Brazilian Folk Narrative Scholarship (RLE Folklore)

A Critical Survey and Selective Annotated Bibliography

Mary MacGregor-Villarreal

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138842434
• eBook ISBN: 9781317552086
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Although Brazilian scholars have collected and studied folklore since the second half of the nineteenth century, their work has gone largely unnoticed by folklorists working in other parts of the world. With the exception of anthropologists who occasionally study the folk literature of indigenous peoples in Brazil, few foreigners are familiar with, or even aware of, the kinds of folklore studies that have been undertaken in that country. This work, first published in 1994, aims to characterize the nature of Brazilian narrative studies and trends; to discuss and assess the roots of the apparent preoccupations, approaches and objectives of traditional narrative scholarship in Brazil; to examine Brazilian folklore scholarship in light of Euro-American research; and to point out the results and accomplishments of Brazilian research while simultaneously indicating possibilities for new directions in research.

CHAPTER 1

Contemporary Folk Narrative Scholarship

At least three organizational schemes are possible for characterizing and assessing the concerns and objectives, approaches and methods, and conceptual foundations that have dominated or been utilized in folk narrative scholarship in Brazil. First, the study of folk narrative could be surveyed chronologically, isolating various important scholars and/or major contributions since the mid-nineteenth century and indicating trends during the periods defined. This particular format is the basis of several surveys or histories of Latin American and/or Brazilian folkloristics.¹ While it has the advantage of allowing the investigator to point out various achievements at similar points in time, it also has some limitations. First, although several kinds of studies and research are often being undertaken simultaneously at any given point in time and during any “period,” there is an inclination to isolate and discuss only one, thereby slighting or even ignoring others. Another tendency, that of dividing the development of folkloristics into distinct periods, erroneously suggests that certain preoccupations, approaches, and conceptual frameworks were prevalent only during those specified times, when, in fact, adherence to various models and schemes has continued since their inception in varying degrees by many folklorists. Finally, chronologically arranged histories sometimes tend to be simply bibliographic essays of “outstanding” publications, usually chosen either arbitrarily by the author or selectively on the basis of the author’s own theoretical predilections and biases that often are not stated.

The various conceptual models that have been employed worldwide throughout folkloristics provide a second possible organizing principle for characterizing folk narrative scholarship in Brazil. Such a format would allow the investigator to devote equivalent amounts of time and space to the various conceptual frameworks of narrative study without slighting any particular one. Furthermore, it would facilitate eventual critical evaluation of the scholarship. However, this approach would impose certain expectations on the database and would tend to obscure any trends that are inherent in the Brazilian data themselves. By following a predetermined format the investigator tends to discover what he sets out to find. Furthermore, it seems premature to assume at the outset that research models developed for European and North American material are necessarily applicable to the study of traditional narrative in Brazil. Only after the Brazilian data have been examined independently should comparisons be made with research conducted worldwide.

A third possible means of organization would focus on the issues and problems which are apparent in contemporary Brazilian folk narrative research and investigations. The possible roots of such concerns and approaches, as well as indications of reasons for their continuing popularity among scholars, would be sought in a review of previous scholarship. Although, as mentioned earlier, any one of these three organizing principles could be used, it is this last one that has been chosen here for characterizing and assessing folk narrative scholarship in Brazil. While chronologically arranged studies of Brazilian folkloristics, including narrative research and publications, do exist, there is no similar kind of study focusing on the conceptual problems and issues addressed by Brazilian folklorists and on the precedents for these in previous scholarship.²

A definition of “contemporary” is prerequisite to any characterization of contemporary folk narrative scholarship. For the purposes of this study, the literature published from the 1950s to the present is considered “contemporary.” Although this period has been chosen somewhat arbitrarily, it seems appropriate to characterize it as contemporary on the grounds that folklore studies have expanded and that resources and support for research have increased in Brazil since the late 1940s and the early 1950s, apparently due to changing attitudes toward the field. The founding in December, 1947, of the Comissão Nacional de Folclore, the first national organization devoted to the study of folklore, marks the beginning of coordinated efforts to promote folklore research. Since that time journals and series publications dedicated solely to folklore have been initiated. In addition, a variety of other activities and events, such as research contests and national folklore weeks, has been sponsored by this and other more recently created government institutions and agencies.³ These kinds of support have proven critical in expanding and increasing the popularity and productivity of Brazilian folklore studies in general, including folk narrative scholarship.

In order to characterize and discuss apparent issues and problems prevalent in contemporary folk narrative scholarship, it is necessary to survey the kinds of research undertaken from 1950 to the present. Discernment of repetitions and consistencies in that body of literature provides insight into the motivation for research and enables one to infer the existence of certain objectives and concerns current among Brazilian folklorists. An examination of the books, articles, and other data on folk narrative of the period reveals some repeated features which can be separated into four major groupings. The delineation of these categories is not meant to imply that they are mutually exclusive or that any one particular piece of literature might be characteristic of only one. (Overlapping is possible when a work has more than one goal or objective.) Furthermore, it should be remembered that this scheme was derived from the discernment of repeated patterns or features in the material and subsequently was imposed on that literature. Other investigators might conceive of other schemes or models by which to classify and organize the same data.

The first category consists of articles and books prepared primarily to address the theoretical and conceptual problems that arise in the study of folk narrative. Included with these are many materials which are concerned with those general issues and problems in Brazilian folkloristics which are also relevant to the study of folk narrative in particular. Although these data are numerous, they do not comprise the major portion of the total folk narrative literature. Their importance lies in the guidelines they set for other research.⁴ Writings concerning data-gathering procedures and methodological questions about obtaining and analyzing data constitute the second group of literature relevant to folk narrative. Such materials are relatively common and, like those of the first category, are notable for their influence on subsequent research.⁵ Collectanea and descriptive materials comprise the bulk of the narrative literature and form the third category. Included in this are characterizations of the contents of narratives, as well as narrative texts collected in Brazil.⁶ The final group, which also constitutes a sizeable portion of the data, consists of comparative studies and other kinds of analyses of folk narrative. These kinds of materials deal with various aspects of narratives, not simply their exposition or description, and may reveal adherence to any number of different approaches to the study of narrative. Comparative textual analyses, focusing on the possible origins of narratives and/or their distribution and change or variation through time and space, seem to be the most prevalent. However, a limited number of socio-cultural and psychological studies is also encountered.⁷ The bulk of Brazilian folk narrative scholarship seems to be descriptive and/or comparative in nature, falling into the last two categories.

Theoretical and Conceptual Problems

A survey of the theoretically or conceptually-oriented literature reveals a great deal about the conceptions of folk narrative prevalent among Brazilian investigators. Two conceptual problems fundamental to folk narrative research are confronted at one time or another by every folklorist investigating the subject: (1) the definition of folk, i.e., who or what kinds of people should be studied or chosen as informants, and (2) the essential characteristics of folk narrative, i.e., what criteria should be employed to determine whether or not the phenomenon in question is appropriate for study as “folk narrative.” The two problems are naturally interrelated; and the resolution of the question “Who are the folk?” influences, at least in part, the definition, as well as the study, of folk narrative.

A knowledge of the manner in which these two issues are handled is essential to an understanding of the kinds of narrative research undertaken in contemporary Brazilian folkloristics. Any investigator’s conception of the nature of “folk” is fundamental to his/her research and is a major influence in defining and delimiting the database. The way in which most Brazilians apparently characterize “folk” not only determines the extent of the database, but also the kinds of data to be obtained. Simultaneously, the answer to the question “Who are the folk?” reveals certain assumptions held about the nature of folklore in general and folk narrative in particular and provides insight into the conceptual foundations upon which research is conducted. Furthermore, it serves to shape the goals and methods of folk narrative studies by determining the kinds of questions that are asked of the data. In view of this, it is important to characterize the way in which many contemporary Brazilian folklorists and others working with Brazilian material apparently conceptualize “folk.”

Although total agreement on this issue does not exist, a consensus of opinion among Brazilian researchers does seem to prevail. A review of the folklore literature from 1950 to the present suggests that Brazilians tend to characterize “folk” as members of the lower strata of society, or those who are economically and socially disadvantaged. More specifically, they commonly include the illiterate or poorly educated, unsophisticated, and poverty-stricken Brazilians who are considered by the researchers to be “backward” or “traditional” by “modern” standards. Most frequently these are rural peoples or residents of small towns of the interior of the country, relatively isolated from the large coastal and industrial cities. The urban poor, especially those who have recently migrated from the interior, are also considered “folk” by most Brazilian folklorists. Notably absent from this characterization are the middle and upper class individuals of urban society and the indigenous populations of the interior. Thus, the notion of a highly stratified society in which some individuals are considered different from—and, implicitly at least, superior or inferior to—others on the basis of their financial, educational, and social status deems to underlie most discussions of “folk.”

This conception of the nature of “folk” is inferable from the many books, monographs, and articles published by Brazilians. In discussing conceptual and methodological problems in folklore research, some investigators actually provide a characterization of folk which is similar to the one given above, or suggest it in their descriptions of folklore. For example, in the Manual de Coleta Folclórica, Renato Almeida indicates that folklore should be collected from the peasants in rural areas. He reinforces this with comments suggesting the rural or rustic nature of folklore:

Claro que, no interior, é à proporção que os centros se distanciam da civilização e do progresso, cresce a intensidade folclórica.

(“Of course, in the interior, it is in proportion to the area’s distance from civilization and progress that the intensity of folklore increases.”)⁸

Furthermore, many Brazilian folklorists make a linguistic distinction between a gente do povo, or the “common people,” and as pessoas eruditas, or “educated,” “sophisticated” persons.⁹ Evidently, dependence on such notions to help identify the folk is not limited to those who utilize those characterizations explicitly. The areas in which fieldwork is usually conducted—i.e., small towns in the interior—and the kinds of individuals frequently chosen as informants—i.e., the poorly educated and the financially disadvantaged—provide further evidence that many Brazilians do, indeed, distinguish between the folk and the rest of society on the basis of social, economic, and ed...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Series Editor’s Preface
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Contemporary Folk Narrative Scholarship
• Chapter 2 Folk Narrative Scholarship prior to 1950
• Chapter 3 Brazilian Research in the Context of Euro-American Folk Narrative Scholarship
• Chapter 4 Conclusion: Brazilian Accomplishments in Folk Narrative Scholarship
• Appendix A: Reading Guide
• Appendix B: Sample Narrative Texts
• Annotated Bibliography