Folklore QUESTIONS

Chapter 5: Brunvand's definition of a proverb

"A proverb is a popular saying in a relatively fixed form that is, or has been, in oral circulation"

Chapter 1: Brunvand's definition of folklore

"Generally speaking, then, folklore may be defined as those materials in culture that circulate traditionally among members of any group in different versions, whether in oral form or by means of customary example, as well as the processes of traditional performance and communication." - Brunvand " Artistic communication in small groups" - Dan Ben-Amos

**Chapter 8&9: Brunvand's definition of Myth

"Traditional prose narratives, which, in the society in which they are told, are considered to be truthful accounts of what happened in the remote past" MYTH -Considered true Considered true -Takes place in the remote past, and an earlier world -Considered sacred -Principle characters are generally non-human deities

Chapter 5: Define a true proverb and provide an example

-Always a complete sentence -slight variation in form -expresses some general truth or wisdom -Metaphorical descriptions of an act or event applied as a general truth. Example: "The grass is always greener on the other side"

Chapter 5: Define a proverbial phrase and provide an example

-Never complete sentences -Regularly vary in form as they are used -Seldom express any generalized wisdom -Nearly all are metaphorical -Meaning is usually clear even if image or origin of the phrase is unknown "He's in hot water now!"

Chapter 14: Superstitions in this chapter (examples)

-Objects that bring luck (charms, fetishes) -Ritual practices that bring luck or counter bad-luck -Encounters with the supernatural -Folk Cures -Unlucky situations or signs

Chapter 8&9: Define and provide examples - Supernatural Legends

-Supposedly factual accounts that seem to validate folk belief (201) -Includes Ghost stories, Memorates, Supernatural creatures Etc. Memorate- firsthand descriptions of personal experiences with the supernatural Example "I saw the tooth fairy" w details

Chapter 18: Define and give example of Games of Action

-These games usually involve physical activity and revolve around competitions of strength or skill between individuals or teams. -Sub-divided based on the principle action involved (hopping, chasing, hiding, etc.) Examples: Tag, hopscotch, red rover

Chapter 8&9: Brunvand's Definition of Folktales

-Understood as fiction -Takes place in "any time" or "any place" (possibly no time or place in particular) -Secular entertaining stories -Principal characters tend to include both humans and non-humans -The "folk's entertainment"

Chapter 1: 5 Qualities of Folklore

1) Folklore is Oral, Customary, and Material 2) it is traditional in form and transmission 3) it exists in different versions or in variants 4) it usually has an anonymous author 5) Folklore tends to be formularized.

Questions (Week 4): Be able to list at least two cultures/mythic traditions that tell stories of great floods (i.e. a deluge).

1) Hindu deluge myth - Manu (progenitor of human race) was washing his hands in a river when a fish swam into his hands asking him to protect him from the larger fish that want to eat him. The fish warns of a great flood and instructs Manu to build a boat. Manu puts him in a jar until the fish was large enough to survive on its own, to show his gratefulness the fish allows Manu to tie the boat to its horn for protection against the water and waves. Unbeknownst to Manu the fish was an avatar of Vishnu the god of preservation 2) Noah's Arc

Barker & Rice, "Folk Illusions: More than Child's Play": Barker & Rice's thesis that illusions are a part of people's folklore, which is to say that they are a part of people's everyday lives.

1) folk illusions play a role in our social and physiological development. 2) Our understandings of perception (including illusory perceptions) are acquired in communal contexts.

Questions (Week 5): Be familiar with Sutton-Smith's six forms of play discussed in lecture.

1. Mental or subjective play - daydreaming 2. Solitary play - solitaire 3. Informal social play - dance parties, pickup football 4. Performance play - bands performing in concert 5. Contests, games, and sports - 1 on 1 basketball, hot dog eating contests, etc. 6. Performance play and contest - formal athletic events

Chapter 7: Traditional spoken rhymes vs. Traditional written rhymes

???

Santino, "Thanksgiving: A Rare Holiday that isn't all about the Kids": If not the kids, who does Santino argue Thanksgiving is for?

Adults

Questions (Week 1): What is a folk group? What folk groups do you belong to?

Any two or more people with at least one thing in common Student at IU, age, gender, race, hobbies

Questions (Week 3): How do jokes insect with cultural notions of the taboo?

As a society we use humor to lighten the context of things that may make us uncomfortable to make them easier to talk about Examples: Michael jackson jokes about the child molestation accusations Dead baby jokes Children asking about genetalia

Questions (Week 6): What kind of evidence is most important for superstitions and beliefs?

Assumptions on the nature of cause and effect surrounding chance, magic, or the supernatural Positive evidence and reinforcement - if something positive happens, you're going to keep doing it

Questions (Week 2): What are the basic stages of language development?

Babbling→ making words → short phrases → form sentences → full grammar and linguistic capabilities

Brogan, "Memes are the New Jump-Rope Songs": http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/09/the_library_of_congress_web_cultur es_web_archive_is_collecting_memes_as.html

Be aware of the intersection of archival work and folklore on the Internet?

Santino, "Thanksgiving: A Rare Holiday that isn't all about the Kids": Why it is not completely accurate to credit Abraham Lincoln with the founding of the Thanksgiving holiday

Because Abraham Lincoln didn't start the holiday but a woman named Sarah Hale lobbied for Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln brought it the publicity it needed to become a known holiday

Chapter 8&9: Complications Surrounding the identification of what is scared in any given folk group (Native Americans pg. 172-174)

Because the themes and plots of American Indian narratives are often close enough to European folk stories to raise the possibility of borrowing cultural material.

Questions (Week 6): Be able to identify and explain core spiritual experiences.

Bereavement Visits: A visit from someone who has recently passed away Night Terrors: A paralyzed body that sees the presence of a ghost or alien. SOmetimes people are "taken" or they feel pain in these experiences Near Death Experiences: Experience where you almost die. Sometimes it's an out of body experience where you are looking down on yourself.

Roberts, "Tombstones in Scotland and Indiana": Why do trees make for an appropriate emblem and analogy in the contexts of life and death?

Branches symbolize children Vine represents line from new testament Evergreen fern at the base symbolizes immortality

Questions (Week 5): How is children's play developmental? Know examples.

Builds coordination, balance, social skills, rule-based learning. Examples = hopskotch

Shukla, "Special Clothing for Extraordinary Contexts": How is costume different from everyday dress?

Clothing is who we are vs. costume is who we are not Costume is who/what someone or something else is

Questions (Week 2): What is the difference between the descriptive and the prescriptive study of language traditions?

Descriptive- how you talk to your friends, informally Prescriptive- formula, what teachers teach you to say

Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, "Snow White": plot differences in Disney's Snow White (1937) and the folk version of Snow White that was first published by the Grimms (1812).

Differences -Snow white gets poisoned (old) 3 times (new)once -Dwarfs are (old) not characterized (new) are characterized

Chapter 18: How are the central questions surrounding diffusion and polygenesis important to the study of folk games?

Diffusion: when a game originates at one place and spreads to others Polygenesis: slightly different variations of the same games arise from different places

Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, "Snow White": why Disney made these changes

Disney made these differences to appeal to the damsel-in-distress persona that they started their marketing off of in its early stages.

Lornell, "Bred in the Bone": Lornell's distinction between folk-based music (such as Bob Dylan or Dave Matthews) and bred-in-the-bone folk musicians (such as Jean Ritchie or Santiago Jimenez, Jr.).

Folk based music is new music informed by predecessors Bred-in-the-bone music has certain traits that become culturally engrained

Chapter 1: How old is the study of folklore in the USA?

Established as a discipline in the 1880's (American Folklore Society established in 1888).

Questions (Week 1): Does everyone have folklore?

Everyone has some sort of lore that is passed down and performed

Chapter 8&9: Examples of a Legend

Example: The Vanishing Hitchhiker

Chapter 4: Secret Languages and Folk Groups (p.81)

Examples: Pig Latin, "boontling" developed in Southern California (Boonville), where children invented it - language of nonsensical words, and parents learned it to be able to communicate with their kids.

Chapter 1: Folk, Normative, and Elite Categories

Folk - Conservative and Traditional (fairytales, legends, and myths) Normative - Popular/mainstream culture (fantasy or romance novel) Elite - Published text (usually academic, institutionalized) (classic literature)

Chapter 4: Identify Examples of Folk Morphology

Folk Morphology is the study of words, their structure, function, and distribution- Example: It snew yesterday"•"I seen him"•"There are 3 mouses" (variations in word form)

Chapter 4: Identify Examples of Folk Syntax

Folk Syntax is the study of how phrases and sentences are structured- Example: ran the dog instead of the dog ran (Nonstandard word order)

Chapter 4: Define and provide examples of folk naming

Folk naming is an unofficial name for something Example: Hoosiers, "Lizzy" for Elizabeth, etc.

Questions (Week 1): Why do we say that folklore is performed?

Folklore takes oral form and is used for communication Cannot be recorded and lives only in its performance Performed at different time and has variants (Ex. Rock, paper, scissors)

Long, "Food and Folklore": General history of the study of food in folkloristics.

Food was not a main concern of study to begin with, but became part of mission statement for American Folklore society in 1888

Long, "Food and Folklore": importance of studying all aspects of foodways

Foodways: cultural, social, and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food; these things demonstrate important aspects of different culture's traditions

Glassie, "The Idea of Folk Art"

Glassie argues that all art operates on three levels: (1) the individual (2) the social/folk group (3) the universal. Be able to articulate his reasons for making this argument. The individual is the first level. The social/folk group represents those of all the individuals combined. The universal encompasses all of these.

Chapter 8&9: Examples of a Folktale

Godfather Death

Chapter 8&9: Examples of a Myth

How Maui Slowed the Sun

Chapter 14: Belief System Theory

Ideal Belief System •belief systems held by institutions (think religions or political parties for example)•Most ideal belief systems are not completely reproduced by anybody. Individual Belief System•We each have our own belief systems and everyone has contradictory beliefs within their belief systems. -Contrary beliefs become integrated into the system-The more lines of integration a belief has the more stable the belief will be.

Questions (Week 3): Why do we say that jokes often rely on "insider" knowledge?

If you do not have the "insider" knowledge to understand the context or underlying meaning of the joke then the joke will not make sense/not be funny

Chapter 8&9: Define and provide examples - Religious Legends

Includes Saints lives, Blessings and miracles, - The bible of the folk. Example: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Questions (Week 5): Can you describe and provide examples of a folk illusion?

Instances of play during which traditionalized verbal and kinesthetic actions are performed in order to create embodied illusions for one or more of the participants

Chapter 5: Folk sayings on pp 97-98 - 3 of those and examples

Insults, Rhetorics, Wisecracks ""you make a better door than you do a window" Euphemisms "theres a star in the east" (your fly is unzipped) Confucius say "girl in the stretch pants gets stern look"

Questions (Week 2): Why is distinct about Indiana as a dialect region?

It belongs to great lakes and midland dialect regions

Questions (Week 6): Why do so many Americans still believe in the supernatural?

It gives us an explanation for things that aren't scientifically proven

Chapter 8&9: Brunvand's definition of Legends

LEGEND -Believed to be true -Takes place in the recent (historical) and in a world recognizable as our own -Secular but can be considered sacred -Principal characters tend to be humans -The "folk's history"

Questions (Week 1): Why do we say that language is an instinct? Why do we say that writing is a technology?

Language is an instinct because it is what most people learn first and people do not always learn to write Every child is born into a cultural linguistic folk

Questions (Week 5): How might belief frames affect lifting illusions like Light as a Feather or Combine our Strengths?

Likely part of the reason the illusions work is the participants belief in the illusion and the steps taken being necessary for it to work properly

Chapter 8&9: Localization

Localization- "when texts become rooted and adapted to a particular place"(197) Example: The Bell Witch

Brogan, "Memes are the New Jump-Rope Songs": Example of meta-commentary on the Internet

Meta-commentary is part of the internet's lifeblood: a temporary brake on its ever-accelerating pace that encourages us to look back at the terrain we've just torn past. When we share such memes, we're laughing at ourselves, but we're also striving to make sense of where we've been and where we're going. In that sense, the internet isn't just a venue for the creation and circulation of folklore; it's also a proving ground of folklore studies, with or without the imprimatur of academic authority." Example: Distracted boyfriend meme, changing memes and what you interact with slightly on the internet

Questions (Week 4): Be able to identify examples of legends, tales, and myth from lectures.

Myths - stories of folk religion, scared stories often believed to be true Often explain meaning and nature of life (Noah's arc) Tales- folk fiction told for the sake of entertainment, eg cinderlla, red riding hood Legends - stories of folk history, often fantastic and believed to be true Bell Witch, Bloody Mary, Flashing lights at a car with no lights on

Questions (Week 2): Which accent is the correct accent?

No accent is the correct accent: everyone has an accent

Chapter 7: 2-3 Kinds of Rhyme and Examples

Nursery Rhyme - Usually under British origin, printed in their transmission, vary when told by children or used in parody. "Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his sisters" Written/Traditional Rhymes - transmitted orally, though sometimes written, qualify as folklore on the grounds of traditionality, variation, and anonymity. "I powder with my brother ball, A hero like I conquer all. The rose is red, the grass is green, The years are past which I have seen" Work Rhymes - Used for advertising, decreasing in popularity. "Green corn and tomatoes sweet irish and potatoes"

Questions (Week 3): Why has "If the Glove doesn't fit..." become an important American proverb?

OJ Simpson was tried and was told to put a glove on that fit horribly that was evidence that he did not commit the crime

Questions (Week 1): How is folklore represented in popular culture, be aware of some examples?

Oral folk speech: dialect and naming, proverb and traditional saying, folk riddles and rhymes. Customary folklore: beliefs, superstitions, festivals, dances and games Material folklore: Architecture, crafts, art, food, language, dress, etc. Average person does not think of themselves as folk

Chapter 18: Difference between pastime vs. game

Pastime -Performed to "pass the time" -Lacks element of competition -Lacks the possibility of winning -Lacks a measure of organization with some kind of controlling rules -Usually an individual activity Game -Has an element of competition -Has the possibility of winning -Has organization and controlling rules -Usually involves more than one person

Hammond, "The Tourist Folklore of Pele": central, morphological components of the Pele, lava rock superstition among tourists to Hawaii.

People in hawaii should not take the rocks or substances from the island -

Shukla, "Special Clothing for Extraordinary Contexts": Why does dress constitute an example of "material culture"?

People reflect who they are in what they wear on a daily basis

Lornell, "Bred in the Bone": Major instruments of American folk music listed in Lornell's excerpt.

Piano, string bass, drums, accordion, banjo, harmonica

Questions (Week 5): Why do humans take play so seriously?

Play is a great way to build community. It is also a way to get an adrenaline rush (risky behavior)

Questions (Week 4): What are some possible explanations for different, distinct cultures telling the same kinds of myths?

Polygenesis, because of our shared experiences and concerns, we might all develop same beliefs in myths Diffusion, because there is just one original story, and the story migrated, and the story changed too

Chapter 18: Do practical jokes qualify as true games? Why, why not?

Practical Jokes do not qualify as true games because, in Richard S. Tallman's definition, they consist of "a competitive play activity in which only one of two opposing sides is consciously aware of fact that a state of play exists... the unknowing side is made to seem foolish or is caused some physical and/or mental discomfort"

Chapter 1: What are the problems that result from using the term folklore (i.e. the complicated etymology and popular notions of the term)?

Problems with using this term are 1) people associate the word with fairytales or children's stories, as well as not seeing it with any value or falsehood.

Chapter 14: Sympathetic magic theory

Proposed by James Frazer in his work The Golden Bough•Homeopathic magic- magic of similarity. Like objects affect each other. •Contagious magic- magic of touch. Objects that have been in contact have an invisible connection.

Questions (Week 3): Do proverbs ever start in writing?

Proverbs can start in writing and then become oral

Questions (Week 3): What functions do proverbs serve?

Proverbs capture applicable wisdom (advice) or commentary (judgement)

Chapter 7: Rhyme as a mental device

Rhyme assists memory, and rhyme is easily identified in the context of speech as a whole.

Questions (Week 3): How does rhyme assist the transmission and performance of folklore?

Rhymes in folklore communicate aspects of memory, teaching, coordination, and more

Rosemary Zumwalt's "Children's Jokes Dealing with Sexuality": Primary Cultural Taboos Addressed in the Shower Joke Cycle

Sexual taboos include "headlights" = boobs "garage" = vagina "car" = penis

Questions (Week 6): Know the three kinds of superstitions: Signs, Magic Actions, Conversions

Signs - portents or omens which man may read Example: Are your ears burning? Someone must be talking about you Magical actions - consist of multiple conditions and serve as a means of production or prescription, rather than prediction Example: To produce loveliness, wipe your face every morning with a diaper a baby has wetted (for whatever reason) Conversions - a hybrid category in which sign superstitions are converted into magic-action superstitions Example: Upon seeing a shooting star make a wish, and it will come true.

Questions (Week 4): What is a mirror summoning?

Summoning a spirit by talking infront of a mirror

Chapter 14: Define and Provide Examples of Superstitions

Superstitions "Superstitions involve beliefs, practices, and procedures based upon conscious or unconscious assumptions, usually concerned with the nature of cause and effect"

Chapter 4: Isogloss (definition)

The boundary marker on a dialect map, or dialect boundary (what part of the country says y'all versus you all).

Rosemary Zumwalt's "Children's Jokes Dealing with Sexuality": problems of communication across folk groups (in this case, age groups) featured in the shower joke cycle

The problems across communication with the parents and the children are that they are not old enough to understand what sex is, thus, the parents explain their bodies in a way that makes sense to their children -- the children, however, do not understand the sexual innuendos behind the parent's euphemisms.

Chapter 18: Define and give example of Games of Metal Games

These games are characterized by guessing, figuring, and choosing, although they usually involve some physical actions and the manipulation of objects. Example: Charades, Twenty Questions

Chapter 18: Define and give example of Games of Games with Objects

These games involve the manipulation of objects and usually focus on strategy and dexterity rather than physical strength. Example: Cornhole, darts, baseball

Questions (Week 4): What do we mean when we say that some stories are sacred?

They are considered to be true by those that tell them and relate their sacred religious stories of how the world came to be

Chapter 4: Define and provide examples of folklorists' work in dialect vocabulary

Traditional deviation from standard speech. Example: coke v. soda, firefly v. lightening bug

Roberts, "Tombstones in Scotland and Indiana": the nature of the cultural, higher-order connections between the ephemeral concepts of a life-lived and the tree-stump headstone.

Tree-stump headstones are intricate and they look a lot like real trees although they are carved. Occasionally a limestone squirrel sitson a limestone branch eating a limestone acorn, or a limestone bird sits in a limestonenest, especially if the stone memorializes a mother. Sometimes a big slab of bark ispulled back from the trunk to supply a smooth surface for an inscription, or anelaborate limestone plaque bearing an inscription may hang from the stub of a branchby a limestone rope. Sometimes a well-known religious symbol, a cross or an anchor,may be attached to the tree trunk.

Brogan, "Memes are the New Jump-Rope Songs": What is the triviality barrier? How does it apply to folklore on the Internet?

Triviality Barrier: That familiar quality that makes them so important. She points to the example of jump-rope rhymes, which can be too easily dismissed as inconsequential. "If everyone knows these jump-rope rhymes, they must mean something. We don't all collectively know long, drawn-out rhyming narratives for no reason," McNeill says. In other words, the very fact that we share something, whether or not we give it any thought under ordinary circumstances, makes it worth studying."

Chapter 8&9: Define and provide examples - Urban Legends

URBAN LEGEND "a story in a contemporary setting, reported as a true individual experience, with traditional true individual experience, with traditional variants that indicate its legendary character" (205)

Chapter 8&9: Define and Identify a Validating Formula

Validating Formula- "Friend of a friend", "it happened near here"

Questions (Week 1): What are the differences between verbal speech and writing?

Verbal speech is not recorded and does not follow rules as writing does Writing is recorded and has rules Speech relies on syntax Speech is disposable

Chapter 14: Explain the Connection Between Superstitions and Belief

Within social contexts there is a distinction between "useful" superstitions that act and provide knowledge in the world and "foolish" superstitions. Validating formulas* - (personal experience, cause and effect logic) are common and are part of generating belief and differentiating between "true" or "foolish" superstitions.

Questions (Week 3): Do children tell jokes?

Yes

Santino, "Thanksgiving: A Rare Holiday that isn't all about the Kids": Are rites-of-passage involved in Thanksgiving traditions?

Yes (kids table vs. adults table) also the adults/elders usually teach the younger members how to cook/prepare the day and eventually pass the responsibility on

Questions (Week 2): Is ain't a word? Why or why not?

Yes, it is used in oral communication to be descriptive

Questions (Week 4): Are Bell Witch legends and beliefs in Tennessee localized versions of broader types of legends and beliefs?

Yes. localized versions of bloody mary

Chapter 14: System Theory

________is important to the notion of 'cultural systems'•A system is a collection of parts among which there are meaningful relationships. 1) Integration- Number of relationships between parts the more relationships a part has the more integrated it is. 2) Complexity- How many parts it containsThe more parts the system has the more complex it is.

Chapter 1: Difference between folklore and folkloristics

folklore is the content, while folkloristics is the study (dates) of folklore

Barker & Rice, "Folk Illusions: More than Child's Play": Why does Rubber Pencil "work"?

llusory experiences - even these carefully planned illusions performed at the Society's public event - do not force people to question their realities in a serious way. They express surprise and delight, and may even admit that they can't believe everything they see, but they do not change their immediate behavioural patterns in unusual ways. (we believe what we see)

Hammond, "The Tourist Folklore of Pele": How does Pele's Curse work differently for insiders vs outsiders?

outsiders do not see that although she ruins the flora and fauna, she starts new life. Insiders see her benefit, while outsiders do not.

Questions (Week 7): Be familiar with the fieldwork/interview guides posted to Canvas.

x (just look at it)