Introduction to American Folklore

1
Introduction to American Folklore

• Folk Groups

2
What is folklore?

• Folklore is the aesthetic property of individuals
  in groups

3
What kinds of groups have folklore?

• Groups who share a greater amount of information
  are said to be close groups, or high context
  groups.
• Highly stratified groups whose members share only
  the most general information are termed low
  context groups.

4
How can we recognize who is a member of a
particular group? What clues do members give
one another?
5
Groups share common traits

• Before the 20th century group participation was
  often identifiable through clothing, location,
  religious affiliation, and occupation
• Assumptions about modern American culture are
  harder to justify since we can recognize that
  Americans experiment with culture, foodways, and
  dress, and that the outward symbols of a small
  sub-culture doesn't make a person a member.

6
Groups provide the context of meaning for
folklore.

• The meaning includes both a connotative and
  denotative component.
• The group also provides the context of response.
  Ah!, Ha!, Pooh!, and Yeach!

7
Traditional Aesthetics

• Bilateral symmetry
• The number three saturating an event
• Economy of expression
• Lack of emotion in presentation
• Stereotyped actions and expressions
• Exaggerated size or movement for effect

8
Assumptions of this class

• People act rationally, or according to their own
  perceptions of actions "best" for them, even if
  we as researchers cannot completely understand
  them.
• Cultural activity involves choice and is always a
  range of behavioral possibilities. No activity
  that is cultural is completely proscribed.
• Groups make use of non-traditional materials in
  traditional ways. Custom and style are important
  ingredients of modern American folklore.
• Not all activities people do in groups are folk.
  We can abstract three levels from the continuum
  of source of design and context of meaning.

9
Continuum of Source