From the beginning...
I have to first admit that from the beginning of this folk studies class I have felt a bit intimidated due to my lack of background knowledge in folklore. I'll give my thoughts and reflections as a true novice, hang in there for me and please don't laugh.
Well, the first thing I thought I would get a handle on was how to define folklore. I found out that it's a very complicated term. I took from reading and class discussion that it's hard to actually rule anything out from being folklore. Everything seems to be! But the definition I liked the best and could hold on to was that folklore was "group knowledge" with the "group" being at least two people who have shared an experience. During discussion Dr. Antonsen answered a question that also helped put the term "group" into better perspective for me. If two people have heart attacks, they are not necessarily a "group" unless they have shared their experience with each other.
During the next class our discussion dipped into tradition. And before hand we were to think about whether we thought of tradition as a good thing. I think (remember I'm a novice) tradition is very important, it has been very meaningful in my life. I cherish family traditions and am determined to keep them alive and to pass them on to my children, but class discussion and reading made me think about something. I remember hearing that traditions are shaped by the needs and priorities of the people involved. I wonder if the things that are the most important to me about our family traditions are the same things that were the most important to the older generations? Will I alter that tradition as I continue with my children to have a different meaning as it started out? Does that make sense?
In our latest class meeting we talked about and read through fairytales. I am one of those people who had only known of the Disney versions of fairytales so it was very interesting to read the Grimm Brother's collection. I am also one of those people who never would have caught any of the sexual meanings in the stories. Very interesting. Anne Sexton really caught my attention. After finding out her background I was even more intrigued.
Well, the first thing I thought I would get a handle on was how to define folklore. I found out that it's a very complicated term. I took from reading and class discussion that it's hard to actually rule anything out from being folklore. Everything seems to be! But the definition I liked the best and could hold on to was that folklore was "group knowledge" with the "group" being at least two people who have shared an experience. During discussion Dr. Antonsen answered a question that also helped put the term "group" into better perspective for me. If two people have heart attacks, they are not necessarily a "group" unless they have shared their experience with each other.
During the next class our discussion dipped into tradition. And before hand we were to think about whether we thought of tradition as a good thing. I think (remember I'm a novice) tradition is very important, it has been very meaningful in my life. I cherish family traditions and am determined to keep them alive and to pass them on to my children, but class discussion and reading made me think about something. I remember hearing that traditions are shaped by the needs and priorities of the people involved. I wonder if the things that are the most important to me about our family traditions are the same things that were the most important to the older generations? Will I alter that tradition as I continue with my children to have a different meaning as it started out? Does that make sense?
In our latest class meeting we talked about and read through fairytales. I am one of those people who had only known of the Disney versions of fairytales so it was very interesting to read the Grimm Brother's collection. I am also one of those people who never would have caught any of the sexual meanings in the stories. Very interesting. Anne Sexton really caught my attention. After finding out her background I was even more intrigued.
posted by Amy Noble at
9:40 PM
1 Comments:
Great post Amy. You do a really nice job summarizing points about the definitions of folk group and tradition. Keep up the good work.
By
Chris Antonsen, at 4:34 AM
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