Folklore Concepts: Histories and Critiques

261 Pages·2020·2.613 MB·English

by  Dan Ben-Amos, Henry Glassie, Elliott Oring

FOLKLORE CONCEPTS

F OL K L OR E
C ONC E P T S
Histories and Critiques
Dan Ben-Amos
Edited by
Henry Glassie and Elliott Oring
Indiana University Press
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ISBN 978-0-253-04955-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-253-04956-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-05244-5 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 25 24 23 22 21 20
In memory of Roger David Abrahams (1933–2017),
a folklorist, a folk singer, and a friend.

CONTENTS
The Project / Henry Glassie ix
The Contours of the Book / Elliott Oring xv
Preface / Dan Ben-Amos xix
1 The Idea of Folklore: An Essay 1
2 The Encounter with Native Americans and
the Emergence of Folklore 8
3 Toward a Definition of Folklore in Context 23
4 Analytical Categories and Ethnic Genres 40
5 The Seven Strands of Tradition: Varieties in
Its Meaning in American Folklore Studies 64
6 A History of Folklore Studies—Why Do We Need It? 99
7 The Concept of Motif in Folklore 110
8 Context in Context 140
9 Two Benin Storytellers 155
10 Induced Natural Context in Context 165
11 The Name Is the Thing 175
12 A Definition of Folklore: A Personal Narrative 203
Index 225

THE PROJECT
Henry Glassie
On Friday, June 2, 2017, Roger Abrahams gave me a call. After Roger
moved to California in 2013, we often enjoyed lengthy chats on the
phone; our constant topics were the fortunes of the Philadelphia Phillies, the
development of folklore scholarship, and the cultural richness of the black
Atlantic. This time, Roger was excited by a recent article by our friend and
colleague from the old days at Penn, Dan Ben-Amos. The paper inspired
Roger to imagine editing a volume of Dan’s theoretical writings. We had fre-
quently talked about the need for such a volume of Roger’s own writings, and
had even sketched together the outline of an autobiographical introduction,
but the task proved too much for him. Too big, too personal, it would launch
him into a nightmarish whirl of endless revisions and explanations. Roger
thought he could manage it for Dan, though, and he wondered if some press
would be interested.
On the following Monday, I met with Gary Dunham, the director of the
Indiana University Press. A man with a degree in anthropology, a firm friend
of folklore, Gary said he would be interested in a volume of Dan’s essays
edited by Roger. He knew their work, admired them both. I called Roger with
the news, and he was delighted. The next day, I was off to do fieldwork among
the talented potters of North Carolina. When I returned, Roger was dead; he
left on June 20, 2017. In passing, Roger had placed an obligation on me, an
obligation both intellectual and emotional, to bring this last project to com-
pletion. To get it done, I brought into partnership my old friend Elliott Oring,
who shares my commitment to folklore scholarship and my affection for Dan
Ben-Amos.
Dan Ben-Amos gave our discipline its most generally accepted definition
of folklore: artistic communication in small groups. That definition, offered
without fanfare to undergraduates in introductory classes today, was star-
tlingly fresh in the 1970s, and it served to propel the discipline forward when
Dan Ben-Amos was among the leaders who were bringing into pragmatic
adjustment the new directions set in the sixties.
ix