Living Folklore: Introduction to the Study of People and their Traditions

6. Approaches to Interpreting Folklore

 CHAPTER 6 Approaches to Interpreting Folklore Folklorists have developed interpretive approaches to help them understand texts and performances and present their ideas to others. Many theoretical and analytical frameworks exist, and as with other aspects of the history and study of folklore, interpretive approaches may overlap and change in line with our ongoing explorations in the field. In this chapter we discuss a few of the major theories that have been applied to the analysis of folklore, all of which have influenced and continue to influence the ways we interpret texts.41 Functionalism Folklore communicates: it is an ongoing process of expressing information and beliefs within folk groups. As folklorists, we examine the verbal, customary and material texts of folk groups to discover why and how it is important to the people sharing it. When we talk about interpreting folklore, many times people ask, “What does this folklore communicate to the members of the group who are sharing it?” One of the ways folklorists consider meaning is to examine the way folklore functions in the community. For many years, the functionalist approach provided folklorists with a way to link people with the items of their folklore. One of the early proponents of functionalism was William R. Bascom who identified what he called the four functions of folklore (1965). One function he identified is “education, particularly, but not exclusively, in nonliterate  Approaches to Interpreting Folklore societies” (1965, 293). Bascom originally thought of this as a literal teaching function in “nonliterate societies.” Although Bascom’s focus on what he called nonliterate societies is outmoded, we recognize some folklore can have an informal teaching function in that it describes attitudes held in a society. For example, when teenagers share contemporary legends about babysitting, they serve as cautionary tales that teach members of the group to be careful, alert, and not to be tricked or fooled. Another function of folklore, according to Bascom, is “to escape from limits or impositions the culture places on us” (1965, 290). We escape from the everyday by enjoying folklore, and it also can allow us to express thoughts or feelings that are not appropriate in everyday society. For example, listening to or telling a tall tale is fun because the story is humorous, and at the same time it allows the teller to“tell a lie,”which would be unacceptable in another context.Bascom also claims folklore functions as a way of “maintaining conformity to the accepted patterns of behavior” (1965, 294), when a culture wants to bring someone back in line with approved behavior.For example, if a child continually cried out as if in pain to get a parent’s attention, the parent might sit him down and say,“Let me tell you a story about the little boy who cried wolf.” The tale illustrates the dangers of fabricating a dramatic situation just to get help and attention,and adults hope it will motivate a child to conform to more appropriate behavior. Finally, Bascom says, folklore validates culture (1965, 292). We do this by enacting rituals that mark those events and passages in our lives. Graduation ceremonies and the rituals that accompany them, such as crossing the stage and shifting the tassel on the cap from one side to the other, show that we value education. The ritual itself connects us to the idea of the importance of education. Bascom’s approach established one framework to help folklorists consider the meaning of folklore and make sense of how folk groups employ folklore and what it might mean to them. It was a jumping off point for people to think more concretely about what folklore does and means, rather than what it is. One value of Bascom’s approach is that it does consider the folk group, and acknowledges that folklore has meaning within the group. His approach looks at folklore as a way of communicating values and information among members of the group. This early functionalist approach appealed to folklorists who at the time picked up on the work of anthropologists such as Bronislaw Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, who looked at culture and society as an organic whole. Folklorists found this holistic model appealing because it suggested the natural or organic connection between people and their expressive culture. LIVING FOLKLORE  But major problems with this organic view emerged as folklorists began to use functionalist analysis in more and more contexts and to...