A Companion to Folklore

by Regina F. Bendix (Editor), Galit Hasan-Rokem (Editor)

Overview

A Companion to Folklore contains an original and comprehensive set of essays from international experts in the field of folklore studies. This state-of-the-art collection uniquely displays the vitality of folklore research across the globe. The Companion covers four main areas: the first section engages with the practices and theoretical approaches developed to understand the phenomena of folklore; the second discusses the distinctive shapes that folklore studies have taken in different locations in time and space; the third examines the interaction of folklore with various media, as well as folklore’s commoditization. In the final section on practice, essays offer insights into how folklorists work, what they do, and ways in which they have institutionalized their field.

Throughout, contributors investigate the interplay of folklore and folkloristics in both academic and political arenas; they evaluate key issues in the folk life of communities from around the world, including China, post-communist Russia, post-colonial India, South America, Israel and Japan. The result is a unique reflection and understanding of the profoundly different research histories and current perspectives on international research in the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118863145
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	08/25/2014
Series:	Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	688
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Regina F. Bendix is Professor of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology at Georg-August-University in Göttingen, Germany.

Galit Hasan-Rokem is Max and Margarethe Grunwald Professor of Folklore, and Professor of Hebrew Literature at the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

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Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors viii

Introduction 1
Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem

Part I Concepts and Phenomena 7

Introduction: Concepts and Phenomena 9
Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem

1 The Social Base of Folklore 13
Dorothy Noyes

2 Tradition Without End 40
Francisco Vaz da Silva

3 The Poetics of Folklore 55
Amy Shuman and Galit Hasan-Rokem

4 Three Aspects of Oral Textuality 75
Peter Seitel

5 Performance 94
Richard Bauman

6 Myth-Ritual-Symbol 119
Hagar Salamon and Harvey E. Goldberg

7 Religious Practice 136
Sabina Magliocco

8 Work and Professions 154
Gertraud Koch

9 Material Culture 169
Orvar Löfgren

Part II Location 185

Introduction: Location 187
Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem

10 Translingual Folklore and Folklorics in China 190
Lydia H. Liu

11 Japan 211
Akiko Mori

12 India 234
Sadhana Naithani

13 Oceania 248
Phillip H. McArthur

14 Folklore and Folklore Studies in Latin America 265
Fernando Fischman

15 Folklore Studies in the United States 286
Lee Haring and Regina F. Bendix

16 Dancing Around Folklore: Constructing a National Culture in Turkey 305
Arzu Öztürkmen

17 Folklore Studies In Israel 325
Dani Schrire and Galit Hasan-Rokem

18 Fulani (Peul, Fulfulde, Pulaar) Literature 349
Ursula Baumgardt

19 From Volkskunde to the “Field of Many Names”: Folklore Studies in German-Speaking Europe Since 1945 364
Regina F. Bendix

20 Finland 391
Lauri Harvilahti

21 Ireland 409
Diarmuid Ó Giolláin

22 Russia 426
Alexander Panchenko

Part III Reflection 443

Introduction: Reflection 445
Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem

23 Folklore and Literature 447
Cristina Bacchilega

24 Folklore and/in Music 464
Stephen D. Winick

25 Folklore and/on Film 483
Pauline Greenhill

26 Cultural Heritage 500
Valdimar T. Hafstein

27 Cultural Property 520
Martin Skrydstrup

28 Folklore: Legal and Constitutional Power 537
Alison Dundes Renteln

Part IV Practice 555

Introduction: Practice
Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem 557

29 Seeing, Hearing, Feeling, Writing: Approaches and Methods from the Perspective of Ethnological Analysis of the Present 559
Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber

30 Imagining Public Folklore 579
Debora Kodish

31 The Institutionalization of Folklore 598
Bjarne Rogan

Index 631

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book presents challenging and inspiring essays about a field that is often misconceived as the harbor of tradition. The volume succeeds in representing folklore as a vital component of human existence and folkloristics as an indispensable discipline within the humanities.”
-  Prof. Dr. Ulrich Marzolph, Enzyklopädie des Märchens, Göttingen

“Magisterial, engaging, smart, and always thought-provoking, A Companion to Folklore both reflects and will help shape the broad and increasingly interdisciplinary ambit - and promise - of the field.”
- Don Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz

"This comprehensive companion to folklore represents the best recent work and an exciting vision of what folklore can offer other disciplines."
- Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett, New York University

"Magisterial in its scope at bursting at every seam with information, Bendix and Hasan-Rokem's Companion to Folklore will spark a rich transnational conversation regarding future directions for folkloristics."
- Charles L. Briggs, co-author of Voices of Modernity

Editorial Reviews

"Covering information across time periods and continents, this truly is a multicultural and multidisciplinary approach to folklore studies." (American Reference Books Annual, 1 November 2015)

“This 660-page anthology is important, containing thirty-six essays by thirty-three scholars, who represent different countries and approaches to the study of folklore.” (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1 March 2014)

“A Companion to Folkloreis nothing if not international, and this quality alone distinguishes it from most earlier reference works and makes it an important resource for the field.” (Western Folklore, 1 May 2013

From the Publisher