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Why is there no "Grand Theory" in the study of folklore? Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) advocated "grand theory," which put the analysis of social phenomena on a new track in the broadest possible terms. Not all sociologists or folklorists accept those broad terms; some still adhere to the empirical level. Through a forum sponsored by the American Folklore Society, the diverse answers to the question of such a theory arrived at substantial agreement: American folklorists have produced little "grand theory." One speaker even found all the theory folklorists need in the history of philosophy. The two women in the forum (Noyes and Mills) spoke in defense of theory that is local, "apt," suited to the audience, and "humble"; the men (Bauman and Fine) reached for something Parsons might have recognized. The essays in this collection, developed from the forum presentations, defend diverse positions, but they largely accept the longstanding concentration in American folkloristics on the quotidian and local.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright
  2. pp. i-iv
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. Preface
  2. Michael Dylan Foster and Ray Cashman
  3. pp. vii-xiv
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  1. THE PROVOCATION
  1. 1 Folkloristics in the Twenty-First Century
  2. Alan Dundes
  3. pp. 3-36
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  1. RESPONSES
  1. 2 America's Antitheoretical Folkloristics
  2. Lee Haring
  3. pp. 39-46
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  1. 3 The Sweep of Knowledge: The Politics of Grand and Local Theory in Folkloristics
  2. Gary Alan Fine
  3. pp. 47-53
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  1. 4 What('s) Theory?
  2. Margaret A. Mills
  3. pp. 54-62
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  1. 5 The Philology of the Vernacular:
  2. Richard Bauman
  3. pp. 63-70
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  1. 6 Humble Theory
  2. Dorothy Noyes
  3. pp. 71-77
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  1. 7 Grand Theory, Nationalism, and American Folklore
  2. John W. Roberts
  3. pp. 78-87
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  1. 8 There Is No Grand Theory in Germany, and for Good Reason
  2. James R. Dow
  3. pp. 88-96
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  1. COMMENTS
  1. 9 What Theory Is
  2. Newton Garver
  3. pp. 99-105
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  1. 10 Weak Theory in an Unfinished World
  2. Kathleen Stewart
  3. pp. 106-117
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  1. 11 "Or in Other Words": Recasting Grand Theory
  2. Kirin Narayan
  3. pp. 118-124
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  1. 12 Disciplining Folkloristics
  2. Charles L. Briggs
  3. pp. 125-140
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  1. AFTERWORDS
  1. 13 Reflections on Grand Theory, Graduate School, and Intellectual Ballast
  2. Chad Edward Buterbaugh
  3. pp. 143-147
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  1. 14 Ten Years After
  2. Lee Haring
  3. pp. 148-150
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 151-153
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