Practice Theory in Folklore and Folklife Studies

This chapter identifies a difference between European and American approaches to folklore around ideas of practice and performance, respectively. It evaluatesthe different forms of practice and performance theory in social sciences and proposes that an Aristotlean concept of praxis is most appropriate for folklore and folklife studies.

“Who’s Your Daddy?”

The colloquial interrogative question "Who's Your Daddy?" was reported widely from the 1990s into the early twenty-first century in sports to ridicule an opponent. Journalists called it a new tradition of irreverent college youth. Research shows that this piece of folklore has a much longer history and various edgy meanings from its frontier beginnings referring to the authoritarian "daddy" in Washington to racially tinged urban slang for pimping. In the context of the twenty-first century, it served psychologically beyond sports to represent male insecurities about threats to patriarchy.

Rethinking the Boogieman

The boogieman is known by various names in many cultures and is usually associated with parental transmission to infants to get them to sleep. The conventional functional explanation for its persistence in modern life is as a form of social control.This chapter finds in the usage of the belief from childhood into adulthood an alternative explanation in the projection of anxieties over sexual molestation.

Toward a Definition of Folklore in Practice

In the digital age, the twentieth-century definition of folklore as "artistic communication in small groups" is problematic. This chapter cites a need for a practice-oriented definition to account for various phenomena involving tradition that are not limited to small groups or face-to-face communication.It proposes "traditional knowledge drawn from and put into practice" to draw attention to thesource of cognition for repeated, variable activities, or practices.

>From Farm to … Farmers’ Markets

The emergence of "fast capitalism" in the twenty-first century that coincided with the rise of online retailing and"prosumer" commerce threatened to destroy the agricultural livelihood of many tradition-centered Amish communities. A response that has raised controversy within those communities is turning to more engagement with the "English" in farmers' markets. Folklorists have played a pivotal role in mediating the relationship between the Amish as a folk society andtouristic consumers. This chapter evaluates the consequences of this intervention meant to sustain the ability of the Amish to live in community.

Folkloristic Practices in a Converging Hyper Era

This chapter suggests a paradigm shift in folklore and folklife studies in the twenty-first century following the "era of communication" and "professionalization of time and space" in the twentieth century. Characterized as a "hyper era" represented by keywords of convergence, practice, and frame informed by digital culture rather than the previous period's analog signification of performance, symbol, and structure, the new epoch signals a turn toward an understanding of social praxis anticipated by intellectual movements in Europe and Asia. The American contribution is theorizing of individualism and organization in everyday life.

The Year of Folklore and Other Lessons of Public Heritage

This chapter is a case study of a state-declared "Year of Folklore" program in the Netherlands to provide a comparison with American views of public heritage. The program addressed a legacy of multicultural tolerance in the Netherlands that had been challenged by a rising refugee crisis. Questions arose as to how cultural presentations meant to increase nationalism could also be inclusive with rapid social change.

“Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”

Barnacle Bill, also known as Bollicky or Rollicking Bill, is a comic folktype who is the main protagonist in the most persistent narrative folk song with a seamen's image. Although a few studies have raised questions about his origins in British tradition, this practice-centered study evaluates his persistence in twenty-first centuryadolescent male groups and the feminist response. This chapter finds the song to be significant in a discourse on gendered coming-of-age issues.

“The Shooter Has Asperger’s”

A common belief, or folk psychology, expressed in press reports about shootings in schools is that the perpetrators have Asperger's syndrome or disorder. Redefined in diagnostic guides on the autism spectrum, Asperger's has entered popular parlance as a metaphor for fears of hidden threats in a post-modern world of strangers, as an explanation for the apparently inexplicable acts of violence against children, and a frustration with parenting of uncontrollable boys.

Are Folk Museums Still Relevant?

During the 1970s the folk, or open-air, museum was hailed as a revolutionary change in museology and a great opportunity for folklorists to exert influence on public education about regional-ethnic-occupational traditions and a changing historical profession. With the advent of the digital age these museums are struggling to bring visitors in and folklorists have had an uneasy relationship with predominantly rural museums. This chapter advocates for a different kind of folk museum that is action rather than object focused, looks to industrial and post-industrial interpretation, and engages integrative programming to respond to needs of local communities.