Search

This article examines Basque folktales about laminak (sirens) culled from compilations published between 1875 and 1931. If all goes well, sirens make gold and silver, grant wishes, and construct edifices for humans; human midwives deliver lamina babies. I argue that these tales can be seen as "auzolan" (neighborhood work), as possible remnants of an indigenous matriarchal religion, and/or acknowledgments of the important role Basque women have played in rural and ritual life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the relationship between the Devil and writing in oral tradition, expanding on Thomas Sebeok's observation that the repeated appearance of these two concepts together in folk narrative indicates that they are "related in meaning" in the thinking of informants. I suggest that this relationship reflects particular circumstances in the milieux of collection (nineteenth and early twentieth-century rural Europe), but also reflects essential qualities shared between the Devil and the written word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A joke from the Southwest Indian Ocean island of Mauritius points to the notion of presence. In folkore studies, presence is a "transcendental signified, something lying beyond structure or interpretation. Revered by authorities like Alan Dundes, Robert Plant Armstrong, and Kirin Narayan, it comes into question when viewed through the eyes of a Jacques Derrida or Jacques Lacan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a close reading of a description of witchcraft collected in southwestern France in the nineteenth century. Drawing on archival research into the informant and the folklorist it suggests that such a text, for all of its failings, still has much to teach historians about the situation of contact between the world of the folklorists and their predominantly rural informants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The materials collected from /Xam informants in the second half of the nineteenth century by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd have received attention from historians, anthropologists, rock art interpreters, and poets. Generic categories have been imported into /Xam studies in ways that are derivative and critically unreflexive. This article argues that the consequences have been far-reaching for the reading of the texts as well as for the ways that the materials have been positioned ontologically and in relation to history and period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that the tag "Pan legend" for ML 6070A/B is inappropriate and that a better tag might be "I must go," and that there is no structural difference between the "troll" and "cat" versions. The type is one of those that might be called "home invasion" legends, in which a supernatural being lives secretly in the human community but is expelled; the other relevant types relate to changelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine the social and economic position of the beggar/wandering indigent in late nineteenth century Denmark (post constitution), and I explore reasons for the ubiquity of these stories in the repertoires of Jutlandic storytellers. These stories point to an ongoing negotiation among tradition participants of their views concerning the social status of the poor. Interestingly, not all beggars are created equal in these stories, and the legends often point to an elaborate folk taxonomy of the different "classes" of wandering indigents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the proverbs current in the United States have their origin in classical times, the Bible, and the Middle Ages. As such, they were translated into many languages over the centuries, making up a common stock of proverbial wisdom in large parts of the world. But new proverbs were also coined in the United States with some, of them having only a regional distribution while others belong to the basic set of commonly known American proverbs with a national dissemination. With the important political and cultural role of the United Slates and its version of the English language in the world today, both sets of proverbs, the international and national texts, have now a significant global influence. With English being the lingua franca of the modern age, Anglo-American proverbs are being disseminated throughout the world in English or as loan translations. In fact, English-language proverbs are now playing the role that Latin proverbs did in former times. In addition, the new American proverbs with their worldview of a democratic and future-oriented society also have a considerable influence on the sociopolitical discourse on the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparative approach that Donald Ward used in his scholarship grew out of comparative philology and has been used in folklore studies for 200 years. Using the concepts of tale type and motif, it permits an investigator to group similar items together and to be very specific about points of similarity and difference. Twelve advantages of the comparative approach are listed along with examples of each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life and early works of author and poet Américo Paredes. He was born on September 3, 1915 in Brownsville, Texas to Justo and Clotilde Manazano-Vidal Paredes. In his hometown, he enjoyed listening to legends, ballads and tales of the border folk. At 40, he wrote a dissertation which drew on the memories of his youth, that later became the basis of his famous book "With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero." Some of his poems were presented.

The article focuses on the gender shifts in contemporary legend. The contemporary legend seems gender neutral while their are also other legends who is demonstrating various shift of gender like those involving sexual activity. Contemporary legends provides a glance of a wider range of attitudes and assumptions within the culture. The gender shift is depending on the gender of the protagonist.

Discusses the structural distinctions between myth and folktale. Determination of genre-specific structural patterns; Impact of the society where the myth or the folktale is told; Assumption of disbelief required to define the folktale genre; Understanding of the absolute impossibility of folktale events in any context.

Presents the author's reflections on the theoretical and methodological moments that have shaped the author's understandings as a folklorist. Author's situation of her Irish homecoming within the framework of major theoretical developments in ethnography; Need for contemporary folklorists to go back to the hearth in understanding the precise nature of the relationships between the significant theoretical and methodological moves of the 1970s and the perspectives of the 1980s and 1990s.

Focuses on humor and folklore in American Indian literature. Task of contemporary Native American writers to tell the stories of contemporary survivors while protecting and celebrating the cores of culture left in the wake of the catastrophe; Overview on folk culture as an unrestricted alternative to official forms of belief.

Explores the extent of African influence on Afro-American culture through the analyses of several folktales. William Bascom's series of articles called `African Folktales in the New World'; Two basic episodes in `Dogs Rescue Master from Tree Refuge'; Examples of folk tales containing both episodes; Variations on the motivation of the tales; Reasons for hero to climb tree.

Discusses folklorists' approach to worldviews in folk narrative study. Nature of the narrative study; Expanding the narrative repertoire; nature of worldview; Folklorists' interpretation of worldview.

Discusses the evolution of the study of folklore since the 1960s. The impact of technological innovations; New audiences; Comparists and regionalists; Alternative strategies.

Discusses the extratextual contents of the Native American Zuni story the Pelt Kid and the South Slavic story Tale of Orasac. Meaning by implication and indirection in the stories; Plot of the story `Pelt Kid and his Grandmother'; Pelt Kid's meeting with the girls; Plot of the `Tale of Orasac'; Central paradox of the character's epic existence.

Presents a contextualist approach to the nationalization and internalization of folklore by analyzing the work of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Relevance of folklore to national and international discourse; Development of contextualist perspectives; Comparative studies of folk literature.

Explores the development of the study of folklore in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Folklore theory and social change; Public folklore; American Folklore Society; Contemporary folklorists.

Traces the history of the study of folklore and its development over the years. Performance theory; The changing role of history; Politics of diverse cultures in the discipline of folklore.