Living Folklore, 2nd Edition

An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions

Martha Sims, Martine Stephens

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780874218459
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Soziologie

Living Folklore is a comprehensive, straightforward introduction to folklore as it is lived, shared and practiced in contemporary settings. Drawing on examples from diverse American groups and experiences, this text gives the student a strong foundation—from the field's history and major terms to theories and interpretive approaches. Living Folklore moves beyond genres and classifications, and encourages students who are new to the field to see the study of folklore as a unique approach to understanding people, communities, and day-to-day artistic communication.

This revised edition incorporates new examples, research, and theory along with added discussion of digital and online folklore.

CHAPTER 1

Folklore

We know you have heard it before: “It's just folklore.” We hear it when news-casters are announcing the report of a popular home remedy that does not really cure people (and may actually harm them). We hear it—or might even say it—when a friend is telling a story about the haunted house on the winding street in our neighborhood. People often call something “folklore” to dismiss the validity of the subject they have been discussing.

To some people, the term folklore commonly suggests something untrue, not real—just a story or an old-fashioned belief. But that is a misconception. Some people come to folklore study expecting to learn only about quaint cultures from the past or contemporary cultures of those who are less educated, less fortunate, and less sophisticated than they are—primitive or simpler groups. That, too, is a misconception.

In the following sections we will clear up misconceptions about folklore by considering what folklore is and isn't. We will also look at genres and important concepts of text and context and offer a short history of the study of folklore as a foundation for our own exploration.

What is Folklore?

A Working Definition

Folklore is many things, and it's almost impossible to define succinctly. It's both what folklorists study and the name of the discipline they work within. Yes, folklore is folk songs and legends. It's also quilts, Boy Scout badges, high school marching band initiations, jokes, online avatars, chain letters, nicknames, holiday food, and many other things you might or might not expect. Folklore exists in cities, suburbs, and rural villages; in families, work groups, and residents of college dormitories. Folklore is present in many kinds of informal communication, whether verbal (oral and written texts), customary (behaviors and rituals), or material (physical objects). It exists in the physical world and in virtual settings online. It involves values, traditions, and ways of thinking and behaving. It's about art. It's about people and the way people learn. It helps us learn who we are and how to derive meaning from the world around us.

As we explore some attempts to define the field of folklore, we want to ask you to expand your concept of folklore or at least to let go of any preconceived ideas of what folklore means. One of the most useful ways we have found to clarify these distinctions is to talk about what folklore is not.

Folklore is not necessarily untrue or old fashioned. Have you ever eaten pan de muerto on the Day of the Dead? Sent an email chain letter to everyone in your address book? Carried a special object or worn a particular article of clothing to bring you luck? Made a wish before blowing out candles on your birthday cake? These are all examples of folklore. Some have been around for many generations; some are relatively new. Some are meaningful to large groups of people; some are relevant only to a few people. First, whether or not these examples are true isn't relevant. In what way could a loaf of sweet bread be true? And it doesn't have to be true that special clothing will help someone win a race for a track star to wear the same socks to every meet. Second, these examples are not possessed or performed only by simple, primitive people, nor are they quaint or old fashioned. The fact that you recognize the above examples—or know other similar examples—illustrates that folklore is not simply the historical behaviors of other cultures; folklore is alive, developing, and changing in our lifetimes. Every one of us experiences and shares folklore.

Folklorists avoid the use of terminology such as “true,” “primitive,” or “simple” when they talk about folklore. These terms imply that folklore is fake or exists only in old-fashioned, nonliterate cultures. For example, some people might see quilts made by hand rather than by machine as simple, or they might consider paintings and sculptures by poor, rural, unschooled artists as primitive, but these labels assume a hierarchical value related to formal education systems. When we don't evaluate it by outside standards, we can see that this kind of art is simply the creation of artists who have ideas and values they wish to express within (or about) their own group or community. Folklorists go into the field in contemporary societies to observe, record, and write about people and what we do, what we believe, and how we communicate right now—the culture of our lives.

Folklore is not just another form of anthropology or literary study. The study of folklore touches on every dimension of human experience and artistic expression. It has grown out of the study of literature, has roots in anthropology, and contains elements of psychology and sociology. In many ways, it is the study of culture—visual and performing arts, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, literature, linguistics, and history rolled into one. The discipline of folklore has evolved into a way of thinking about how people learn, share knowledge, and form their identity. Studying folklore is a way of learning about people, of thinking about how we communicate and make meaning. It is different from its related disciplines in its approach and focus. As Richard Dorson explains, folklorists

are concerned with the study of traditional culture, or the unofficial culture, or the folk culture, as opposed to the elite culture, not for the sake of proving a thesis but to learn about the mass of [humanity] overlooked by the conventional disciplines. Historians write histories of the elite, the successful, the visible; literary scholars study elitist writings; and the critics of the arts confine their attention to the fine arts. Anthropologists venture far off the beaten track, and sociologists look at people statistically. (1976, 117)

While the field borrows, both theoretically and in practice, from the disciplines of history, literary study, anthropology, and sociology, folklorists use a different lens. Folklore differs from these fields in the way in which it looks at everyday, unofficial, expressive communication. Folklorists study how members of a group communicate creatively with each other, as well as what—and to whom—they communicate.

Folklore is not high art or part of official culture. “High” or “elite” art or culture is part of the formally acknowledged canon that we learn about in institutions such as schools, churches, or state organizations. A composition by Mozart, for instance, and a painting by Picasso are clearly part of high culture. Students study the work of Mozart and Picasso in school and are usually taught about these works by experts or professionals; likewise, professionally trained artists perform Mozart in concert halls, and Picasso's works hang in major museums around the world. The term folklore refers to the knowledge we have about our world and ourselves that we don't learn in school or textbooks—we learn folklore from each other. It's the informally learned, unofficial knowledge we share with our peers, families, and other groups we belong to.

Folklore is not popular culture. But popular culture shares a few more features with folklore than elite culture does: it is usually not considered part of the canon of works or ideas taught formally in schools or other institutions, and it often appeals to groups of people who sometimes become linked through that artistic expression. However, popular culture includes many items that are in high demand, usually by large groups of people and usually for a fairly short, definable period of time. Pop culture is usually created or produced in large quantities for large audiences and is usually shared or transmitted through mass media such as television, radio, magazines, and the Internet. This category would include a television show that dominates people's conversations and captures intense interest as long as it is running but loses relevance over time once it is no longer broadcast. Other examples include the pet rock and mood ring fads of the 1970s or the poodle skirt and bobby sox fashions of the 1950s, which resurface now and then in nostalgic styles but rarely, if ever, attract the same level of original interest.

But is it—or isn't it? Unfortunately for those of us trying to come up with clear definitions, the lines between high, pop, and folk can be very blurry. Suppose, for instance, that a group of Mozart fanatics travel around the country together to view every performance of The Magic Flute they can find. Their love of the opera and the related rituals and behaviors they participate in are part of their group's tradition, part of what makes them a group. In that sense, the high art of opera is part of this group's folklore. Suppose a rural fiddler went to a performance of The Magic Flute, incorporated a few measures of the score into a variation of an Appalachian tune, and then shared the tune with his fellow fiddlers at a weekly jam session at his friend's barn. Although he's a member of a folk group that plays music shared in a traditional way, part of a canonized high art composition has now been folded into his group's own traditions. As for pop culture, the distinctions can be even less clear. While the television show Glee is not itself a folk performance, what about a weekly Glee-viewing party where friends gather to watch the new episodes?

Or consider Elvis Presley, a pop culture figure from the 1950s through the 1970s whose music, appearance, and image have been incorporated into everything from movies to paintings to wedding chapels. So many Elvis impersonators exist that they themselves could be considered a folk group. Stories exist about Elvis sightings across the world, rumors persist that he did not die in 1977, and contemporary legends about things Elvis said and did (or continues to do, if you believe he is still with us) continue to circulate. People have reported seeing Elvis pumping gas at a local 7-11, buying pastries in a London sweet shop, even posing as a Mafia boss in Los Angeles. Some mysterious events associated with Elvis have been reported—his face has appeared on a tortilla (subsequently put up for sale on eBay); his voice has been recorded in the background of an audiotape made long after his death. In what category, then, should we place Elvis and all the types of expression that surround him?

The main distinguishing difference between folklore and other types of cultural expression is in what we do with the stuff—how we learn about it and hear about it, and how (or whether) we incorporate it into our daily experience and lives. The differences are also clear in how we pass around different kinds of objects, verbal expressions, and behaviors with other people. As we've said, we learn official, elite ideas in school, church, or other official organized settings. We usually learn about pop culture through less formal means, such as television and entertainment websites. But we learn folklore informally through our interactions with other people. Elite art and culture are intended to reach, usually, those who are officially and formally educated or trained within official, formal settings. Pop culture and art are for everybody, whether connected to each other in any special way or not. Folklore reaches groups of people who share personal connections, values, traditions, beliefs—and other forms of lore—that in part define them as a group.

So is Elvis folklore? As a recording artist in the 1960s, probably not. But as a gas station employee in a contemporary legend or as a face on a tortilla, yes, he is.

Children's games offer another example of how we might sort out the differences. In the last decade or so, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! games and collectibles have been popular among elementary school children, especially boys. Children learn about these games through the media—cartoons, commercials, books, and ads all feature the characters from the games. They are meant to be enjoyed by almost any child, and because of the way these items are created and distributed, they themselves (and the general craze or fad they generate) are part of popular culture. But—suppose several fourth graders at a particular elementary school play the games every day at recess, in the same corner of the playground. They share the common experience of playing the games together. As a group, they may share stories, styles of play, nicknames, and so on, which are related to the pop phenomenon but are also personalized and localized by their interactions. Their daily game play becomes part of their identity as a group. It becomes how other people recognize them, as well as how they recognize themselves: they are “the kids at Gables Elementary School who play Yu-Gi-Oh! in the corner of the parking lot every day at recess.” Again, the game figures themselves may not be folklore, but the process of daily interaction that has made the game play a feature of this group's tradition and identity is folklore.

Folklore is informally learned and unofficial, part of everyday experience. This type of unofficial learning is essential to folklore but is often difficult to pin down in definite terms. Because folklore is expressive communication within a particular group, it is taught informally, through one's presence within that group. Therefore, the unofficial education of a young woman learning to quilt might involve her attending a gathering of more experienced women quilters, watching what they are doing, and being instructed in the art through that experience. She might even go online to read blogs from quilters, post comments or questions about techniques, or share photos of her own work in progress. She probably won't sit down with a book on quilting techniques and become a quilter just by reading about it, without any interaction with other quilters. Similarly, an artist may have taught himself to paint or carve. Perhaps as a child he whittled to create toys and as he grew older used that skill along with a love for nature and animals to create figurines of animals native to his home; and perhaps he worked with other carvers in his community to learn about different techniques. In any case, folklore comes to us through our experiences with others around us.

Folklorists often use the term vernacular to refer to the particular localized language, objects, and practices of groups within specific contexts; this term and concept can help us see the differences between what is considered official and formal and what is considered unofficial and informal. Vernacular is a more general term than folklore in that it can refer to anything that is locally or regionally defined, produced, or expressed. For example, most of us in the United States are familiar with the many carbonated soft drinks available in the supermarket. In some parts of the country, people may refer to these drinks as “soda” and in others, “pop” or “soda pop.” In some regions of the South, people refer to all soft drinks as “coke,” using the brand name of one kind of soft drink to refer to the whole category. Objects and practices, as well as verbal expressions, may be vernacular. Architectural styles may vary in different geographic areas, for example. In coastal areas of the United States, houses on or near the beach may be built on elevated platforms or stilts, without underground foundations, to suit the climate and shifting nature of the soil. Local materials may also influence building decisions: in regions where clay is plentiful and bricks can be easily manufactured, many houses may be built of brick. Where people live sometimes affects what they say, do, and make.

Like folklore, vernacular materials, behaviors, and expressions are created by and for people in everyday, local contexts, as opposed to those materials, behaviors, and expressions created by governments, schools, or other institutions. The term vernacular can distinguish between the things we do as part of society and the informal things that are still part of that formal structure. A group of people may celebrate Arbor Day, for example, by performing the officially designated ritual of planting trees. But in conjunction with this act, a particular neighborhood group may hold a community tree festival in which children decorate trees with colorful handmade crafts and residents congregate under trees for picnics. The day itself is designated as a special holiday to honor and care for trees, but these residents have added their own spin to the day by creating community traditions and rituals that express their local interpretation of the official holiday. Vernacular beliefs and practices exist alongside mainstream or sanctioned beliefs or practices, not as lesser or deviant variants (particular local, vernacular, or individual versions) but as added or connected concepts.

Not everything that is vernacular is folklore, but all folklore is vernacular. Regional labels for objects or local variations in building styles in and of themselves are vernacular; but when they are considered in terms of how and when people use the names or change building styles, or how and why people express, teach, or share those vernacular concepts with others, they become items of folklore study.

Folklore has artistic, creative, or expressive dimensions. Although we have said folklore occurs in everyday settings, the process of creating and sharing folklore is by nature set off from the ordinary. People recognize it as different from ordinary conversation, for example, when in the middle of a discussion about the ten-page essay due for English class next week, someone starts to tell a story she heard about a particular professor who drops papers from the top of his staircase and assigns grades based on where they fall: papers closer to the top of the stairs get As and Bs, those in the middle get Cs, and those at the bottom, Fs. The rest of the group will most likely react with laughter, surprise, or varying degrees of belief or disbelief. The group may return to the conversation or may keep swapping stories about professors or other campus characters. For a few minutes, the sharing of the nuts-and-bolts information about the assignment has been interrupted by something more entertaining and creative.

Sometimes, the artistic, creative part of folklore is obvious, consciously highlighted, even arranged. A singer may sit in front of an assembled group and sing ballads, share songs with another performer one-on-one, or perform a song as part of another event. The artistic components may also be more subtly presented or be less apparent because they are inherent within the item of folklore itself. All folklore, though, is expressive; it conveys ideas, values, and traditions creatively even when it is not overtly artistic. A carved wooden spoon, even if it is plain and simple, can be a folk object if it is made with certain materials or with certain special techniques that are specific to a particular group. These artistic, creative expressions invite others to evaluate them in terms of what we might call artistic or creative quality and also in terms of their skillfulness and appropriateness for the setting. (In the “Aesthetics” section of the Performance chapter, we'll present a more detailed discussion of these ideas.)

So, while we first want to acknowledge that folklore is difficult to define, we offer the following working definition:

Folklore is informally learned, unofficial knowledge about the world, our-selves, our communities, our beliefs, our cultures, and our traditions that is expressed creatively through words, music, customs, actions, behaviors, and materials. It is also the interactive, dynamic process of creating, communicating, and performing as we share that knowledge with other people.

Scholarly Definitions of Folklore

Scholars have defined folklore both according to its components and according to theories that help us understand how it works. We'll take a look at some of these scholarly definitions and analyze how they clarify and extend our working understanding of folklore.

Among those who have focused on the items that folklorists study are Alan Dundes and Mary Hufford. Dundes provides a lengthy list that, while impressive, is not exhaustive (as Dundes himself acknowledges):

Folklore includes myths, legends, folktales, jokes, proverbs, riddles, chants, charms, blessings, curses, oaths, insults, retorts, taunts, teases, toasts, tongue-twisters, and greeting and leave-taking formulas (e.g., See you later, alligator). It also inc...