Urban Legends Research Articles

From the Village to the City: The Rise of Urban Folklore Studies in China

Abstract: The rise of Chinese folklore study was an academic response to the Modern Chinese Enlightenment Movement. The shift in perspective of Chinese folklore studies from the rural field to urban society is the symbol self-reflective turns and innovations. The shift from rural to urban folklore requires an adjustment of research perspectives and methods, not only to adapt to the urbanized social environment, but also to cope with the more complex modern society. Cities are fast-paced, mobile societies, where peoples general and instinctive rejection of strangers and the highly compressed and fragmented nature of their leisure time make fieldwork more difficult. Human behavior is not homogeneous, but diverse, the study of urban folklore can draw on personal life history methods to take a microscopic look at urban society. The rise of Chinese urban folklore is a new area of Chinese folklore studies, and its research theory, methodology and subjects still need to be further explored and supplemented by scholars.

The Past Is Not What It Used to Be: Contemporary Myths, Cold War Nostalgia and Abandoned Soviet Nuclear Bases

This article delves into the contemporary social perception of the three abandoned Soviet Cold War tactical nuclear bases in Poland, focusing on often overlooked phenomena in archaeological studies such as the contemporary myths (folk tales, contemporary legends, modern folklore, etc.) and nostalgia that have emerged around these sites. While contemporary myths and nostalgia are distinct phenomena with different outcomes, they share a common feature: a mythologized approach to the past. Established historical and archaeological narratives, derived from detailed studies, often coexist with alternative versions of the past inspired by folk imagination. This article aims to highlight their cultural value as an integral part of local identity, actively shaping the perception of material heritage. Contemporary myths offer insight into another layer of collective perception of the past, while nostalgia delves into the emotional aspects of human existence, coping with transience and searching for meaning.

Myth, Religion, Imagination, and (Virtual) Realities

This article provides a way to think through the division between religious and secular approaches to contemporary society through the use of rival myths. Myths are narrative structures that invite the interplay of language and the imagination, resulting in the creation of virtual realities and social imaginaries. Strong virtual realities were once premised on myths that guided the imagination to embrace an openness to mystery and the unknowable; however, current technological culture is predicated on a closed imagination that has led to worldwide despair. Religion was originally grounded in the virtual reality inspired by language and the capacity of language to distill and extract the “virtual” from the real. The ability of language to create a virtual reality created the capacity to think of a soul, as well as destinations for the soul. In the twentieth century, Freud found that the notion of “God” that was created had become problematic for humans and so created a modern myth that would provide a secular substitute. After providing a close reading of Freud’s governing myth for modern culture, showing how it inspires the imagination and the ways in which it falls short, this article concludes with an alternative myth—that of the Invisible City—proposed to inspire faith, hope, and love in our modern world. My approach relies on a depth psychological framework, which was formed to interrogate the nature of reality (relative to individuals and culture) at the intersection of myth, religion, language, and imagination. Throughout, I use a hermeneutic methodology, which is consistent with the initial mode of depth psychological exploration as well as the central role language plays in revealing the truth of a reality. This orientation enables an exploration of a deeper sense of virtual realities than what is deployed through current technology.

Reimagining the urban stroller in Mumbai: Suketu Mehta as a flâneur in Maximum City

ABSTRACT Suketu Mehta’s reportage cum travelogue cum memoir, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004), is an insightful account of the complex and multifaceted yet intriguing city of Mumbai. This article aims to position Suketu Mehta as a modern-day flâneur of Mumbai, emerging during a period of significant urban transformation, much like the classic flâneur of nineteenth-century Paris who navigated a changing cityscape. Mehta embodies a modernised urban wanderer whose flânerie incorporates elements of ethnography and journalism, investigating contemporary urban reality. Besides, Mehta’s flânerie exemplifies convergences between transnational travel and flânerie in a global city like Mumbai. The article also demonstrates that through the exploration of both diverse and archetypal urban characters and the analysis of the city's urban myths, the text encapsulates Mumbai's distinctive spirit, or “urban charisma”. Finally, it illustrates that Suketu Mehta's postcolonial diasporic identity introduces innovative perspectives for comprehending the ambivalence that inherently characterises the flâneur figure.

„Na o–bi–ad!”: słuchanie warszawskiej trąbizupki, czyli kuchni ruchomej (1901–1904), jako sygnału oraz praktyki akustemologicznej ludowej społeczności Warszawy

Trąbizupka – Warsaw’s mobile field kitchen – was a charitable initiative of the early years of the 20th century; a cart going around Warsaw sold nutritious and cheap soup, and its arrival was accompanied by the sound of a trumpet. This peculiar sound phenomenon existed in the city’s phonosphere for a short time – the residents had to learn to interpret it, but after a few years, trąbizupka’s activity was suspended. The functioning of trąbizupka (manifested through its sonicity – literally, in the sound of the trumpet, and figuratively, in the name itself) was coupled with a class discourse on charity – from admiration for the initiative to the feeling of shame of Warsaw’s folk classes, as reported “first-hand” by the positivist “Przegląd Tygodniowy” [Weekly Review], linked to eating a pauper’s meal “on the street.” At the same time, trąbizupka became an element of urban folklore, preserved in popular polkas for piano and as a sound characteristic of Warsaw. Trąbizupka, as a case study analyzed from the position of historical sound studies, allows us to ask questions about the sound signal as a vehicle of communication and about the acoustemology of the city’s residents, especially of the lower social classes, at the turn of the 20th century. Key-words: acoustemology, audiosphere, sound history, sound studies, Warsaw

Epistemic injustice and neo-racism: how Zhihu users portray ‘Chinese doctoral supervisors’ working in Western academia

AbstractThe image of Chinese doctoral supervisors working in Western academia is riddled with stereotypes in urban myths but little research to date has been conducted on these portrayals of Chinese supervisors. Drawing on postcolonial theories, including notions of epistemic injustice and neo-racism, this research conducts a thematic analysis on around 450 Zhihu comments. It proposes that the Zhihu community has portrayed three images of the Chinese supervisors as (1) ambitious and supportive, (2) sneaky and exploitative, and (3) colonised. While the second and third images are more negative, the first image is overwhelmingly positive. In portraying these images of the Chinese supervisors, the community confronted two main underlying structural forces. These include (1) a steep ethnic/racial hierarchy where White middle-class, native speakers of English dominate and (2) an unequal classed sphere within Western academia. This paper argues that this Zhihu community displayed profound yet only partial recognition of the steep ethnic/racial hierarchy due to their internalisation of their own linguistic inferiority. Moreover, this Zhihu community perpetuates neo-racism and epistemic injustice over Chinese supervisors and postgraduate research students from working-class and rural backgrounds. Among the first to examine how Chinese doctoral supervisors are portrayed in online communities, this article provides informative insights for prospective postgraduate research applicants as well as admission professionals in Western academia. The neo-racism and epistemic injustice identified can also feed into future work on Diversity and Equality as well as decolonising efforts. Conceptually, this article innovates by combining neo-racism and epistemic injustice to form a framework that furnishes a comprehensive examination of unjust practices and portrayals in the realms of racial and knowledge inequalities in doctoral supervision. This article thus makes empirical and conceptual contributions to critical studies in international and doctoral education.

Rape Myths and Verdict Systems: What Is Influencing Conviction Rates in Rape Trials in Scotland?

The Scottish verdict system includes three verdicts: 'guilty', 'not guilty' and 'not proven'. Politicians propose that the three-verdict system is partially to blame for the low conviction rate of rape, whereas research suggests that rape myths may be having a larger impact. To test the effects of varying verdict systems (guilty, not guilty and not proven; guilty and not guilty; a series of proven and not proven verdicts) and rape myths on juror verdicts. A total of 180 participants answered questions regarding their acceptance of rape myths using the Acceptance of Modern Myth and Sexual Aggression (AMMSA) scale. They then watched a staged rape trial filmed in a real courtroom and reached a verdict. Participants also provided longer-form answers on which thematical analysis was conducted. The main findings are as follows: (1) The special verdict system leads to a higher conviction rate than the other systems when rape myth acceptance is controlled for. (2) The higher the rape myth acceptance, the more favourably the accused was perceived and the less favourably the complainer was perceived.

Characterizing myths of sexual aggression in the young population in Spain

BackgroundMyths of sexual aggression have a negative influence in aggressive behavior against women, in the institutional approaches to sexual violence and in how women cope with it. The objective of this study is to describe acceptance of myths of sexual aggression in young women and men residing in Spain.MethodCross-sectional study carried out online with 2,515 women (50.2%) and men (49.8%) ages 18–35 in Spain in 2020. Information on myths was collected using the Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression Scale (AMMSA). We described the myths most prevalent among women and men. The variables associated with myths were identified using multiple regression. The regression models were adjusted by sociodemographic and sexual orientation variables.ResultsThe average AMMSA values were higher among men [mean: 3.11; standard deviation (sd):1.23] than among women (mean 2.49 sd:1.11). In both sexes, the myths with greater acceptance showed the presence of patriarchal gender roles in sexual contacts. Men were more likely than women to accept myths that question allegations and severity of violence. Having a higher level of educational studies (β -0.350 sd: 0.046) was associated with lower average AMMSA values. Being born in Latin America (β 0.047 sd: 0.063) was associated with higher average AMMSA values. Among heterosexual men, AMMSA values were greater than among gay and bisexual men. Among women, there was no difference in average AMMSA values based on sexual orientation.ConclusionsMyths persist during youth that question and trivialize sexual violence against women. It is necessary to implement strategies that reduce these myths, particularly in heterosexual men, in those of foreign-born origin and among those with low levels of education.

Folklore Texts in the Context of Historical and Cultural Environment: Neurobiological Influence

The article clarifies the basic definitions of current folklore science, defines the range of terminological borrowings from the conceptosphere "postmodernism". The article considers the term post-folklore as having a neurobiological influence, since reading works of post-folklore is a complex neurophysiological process during which the brain scans and decodes symbols and their combinations connected by phonetic, semantic and syntactic rules, discovering the meaning encoded in them, including modern urban folklore and a fundamentally new type of folk art - Internet folklore (netlore). The possibility to describe folklore phenomena in terms of post-, analogy with postmodern phenomena, has certain grounds. Thus, the postmodern exaltation of the reader, which destroys the precedence of meaning and constitutes the latter in the process of reading, finds correspondence in the multivariantism of folklore. Since postmodernism and post-folklore are united by chronological frameworks, we consider literary and folklore texts in the context of historical and cultural environment in which they appeared, we find their neuroinfluence on the personality. The analysis of the postmodern discourse shows that an important principle of its principle is the neuroinfluence in acquaintance with the works of folklore, the interactive code. New forms of disseminating and receiving information in today's society determine new forms of its non-specialized - folklore - translation.

Innovative trends and strategies for the integral valorization of products in the beer supply chain

This review aims to explore the latest innovations in beer supply chain. Innovation is defined as the combined application of strategies that enhance intrinsic and extrinsic product characteristics while optimizing complementary aspects for a modern approach to the food market. The study is structured around key themes that define the overall quality of the beer supply chain: safety (wholesomeness and authenticity), biological quality (chemical composition, sensory profile, and nutritional quality), process quality, convenience, and commodities. The goal is to promote accurate dissemination of information within the beer community and dispel common misconceptions. These misconceptions often arise from flawed approaches, leading to the creation of urban legends and unfounded prejudices. Special attention is given to innovation and research in the craft beer sector, which is rapidly growing in Italy and the global market.

From SOFT approach to SWOT analysis, a historical reconstruction

Purpose The purpose of this study is to revisit the conventional wisdom about a key contribution [i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis] in the field of strategic management. The societal context and the role of academics, consultants and executives is taken into account in the emergence of SWOT analysis during the 1960–1980 period as a pivotal development within the broader context of the satisfactory, opportunities, faults, threats (SOFT) approach. The authors report on both the content and the approach, so that other scholars seeking to invigorate indigenous theories and/or underreported strategy practices will thrive. Design/methodology/approach Applying a historiographic approach, the authors introduce an evidence-based methodology for interpreting historical sources. This methodology incorporates source criticism, triangulation and hermeneutical interpretation, drawing upon insights from robust evidence through three iterative stages. Findings The underreporting of the SOFT approach/SWOT analysis can be attributed to several factors, including strategy tools being integrated into planning frameworks rather than being published as standalone materials; restricted circulation of crucial long-range planning service/theory and practice of planning reports due to copyright limitations; restricted access to the Stanford Research Institute Planning Library in California; and the enduring popularity of SOFT and SWOT variations, driven in part by their memorable acronyms. Originality In the spirit of a renaissance in strategic planning research, the authors unveil novel theoretical and social connections in the emergence of SWOT analysis by combining evidence from both theory and practice and delving into previously unexplored areas. Research implications Caution is advised for scholars who examine the discrete time frame of 1960–1980 through mere bibliometric techniques. This study underscores the risks associated with gathering incomplete and/or inaccurate data, emphasizing the importance of triangulating evidence beyond scholarly databases. The paradigm shift of strategic management research due to the advent of large language models poses new challenges and the risk of conserving and perpetuating academic urban legends, myths and lies if training data is not adequately curated.

The Sinister Side of Summer: Revisiting the Dog Days of Nineteenth-Century New York

Seasons form part of changing sensory experiences of urban environments. But it is important to note that, at times, urbanites broke down seasons into smaller slices. The “Dog Days” are a case in point. This term has now passed into urban myth, but the linking of Sirius with the heat of the summer and canine madness during the dog days stretches back to at least the Romans, and was still widely feared and discussed in the nineteenth century. This roundtable intervention aims to recover the meaning and experience of this season within a season using nineteenth-century New York City as a case study. Drawing on newspaper articles, medical reports, and other sources, it will discuss how the dog days were framed as a louche period of sultry heat and canine madness, a time when tempers and the fabric of urban life frayed. Situating itself within urban environmental and sensory history, this essay also aims to bring together climate and animal history. Before the widespread acceptance of germ theory at the end of the nineteenth century, the theory that the heat of the dog days and the strange influence of Sirius caused rabies was hotly debated in the press and among doctors. It also stoked vivid fears of the dog days, which led to material changes in the lives of dogs: muzzling, impoundment, and death. The dog days was a time when the nonhuman agencies of climate and canine seemingly combined in ways that threatened the physical and emotional health of New Yorkers. As such, the dog days stood for the sinister side of summer that was only broken with the arrival of autumnal freshness.

Myths of Zimbabwean urban nationalism: Narratives of modernity and exceptionalism in the economic crisis

AbstractZimbabwe has distinct urban nationalist myths stemming from the colonial period—urban modernity and economic exceptionalism. The modernity myth has been constructed from the colonial period and came to be associated with urban order, lifestyle and social mobility. The economic exceptionalism myth refers to Zimbabwe's past exceptional economic performance during the colonial and early postcolonial periods. However, the economic crisis and informalisation from the late 1990s have challenged these myths as neither previous practices of urban modernity nor the feeling of exceptional economic performance is attainable any more. In this context, people in the informal sector reimagine what these nationalist myths mean to them. In particular, they engage in debates about which economic practices are modern enough to be implemented in urban areas, especially in the city centre, and how to identify themselves make a claim to urban modernity. The memory of economic exceptionalism in the meantime acts as a reference point in discussions about future national development. All these translate into the question of legitimacy—of the informal economy and its practices and the government that failed to uphold the modernity and exceptionalism myths.

Interpretative aspects of the romance ”Pe lângă plopii fără soț...” in its own interpretative vision

Romance Pe lângă plopii fără soț... was written in the second half of the 19th century by the Romanian composer and pianist Guilelm Șorban based on a poem by Mihai Eminescu. Over time, this romance has enjoyed increasing popularity, including in the folklore environment, being transmitted orally and performed as a lyrical song. Today, the romance Pe lângă plopii fără soț... is included in the repertoire of singers with different backgrounds: academic, stage, jazz, etc. The author is interested in the worldly, urban version of the creation, as it was conceived by the author. We will make an analysis of an interpretive version, which is more common among both established and amateur singers, a model that reflects the urban folklore foundation of romance and we will propose certain aspects related to the specifics of vocal performance. In this direction, we will highlight different elements of versification, dynamic nuance, vocal emission, rhythmic treatment, intonation and architectural form.

Способы мифотворчества и их специфика (на примере художественных и публицистических текстов Умберто Эко)

The study aims to identify the specifics of myth-making techniques that are comprehended and tested by the 20th- and 21st-century European philosopher Umberto Eco in his numerous publicistic and literary texts. As a result of the study, classifications of the “traditional” ways of myth-making (the reference to traditional mythologized archetypes, the use of binary oppositions, etc.) and the “modern” ways (double coding, depersonalization, discreteness of history, etc.), determined by the cultural and historical context of postmodernism and post-structuralism were provided. Using these classifications, the significance and influence of myth and myth-making techniques on thinking, human behavior, and cultural and historical processes of past and modern eras were proven. The paper is novel in that by analyzing the complex of Umberto Eco’s texts, myth is considered as the most important construct both of human culture and human thinking. The mechanisms of constructing certain types of modern myths, as well as the ways of their influence on the mass consciousness, on historical and socio-cultural processes are described.

The Settler Supernatural: Contemporary Taiwanese Popular Culture, the Environment, and the Nativisation of Han Taiwanese Legends

Abstract This article examines how Han Taiwanese myths and urban legends have been associated with the environment and native fauna in the best-selling popular non-fiction publication Monstrous Taiwan and the hit horror film The Tag-Along. This article also looks at how these works can be considered within the framework of settler colonial studies in East Asia. Both works are interested in intervening in popular culture and genre cinema while reframing the horror or supernatural genre as particularly Taiwanese, drawing on urban legends and traditional folk tales. However, the creators of these works persistently characterise Han Taiwanese legends as interchangeable with the native fauna of Taiwan. This move positions Han Taiwanese as inheritors of the natural environment of Taiwan while minimising or, in some cases, tokenising the presence of indigenous Taiwanese people.

Academic urban legend, Agbogbloshie: Sweeping away the "World's Largest E-Waste Dumpsite"

Agbogbloshie, once an internationally recognised toxic e-waste site, was thrust into prominence by sensationalised media and literature. Despite various e-waste initiatives by the government and development partners, the municipality unexpectedly demolished the site in 2021. This action can be attributed partly to the municipality's inability to effectively manage informality, and partly to the propagation of questionable ‘facts’ based on inadequate data, journalistic views, and distortions, which fueled an urban myth and intensified extreme perceptions about Agbogbloshie and its policy trajectory. The emergence and downfall of this academic urban legend are demonstrated through an examination of Wikipedia activity related to the Agbogbloshie page, Google citations, other digital traces, and publication patterns. The Agbogbloshie case highlights the risks of globalizing extreme urban cases, underscores the need for more consistent and aligned urban policies and actions in Accra that are not only consistent and aligned but also cognizant of the complexities of informality, viewing it as a manifestation of underlying socio-economic challenges. It also calls for strategies that avoid displacement and fragmentation, recognising the potential hazards of relocating informal challenges to other urban and peri-urban areas following slum demolitions.

‘A Systematic and Intensive Trawl’: Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s Audio Recordings for the Urban Folklore Project

Éilis Ní Dhuibhne worked with the Urban Folklore Project – which is now part of the National Folklore Collection at UCD – from 1979 to 1980. She was appointed one of six supervisors in this ambitious project, working on a full-time basis and documenting Dublin lore. She made audio recordings, took photographs, wrote notes, made video recordings, devised and circulated questionnaires and also kept a diary. She collected in farflung places such as Ringsend, Mulhuddart and Ballymun and she interviewed countless people from school children to near-centenarians. This article lists the audio recordings made by Éilís for the project. A manuscript volume in the National Folklore Collection gives a listing in numerical order of the audio tapes made by the collectors for the Urban Folklore Project. This listing includes the names of the collector and the informant and also indicates which tapes have been transcribed and bound in volumes within the National Folklore Collection.

A hypothesis-based hop microbiology laboratory module testing the plausibility of the mythical origin of the India Pale Ale.

As one of the most famous fermented drinks in the world, beer is an especially relatable topic for microbiology courses. Here, we describe a short and easily adaptable module based on the antibacterial properties of hops used in brewing. By the 15th century, beer recipes included hops (the flower of the Humulus lupulus plant) as a bittering agent and antimicrobial. By the 19th century, the highly hopped Indian Pale Ale (IPA) became popular, and a modern myth has emerged that IPAs were invented to survive long ocean voyages such as from Britain to India. With that myth in mind, we designed a hypothesis-driven microbiology lab module that tests the plausibility of this brewing myth-namely that highly hopped beers possess enough antibacterial activity to prevent spoilage, while lowly hopped beers do not. The overall design of the module is to test the antimicrobial properties of hops using petri plates containing varying concentrations of hop extract. The module includes hypothesis generation and testing related to bacterial physiology and cell envelope morphology (hops are not equally effective against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria) and to mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (as beer spoilage bacteria have repeatedly evolved hop resistance). Pre- and post-assessment showed that students made significant gains in the learning objectives for the module, which encourages critical thinking and hypothesis testing by linking microbial physiology and antimicrobial resistance to an important and topical real-world application.

The Jinn – The Culprit of the Arabic World

The article attempts to ponder on the prevalent religious beliefs, urban (vernacular) legends, everyday customs and traditions related to the figure of the jinn and its origins. The study will discuss the mentioned from the point of view of official Sunni Islam, in order to better unweave the disposition Islam towards superstitions and vernacular beliefs. The aim of study is to provide the generic Islamic concept about the jinn and to place it into a context within the framework of individual interpretations of the interview subjects who reside in Kuwait, are Sunni Muslims, men, and women, between the age of 18-65. The applied resources were the Holy Quran, websites marked authentic for Quran interpretations, and contemporary and past literature written on the subject. Further, several interviews with the local Arabic community, blogs, articles of urban legends, and Ruqyah are the backbones of the present paper.