Title: The practice of folklore : essays toward a theory of tradition /
Authors: Bronner, Simon J.
Year: 2019
Subjects: Folklore Methodology; Folklore Classification; Folklore Classification; Folklore Methodology; Ethnotheorie; Tradition; Volkskunde
Abstract: "Despite predictions that commercial mass culture would displace customs of the past, traditions firmly abound, often characterized as folklore. In The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition, author Simon J. Bronner works with theories of cultural practice to explain the social and psychological need for tradition in everyday life. Bronner proposes a distinctive 'praxic' perspective that will answer the pressing philosophical as well as psychological question of why people enjoy repeating themselves. The significance of the keyword practice, he asserts, is the embodiment of a tension between repetition and variation in human behavior. Thinking with practice, particularly in a digital world, forces redefinitions of folklore and a reorientation toward interpreting everyday life. More than performance or enactment in social theory, practice connects localized culture with the vernacular idea that "this is the way we do things around here." Practice refers to the way those things are analyzed as part of, rather than apart from, theory, thus inviting the study of studying. 'The way we do things' invokes the social basis of 'doing' in practice as cultural and instrumental."--Provided by publisher.
Contents: Preface and acknowledgments -- Theories and definitions -- Practice theory in folklore and folklife studies -- The handiness of tradition -- Toward a definition of folklore in practice -- Practices and practitioners -- Rethinking the boogieman: a praxeological inquiry into the origin, form, and cognition of a troubling folk character -- Who's your daddy?: proverbial and psychological meanings in practice -- The shooter has Asperger's: autism, belief, and wild child narratives -- Who's that knocking on my door?: Barnacle Bill again and again -- Implications and applications -- From farm to. farmers' markets: Amish folk society in the age of fast capitalism -- The year of folklore and other lessons of public heritage -- Are folk museums still relevant? -- Folkloristic practices in a converging hyper era -- Notes -- References -- Index.