Living Folklore

This text provides an introduction to the study of folklore. Now that I know the basics, I definitely want to follow Dr. Tidline’s recommendation and read Barre Toelken’s Dynamics of Folklore. According to Sims and Stephens, “Folklore is a way of understanding people and the wide-ranging creative ways we express who we are and what we value and believe” (xi). Immediately, the authors establish that folklore includes “verbal (oral and written texts), customary (behaviors, rituals), or material (physical objects)” communication (2). They discredit the popular notion that folklore is untrue or old-fashioned. The authors’ assertion that studying folklore is a way of investigating “how we communicate and make meaning” seems to relate to Ong’s discussion about the ways orality and literacy shape identity and the way people think about the world.

 

Sims, Martha C., and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005. xi-29.