William R Bascom - Frontiers Of Folklore

First published 1977 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge

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Copyright 1977 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

Frontiers of folklore.

(AAAS selected symposium; 5)

Includes index.

1. Folk-lore--Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Bascom,
William Russell, 1912 II. Series: American Association
for the Advancement of Science. AAAS selected symposium; 5.

GR40.F76 398 77-12784

ISBN 0-89158-432-3

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-02089-7 (hbk)

Frontiers of Folklore explores some of the avenues of research that are exciting young folklorists today. In the introduction, William Bascom reviews briefly the development of folklore theories and suggests three frontiers of folklore that remain to he explored. Alan Bundes asks the question? Who are the folk? Pointing out that folklore exists in urban centers, Professor Bundes finds the concept of the folk as rural peasants inadequate; he proposes that folk be defined as any group of people who share at least one common factor. Ban Ben-Amos examines the context of folklore: often in the past folklorists have been content with general statements about the settings in which myths and folktales are told, but today specific questions are being asked about specific narratives. Professor Ben-Amos notes also that folklorists today recognize that folktales are not simply told, but rather are performed by the narrator and his or her audience. Harold Scheub examines how performers use images and patterns to evoke emotions in their audiences, and he discusses the performances of three South African Xhosa epics (lasting 100, 130, and ZOO hours, respectively). In quite a different vein, Roger B. Abrahams studies enactments--the intensive events set apart from daily life. He groups these events into four categories: play, games, and sports; performances (including the telling of myths); rituals; and festivities. Richard Bauman concludes with an overview of the frontiers of folklore .

-- William R. Bascom

-- Alan Dundes

-- Dan Ben-Amos

-- Harold Saheub

-- Roger D. Abrahams

-- Richard Bauman