Fakelore Research Articles

Folklore’s Contemporariness: Dynamics of Value Orientation inBihu

The folklore studies scholar, such as Dorson (1976, Folklore and fakelore: Essays toward the discipline of folk studies, Harvard: Harvard University Press), was emphatic about the distinction between folklore and ‘fake lore’, one being authentic and the other as invented by the popular industry; however, he paradoxically maintained interest in the contemporariness of folklore. This was a paradox since the contemporariness of folklore is largely, and usually, due to intersections of folk with popular and political. Nevertheless, the emphasis on contemporariness was a harbinger of discussion on the potential dynamics of folklore, and everything buried therein, including value orientation. This essay is guided by the observations emerging from folklore studies, socio-cultural anthropology and performance studies in order to get into a specific case of Bihu, a folk performance inclusive of songs, dance, attires and instruments inter alia in Assam, in the northeast of India. The curious case of Bihu in flux divulges dynamics of value orientation and intersections of identity politics, in the wake of the contemporariness of folklore.

The Tower Ravens: Invented Tradition, Fakelore, or Modern Myth?

Tourists are told that ravens at the Tower of London first had their wings clipped in the reign of Charles II, who heard an ancient prophesy that Britain would fall if they left. In fact, the tower ravens are entirely a Victorian institution. This paper examines their legend as an invented tradition, as fakelore, and as a modern myth. It finds that the tale has some authentic basis in legend, but commercial exploitation has prevented it from fully developing. The paper concludes by proposing a colony of ravens might be kept in the Tower without coercion, and they could be allowed to leave or return, thus always generating new stories.

The Mountain and the Devil: Fake Lore or Folklore?: A Wonder of the World in South African Children’s Literature

Table Mountain, beneath which nestles South Africa’s “Mother City,” Cape Town, whose history is given briefly, has not featured much in South African children’s literature, although it is mentioned in the epic poem by Portugal’s national poet, Camões, and the adventures of Baron Munchausen. A much-loved exception has been the story of how Table Mountain got its cloud and why its companion, Devil’s Peak, was so named. This article discusses two older versions of this tale alongside more recent books written for children, in which Table Mountain and/or Devil’s Peak play a role.

ANTHONY SHAY, Choreographic Politics: State Folk Dance Companies, Representation and Power (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2002). Pp. 290. $65.00 cloth; $19.95 paper.

Anthony Shay's Choreographic Politics fills an important gap in the research of the history of folk dancing, a gap opened by the controversial status of “state folk dance ensembles,” whose performances have often been neglected or despised by folklorists and dance scholars. Staged folk dances have always charmed audiences with the energy they embed in their performances but they have also puzzled them, because it is clear that they are more of a “representation” than a true reflection of a locality's reality. The analysis of “state folk dance ensembles,” then, moves on the edges of folklore and “fake lore,” the art of dance and the ethnography of dance. Choreographic Politics touches on this very sense of illusion and disillusion, focusing on the politics of state folk dance ensembles, a cultural product of the post-war era.

Fake-Lore? – Gaudete, Psychological Plumbing, and Critical Hygiene

Fake-Lore? – Gaudete, Psychological Plumbing, and Critical Hygiene

The False Issue of Folklore vs. “Fakelore”: Was Paul Bunyan A Hoax?

The False Issue of Folklore vs. “Fakelore”: Was Paul Bunyan A Hoax?

Folklore and Fakelore: Essays toward a Discipline of Folk Studies

Folklore and Fakelore: Essays toward a Discipline of Folk Studies

American Fakelore on Matchbooks

American Fakelore on Matchbooks