The document provides an introduction to folklore, defining it as the traditional cultural expressions of various folk groups, including tales, legends, customs, and beliefs communicated orally within communities. It traces the history of folklore studies, noting how early conceptions viewed folklore as belonging to illiterate or marginalized groups, but fieldwork in the early 1900s revealed the similarities between all human cultures. The definition of folklore then broadened to recognize that folk traditions can exist within any collective group. The document also examines different scholars' definitions of folklore and provides examples of topics that folklore can encompass.

1. Introduction to Folklore
Lec# 01
Dr. Tulika Chandra,
Shiv Nadar University, India

2. Introduction

 The term "folk" suggests people belonging to different groups
which shared a common factor, language, religion, culture and
traditions.
 The knowledge of such kind of traditions and culture is known as
folklore.
 The very notion of "folk" raises up the feeling that it belongs to the
field of illiterate and marginalised people. It is a fact that the oral
tradition, on which the folklore is based, is often used as a tool by
the subaltern groups as a voice to their difficulties & dilemmas.
 Somehow people could not decipher the implicit meanings in the
stories, proverbs, jokes and riddles. The folklore theories
endeavour to delve into the deep rooted meaning of folklore and
attempt to find out the origin of the tales. Folklore studies can also
be taken as a way to raise one's awareness of the culture that one
is coming from.
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 2

3. Introduction

 Folklore is often defined as an expression through a medium
like: tale or legend that begins from and is traditional among a
people or folk. Folktales are different from myths and legends
because they do not always have religious leanings, and are
not based on historical truths.
 Folklore especially form a part of the tradition of the common
people, an expression that springs from the shared history of a
particular community. This history is then passed down to the
next generation.
 Traditional folklore doesn’t have an individual author; instead it
is owned by the community. The folklore contains the entire
culture of the community, which also differentiates it from other
groups. There is a collective conscious stored within the
folklore.
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 3

4. Why Study Folklore?

 Because it's pervasive, informative, and fun. What do
you think when someone sneezes? What do you do
when a cat crosses your path? Why do we put lights on
the Christmas tree? Why are popular jokes created
about the Rajnikanth and Alok Nath?
We will together discovered that folklore can stimulate
our intellectual, creative, and aesthetic desires. It has
much to tell us about people's attitudes, beliefs, and
concerns.
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5. What have some of the scholars
said:

 Jan Brunvand. The Study of American Folklore: An
Introduction, 2nd edition. New
York: W.W. Norton, 1978.
 “Folklore comprises the unrecorded traditions of a people;
it includes both the form and content of these traditions
and their style or technique of communication from
person to person.
 Folklore is the traditional, unofficial, non-institutional part
of culture. It encompasses all knowledge, understandings,
values, attitudes, assumptions, feelings, and beliefs
transmitted in traditional forms by word of mouth or by
customary examples.”
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 5

6. There really is no putative settlement as
to exactly what the boundaries of folklore
encompass.
A simple definition of folklore offered by Archer
Taylor (1946): " What, then, is folklore? We
might reply with such a dictionary definition as
"Material that has been handed on by tradition."
It is, in other words, the lore of the folk and not
the learning in books. We have not come very
far. Let us ask, then: What material? We might
answer: Things, words, music, ideas (that is,
customs and beliefs). “
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 6

7.  Definition of Folklore:
“It is possible...…..to define both folk and lore
in such a way that even the beginner can
understand what folklore is. The term "folk"
can refer to any group of people whatsoever
who share at least one common factor. It does
not matter what the linking factor is--it could be
a common occupation, language or religion--
but what is important is that a group formed for
whatever reason will have some traditions
which it calls its own.” (Alan Dundes, 1965)
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8. Dundes provides a list of various types of folklore
to demonstrate the large range of the field of study.

 The list includes both: Expected folklore & ‘not so obvious’
folktales.
 The expected subjects of folktales, legends, myths,
ballads, festivals, folk dance and song.
 Folklore that may not be as obvious, such as children's
counting out rhymes, food recipes, house, barn and fence
types, latrinalia (informal writings in public restrooms), as
well as the sounds traditionally used to call specific
animals.
 Dundes says, “that this list is not exhaustive, but merely a
sampling of the subjects that folklore scholarship can
address, and which merit study for the insight that they
provide into specific cultures” (Dundes, 1965: 3)
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 8

9.  When William Thoms coined the term "folklore" in 1846 in
England, "the folk," were considered the illiterate peasantry of a
given region: "European peasants specifically, and no one else"
(Dundes 1980, 4).
 For centuries intellectuals have been collecting and recording
folktales throughout Europe. Straparola first collected fairy tales
in 16th century Italy, a practice taken up by Salon culture of
18th century France and then academics like Jacob and
Wilhelm Grimm in 19th century Germany. Educated, "civilized"
people studying the folk did not consider themselves part of the
folk, but instead believed themselves "above" the folk, civilized,
more rational, more adult.
 We are talking about those scholars who often exaggerated the
folk, well-regarded their lore, and sometimes grieved the loss of
folklore in their own "enlightened" lives. By the middle of the
19th century, evolutionary perspectives from science influenced
social scientists as well, leading to explicit notions of primitive
versus civilized within and among societies.
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 9

10. The previously judgmental notions

 In the early 1900’s, a number of scholars in folklore and
anthropology actually spent time in the field.
 They stayed & lived with the cultures and people they studied.
 This led to long term interaction.
 Their observations and first-hand experiences taught them that
our similarities as humans are greater than our differences.
 Many of the defined notions got washed-out.
 Scholars, researchers found the cultures and people who had
literally been referred to as "others" or "primitives" were, in fact
same as they were.
 The researchers found them to be as complex, humane,
technically smart, artistically inspired and enriching,
philosophically profound, morally deep, and as fully mature as
their own.
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 10

11. Transition

 Finally in the 1960's and 70's scholars officially
casted-off the evolutionary perspective of early
folklorists
 Re-shaped the term folklore to reflect a more
inclusive and accurate definition,
 Cotemporary age recognizes as ‘folk’ as any
collectivity (a group or a culture): "Who are the folk?
Among others, we are!" Alan Dundes proclaimed in
1977 (1980, 19).
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 11

12. Thank you
Tulika Chandra _ 'Folklore' 12