• Cambridge Scholars Publishing

    "[Second Thoughts on Capitalism and the State is a] profoundly reflective book shows a pathway forward for academics and activists alike who are stymied by the disconnect between deep critical scholarship and emancipatory social change, yet who will still not give up the good fight."

    - Professor Diane E. Davis, Harvard University

Mapping the History of Folklore Studies: Centres, Borderlands and Shared Spaces

This collection of articles provides rich and diverse insights into the historical dynamics of folkloristic thought with its shifting geographies, shared spaces, centres and borderlands. By focusing on intellectual collaboration and sharing, the volume also reveals the limitations, barriers and boundaries inherent in scholarship and scholarly communities. Folklore scholars from Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and the USA reflect upon a range of related questions, including: To what extent and in what sense can folklore studies be regarded as a shared field of knowledge? Which lines of authority have held it together and what forces have led to segmentation? How have the hierarchies of intellectual centres and peripheries shifted over time? Do national or regional styles of scholarly practice exist in folkloristics? The contributors here pay attention to individual personalities, the politics and economics of scholarship, and forms of communication as meaningful contexts for discussing the dynamics of folklore theory and methods.


Dace Bula, Dr philol, is a folklorist and the Director of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art at the University of Latvia. Her research interests include history and theory of folklore studies, folklore and nationalism, nostalgia, local identity and eco-narratives. She has published two monographs (in Latvian): The Nation of Singers: Folklore and National Ideology (2000) and Contemporary Folkloristics: Paradigm Shift (2011).

Sandis Laime, Dr philol, is a folklorist and a Researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art at the University of Latvia. His main research topics are Latvian folk religion and witchcraft beliefs, place-related narratives and the Latvian diaspora in Siberia. His publications include the monographs (in Latvian): The Sacred Underworld: Cave Folklore in Latvia (2009), Witches in Latvian Folk Belief: Night Witches (2013) and Svētupe Livs’ Offering Cave (2016).

"The book sheds light on the history of folkloristics in Europe, its ideological background, success stories and hardships, and the complicated relationship of the discipline with political realities. [...] Information in the book is to a great extent new to the international audience, and many contributions are illustrated by excerpts from unpublished archival sources. Some of the authors also offer theoretical insights or methodologically useful approaches, such as Lina Būgienė with the concept of homo narrans, Dace Bula with Burke’s “geographies of knowledge,” Toms Ķencis in his discussion about knowledge production and power, and Svenja Reinke-Borsdorf with Christopher M. Hann’s “property relations.” Altogether, Mapping the History of Folklore Studies offers fascinating reading for anybody who is interested in developments in the discipline."

Ülo Valk University of Tartu Journal of Folklore Research, 01.02.2018

Martin Boiko

Lina Būgienė

Dace Bula

James I. Deutsch

Ave Goršič

Toms Ķencis

Barbro Klein

Anu Korb

Kaisa Kulasalu

Sandis Laime

Aigars Lielbārdis

Diarmuid Ó Giolláin

Guntis Pakalns

Ulf Palmenfelt

Svenja Reinke-Borsdorf

Rita Treija

Svetlana Tsonkova

Anita Vaivade

Vilmos Voigt

Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-4438-7290-3

ISBN13: 978-1-4438-7290-4

Release Date: 11th May 2017

Pages: 390

Price: £64.99

-
+