The Social Base of Folklore

Folkloric memory: (Re)connecting the dots for broader perspectives

“…The irony lies in the antithetical appearance of the term folk-lore 2 coined by W. J. Thoms in 1846 as a deliberate contrast to the term “industrialism” introduced by Carlyle in 1830 to describe the emerging social order (Bauman, 1983). In sum, the concept of folklore took shape as Western thinkers began to contrast tradition with modernity, and as modernity itself grew older, the socio-temporal location of folklore shifted (Noyes, 2012: 15).…”

“… 3. When contextualized within its historical framework, this collection can be seen as an example of memory activism as it aims to reconstruct a posited cultural community of the past with a view to its future realization (Noyes, 2012) by resisting the assimilative power of the French Revolution and the impact of Napoleonic invasions through reminding Germans of their collective consciousness, identity, and culture. Therefore, the collection was an integral part of a political program and social movement led by the German philosopher J.G.…”

Community Belonging in Local Character Anecdotes

“…Yet many continue to imagine the "folk" as the salt of the earth, unaffected by mobility or outside influences. Folklorists participate in these fictions when we privilege the expressive culture of densely networked groups, where class, ethnicity, family, and geographic identities are stacked and convergent rather than variable and contingent (Noyes 2014(Noyes , 2016; see also Gupta and Ferguson 1997).…”

Pragmatists of Mythological Text in Belarusian Folklore Tradition of the Early 2000s.

“…Ключавыя словы: міфалагічны тэкст, прагматыка, беларускі фальклор С учасная еўрапейска-амерыканская фалькларыстыка, рэалізуючы антрапацэнтрычны падыход (Sawin, Zumwalt, 2020;Šved, Poǔh, 2020), асаблівую ўвагу звяртае на сацыяльна-гістарычныя кантэксты і камунікатыўныя вымярэнні фальклорнага тэксту (які як пэўны тып выказвання існуе ў рэжыме індывідуальнай рэцэпцыі) (Bauman, 1972;Noyes, 2012;Bronner, 2016;Shved, 2019;Šved, 2020а), на комплекс пэўных сацыяльных і ідэалагічных роўняў яго ўспрымання (пачынаючы ад першаснай аўдыторыі тэксту і заканчваючы яго збіральнікамі і апісальнікамі, якія ў вялікай ступені канструююць у розных тэрмінах прадмет сваёй навуковай дзейнасці) -гл. Bogdanov, 2001;Šved, 2020).…”