archives (UK), and comparative analysis found in monographs from Princeton University Press. Theoretical approaches derive from figures associated with Claude Lévi-Strauss at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, structuralism linked to Vladimir Propp's work in Moscow State University, performance theory developed by scholars connected to University of California, Berkeley, and praxis-oriented studies influenced by activists linked to Amnesty International and community organizations. Digital humanities projects at MIT and Stanford University employ computational tools for corpus analysis.
Regional traditions vary widely: oral epics in the Horn of Africa contrast with shamanic chant in Mongolia; ritual masquerade in Nigeria differs from carnival forms in Trinidad and Tobago; housebuilding traditions in Norway vary from pottery techniques in Peru. National archives in Japan, Russia, Germany, and Canada preserve distinctive repertoires, while diasporic networks link Caribbean communities in London to Pacific Islanders in Auckland. Cross-cultural exchanges occur along routes such as the Silk Road and through institutions like the International Council of Museums.