Can Folklore be fun?
Many people have a skewed perception as to what folklore really is. Several of my peers have put on very confused looks when I tell them I am taking a folklore class. They have asked what it is, and have given their own responses. Many answers have included that they think folklore is very boring and is just about the past, or that folklore is just about specific cultural traditions. I hope to tear down these perceptions with further exploration during the class as well as letting them know that something they love going to, the Indiana State Fair, is exactly what folklore is.
A couple weeks ago, I had the oppurtunity to go to the Indiana State Fair. I have gone every year since I can remember. Before this class, I never would have considered the State Fair a part of folklore. There is a tremendous amount of culture and history behind the fair that most people would not even notice. The Fair gets down to the core of Indiana culture. Nothing says Indiana more than the Indiana State Fair. Some things are more cultural than others such at the Pioneer Village or the 4-H exhibits, but everything combined makes up one large Folklore event. There are exhibits about the animals of Indiana, Indiana history, Indiana music, and just about everything else about Indiana.
The Fair is important to me because it helps me understand who I am better. I have lived in Indiana for all of my life, but do not know that much about others outside of Indianapolis. The fair lets me see what others are doing and why Indiana is important to them. To me, the Indiana State Fair is a quintissential exampe of what folklore is. The Fair is not only educational but also very fun and can get a lot of people interested who would not usually be interested in folklore.
This blog entry is my response to the Chapter One Reflection Question.
posted by Adina Sklare @ 8:18 PM
1 Comments:
Glad you're in the mood for fun folklore. Your fair example is perfect, because one the on hand, a fair is very much about folklore. (Agricultural fairs like that one go back to antiquity--a very old tradition.) On the other hand, the fact that people do not see it as such, necessarily, reveals that way that folklore sets up a special way of seeing culture, one that not everyone is plugged into without being brought to it somehow. Folklore is a word that is quite slippery and about which people have many pre-conceptions.
There is a huge literature on fairs by folklorists, including on fairs just like the Indiana state fair. I can point you to it if you get interested.
Our department, through its Tradiational Arts Indiana program had (and has every year) a big presence at the fair, hosting for instance, the state fiddle contest, which is a big deal. You can learn more about TAI from the link on the Folklore and Ethnomusicology website.
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