Folklore 2000

Grayson Jackson

Who’s Folklore Is It Anyway?

I really feel that folklore in its raw form is a history of human kind and humanity in its essence. It has the potential to explain cultures like no other individual can. The open the mind to rituals and paths of thinking that normally wouldn’t be possible unless you was actually living in their specific environment. It also exposes the some of the prejudices that exist among humankind. When people thrive in ignorance towards another set of individuals or group’s racism and bigotry strive. In a way folklore brings the people together and educates them. Expands their minds and opens them up to new experiences.

Culture in itself is the essence of the people. It is the identity that all that embrace it find it a familiar comfort. This should be showcased and praised, as well as put on display. When a culture is embrace that is the only road to true understanding. With understanding comes a harmony and unity. Folklore such as Alex Haley’s writings gave an in depth look into the struggles of blacks from a first hand view of the a accounts learned from this man’s family story. This may or may not be factual accounts of history. In folklore my personal view is that your personal view is apart of the in richness of the stories being told. The worry of indifference and prejudice to the subject is foreign to me. Only in my ideal world, that is not subject to the scrutiny of academia would this ideal thrive. However, now more than anything people are worried with the small factual relevance’s of folklore writings instead of the essence of the message. Which is the shear beauty of the genre. The fascination in The Anguish of Snails was passion in which the writer showed towards the western native American culture. In the prologue he specifically asks for a less than standard reverence for the academic world.

My knowledge of folklore in the beginning was limited. Soon after I began to read folklore did I realize that folklore is all around us. The only thing that is different from the folklore of the early years and now is how we take in folklore. No longer is it being shared over campfires and bed time stories. We now have mass media. Which in turn makes you wonder the unlimited nature of folklore in the future. Folklore is forever changing with the people and is constantly reinventing itself with every passing moment.

So with an ever-flowing movement of culture, originated in the tales of the old mixed with tales of the new you also expose the hunger and ambition of people to understand foreign cultures. This at times can be to a fault. I feel like this was exposed when I saw Couple in a Cage. This in itself spoke to me in so many ways. This is where answers to humanities behavior and their need to base worth on a class system are in blaring view. This is where the true question of who’s folklore is it anyway is applied. From my personal view the reactions of the people that came to see these actors in a cage where surprising. However, is hard not to see that the ones being observed’ were doing just as much observation from the inside of the cage as much as the observations were being made from the outside. Then there was this sense that the Americans were trying to show their dominance over other cultures once again by parading them around in a cage all over the world. This was reflected in the Hindu Holy Man as well. Which made me ask the question; does there really have to be a dominant culture in order for human kind to strive?

The first thing done when you conquer a nation is change the culture of the nation to a more nationalize identity. Culture in the word is hard to define but is just that more difficult in manipulating. However when the culture changes the people follow and gravitate to it. Without it people as whole lose direction and focus. Culture in a way gives a people purpose. It explains where they come from where they are trying to go. It explains a road traveled before them and how to overcome obstacles in the future. I could feel this in the writing of Sugar Cane Alley. Jose said he was taking Sugar Cane Alley with him. That in it self lets you know that the stores of his people and where they have come from and gone through will be ever present on his mind and in his heart.

Folklore starts with the folk and in my personal opinion ends with the folk as well. When you grasp that concept your able to see folklore in everything around you. You see how fluid folklore is engrained in our daily live. You also can see how it is unfolding before us in front of our very eyes. What we do today at this very moment is subject to a folklore tail years and years from now. How our nation is every changing and evolving is subject to a folklore tail. Who would have known that the ability to fish would be the subject of folklore? In the Development of Folklore Life this and public policy came together.

Who knew that folklore life and public policy would come together to give a message of sustainability and preservation? These are issues being fought everyday. Folklore is giving a voice to these issues in the most unlikely genera’s. This to me is exciting to see how a fisherman can explain how his inability to fish where his forefathers fished is killing his cultural background. Folklore seals the cultural background of a society. The fisherman states what good is that if this culture doesn’t exist in the present. Folklore expanded on this subject from a tourist developmental view to a more social injustice and economic policy view.

The development of folklore going foreword has many challenges. The people and there culture is just half the battle. The traditions of its people are the meat of folklore. This is the common thread that links the past with the future. This is what the people pride themselves on when passing on the jewels of the past. However one posses is the question who has the right to stat there own traditions moving forward? The essence of traditions is the rich history that follows them. Embracing new ones is as difficult as following and passing one on.

Then there is the motivation behind folklore and is the new folklore worthy of entering the world of folklorist. In this day and age marketing and profits are always at the bottom line. Folklore can be used to sway an audience or influence a people with a specific profit margin in mind. In these cases I feel the need for checks and balances to inspect the real relevance of a tradition. In my personal opinion folk art should always be about the people and their interpretation of the environment around them. When you look at the traditions of our school at The Ohio State University. The traditions that surround our school are born out of a pride and experiences felt while walking down the same halls students many years back did as well. The experiences they felt are mostly the experiences felt by me in the present. It would only be fitting to add on to these bases than to create something totally new and foreign to this campus culture.

Folklorists have also been able to set the record straight in a lot of ways. There by answering the proverbial question of who’s folklore is it anyway? However this has been at times in the most inopportune areas such as intellectual property. Disputes on who’s true history does this belong to have kept the folklorist busy in this modern age. There is a forever need to validate your past to forge the future or promote the relevancy of your particular brand or society. A connection with the past can always give that reputation of lasting excellence. That is if excellence is what your known for.

From a global prospective I find it more enriching seeing the culture of the people prevalent without much European or English involvement. I think it is highly important that the rest of the world show how their history and traditions are strong and alive. One thing I notice is that when you look at folklore not of a western nature the pride is subtler. In the Hindu Holy Man there was little resistance to missionaries message. However, there was much confusion and contempt on the part of the missionaries. They labeled all who did not worship as they did idol worshipers and proceeded to convert them so they could teach their countrymen. I often wondered what was going through the mind of the Hindu men as they were being stripped of there own religious right to worship how they want.

This same sentiment was felt in the movie Couple In A Cage. One man who was interviewed basically was wondering did America take over another country and put them on display as a mockery in some way. These are the sides of folklore that make you want to rethink how we look at others as a society. They make you question is our way that much different then there way? Is there way barbaric and ours civilized? Folklore opens up these questions for discussion. They cause you to look at things from a different light. The allow the “folk” to express there sense of pride and even sometimes nationalism.

Getting the people to talk and express is an art form all to itself. Leaving behind a voice from the past. One that can only be understood through a native tongue, or a foreign observation. The folklorist understands these intricacies and knows this cannot belong to anyone but must be let free to express in any form. It can be spilled into the political world and social injustices. It can be factual or tell a fairy tale. Its allegiance can forever be in question but its purpose is ever present. The beauty of folklore is its ability to transcend time and the people that is brings together. It can put you right on the scene of cutting edge collaborations such as Borland Hip Hop to Mambo. You can almost here the vibrant music scene in New York City, as this genre’s of music become a South American collaboration of musical art.

Taking things back to their origin is yet another gift that folklore gives. This is why I think anthropology and folklore are so close. They work hand in hand with one another on so many levels. It can almost be perceived that anthropology is the scientific extension of folklore. When you want to understand people’s origins you can use the folklore of the people to gain an in-depth look at their day-to-day lives and even their spiritual beliefs. The social involvements of civilizations are just as important as there historical achievements. You can get a well-rounded look at the complete scope of their environment. Form traditions and customs to there political and spiritual practices. This all encompasses the essence of the people in there native lands. To share in there joys and losses trials and triumphs.

Now lets look at this from the standpoint of not having folklore. Or if folklore was being controlled by a ruling class. Standpoints would be one sided and there would be no common ground. There would be one socialized tradition and culture would be more like one big didactic play. I would envision life would be a lot more scripted with no personal identity. I feel like that’s folklore lost in translation. Folklore that is controlled by profit making marketers. Even if history and traditions were adopted by a foreign entity they would still maintain its authenticity. It would just be adopted by another culture. Now where one culture strives another dies could be the only problem that could arise. Now is that a real situation or one not possible. Can a culture become extinct?

Think like anything with time all things fade. Some would say that folklore whoevers it maybe kind of keeps the things and events of the past in a time capsule. One that can be called upon at any waking moment. The ability to carry on traditions and history that predate you years and years ago. To either be able to grab that book and take a step back into the years of our culture. Or to sit around an old member of your family and hear the tales of old. These are the aspects of folklore that can be appreciated no matter who is in ownership of it.

The truth is no one really owns folklore in my own personal view folklore belongs to the people. Its like the root of the people without it there is no flower. It gives substance where anthropology gives you the science of the origin. Folklore gives you the everyday nuances that can sometimes only be explained from the mouths of the people that have been there to either observe or were apart of that culture. I would say its nearly impossible to have a bias free world. Therefore the bias needs to be stated and taken into account with the over all-content of the material. Embrace instead of fighting it with constricting academic scrutiny. At the end of the day life has to be experienced and traditions have to be carried on by the people. History does no good if its not being passed on. Folklorist give the opportunity to make all this their own.

Folklore is for the people by the people it is all around us and being shaped by us everyday. We follow it without ever knowing it. It exposes humanities plights and down falls. It shows us how to survive and strive through all life’s adversaries. It strengthens our core values and provokes deep thought. It causes us to walk and look through lenses we might have never looked through in the past. Forcing us to broaden our perspective on life and the people we share it with. It has brought on intellectual stimulation by many scholars as well as less educated individuals. Mankind is mirrored in its studies and uplifted through its tail’s of triumph. It sheds light and gives attention to cultures and civilizations that ordinarily wouldn’t have a voice. It opens us up to a whole new scope into the past inhabitants of this world. If we better understand history it can make for a better future all in the same premise. In American the melting pot of cultures is what gives birth to a real national identity of a common purpose. All that come here strive for freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Folklore gives birth to this any many more ideologies. Folklore is a mirror of its people.