Toward a Definition of Folklore in Practice

Abstract

In the digital age, the twentieth-century definition of folklore as "artistic communication in small groups" is problematic. This chapter cites a need for a practice-oriented definition to account for various phenomena involving tradition that are not limited to small groups or face-to-face communication.It proposes "traditional knowledge drawn from and put into practice" to draw attention to thesource of cognition for repeated, variable activities, or practices.