Propaganda and Propagation

Propaganda is more a part of twenty-first century life than ever. Children are every bit as influenced by it as the adults around them. How do children respond to various means they encounter that seek to sway their minds? Through schoolyard games and rhymes schoolchildren show that they are cognizant of all the propaganda they are handed. Their lore reflects both an acceptance of some propaganda ideas, and a cleverly framed rejection of others.

“Have you any Bread and Wine?”

In this article, I examine the traditional children’s game Roman Soldiers as a vehicle through which children contemplated community amid sectarian strife. Drawing on published and archival sources from Ireland, Britain, and the Americas, I suggest that children played with, critiqued, and, at times, subverted the conflicts that engulfed their societies through this game. In the process, children frequently highlighted the necessity of reciprocity for the maintenance of communal accord.

“I Know Just How He Feels”

This essay is written in the ethnographic present. It is based on research in South Carolina carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the cooperation and consent of the residents of the John’s Island Community. All lines from the games and songs were sung during the presentation October 18, 2019, 2:30 P.M. at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD. The description of the Vulture’s gait and the Ranky Tanky body shake were demonstrated.

Looking for Peekaboo

In the context of a preliminary investigation of peekaboo play in a local day care, this essay examines the particulars of one child’s actions as she attempts to engage another child in peekaboo. Four elements of the child’s performance contribute to its evaluation as peekaboo: the stylized motions of looking and eye-covering, the intent to make and keep eye contact with the play partner, the rhythmic timing of covering-uncovering motions, and the opportunistic nature of the attempt to play. Considering peekaboo as a folk illusion puts these kinds of early performances in the context of a developmental trajectory that spans the entire childhood.

Volume 39, 2018

Complete PDF of issue.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Slumber Parties as Rites of Passage

Children’s supernatural based activities such as M.A.S.H, Bloody Mary, Ouija board experimentation, and “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” comprise a traditional repertoire of paranormal and divinatory rituals to be drawn upon many times throughout a series of friends’ birthday parties or sleepovers. This article investigates the cognitive and ritual functions of such supernatural play as performed by American pre-adolescent girls within the liminal context of the slumber party. Though characterized as children’s play, this is ritual behavior in two senses: in its direct confrontation and thrilling exploration of the supernatural, and in its trance-inducing, ceremonial qualities. Such play is often structured and performed as traditional ritual and can invoke aspects of rites of passage, especially when undertaken cumulatively throughout adolescence. Drawing upon fieldwork in consultation with the collections of University of Oregon’s Mills Northwest Folklore Archive, the Utah State University’s Fife Folklore Archive, and children’s folklore scholarship, this article explores such spiritualistic play as a vernacular process of adolescent individuation.

"Collage of Colors"

In this article, I examine an episode of fantasy play, and a related theatrical production, as arenas for the creative processing of a child’s experience. My five-year-old son, Michael, constructs a microcosm of our field site in Acapulco, Mexico, and animates a drama featuring dinosaurs in mortal conflict. My intention is to explore the ways a child makes sense of place through imaginative play, and, further, to address the role of artistic expression in the child’s growing mastery over his material and social environments.