ETNOLOGICKÉ ROZPRAVY / ETHNOLOGICAL DEBATES 2025 / 1
Verbal folklore
Verbal folklore is a term that may seem a bit outdated these days, but experts know how this first impression is deceiving. The original fascination with the art of uneducated rural communities, born in the period of romantic nationalism, was transformed into systematic, methodologically sophisticated, international, and interdisciplinary research that tries to decode the inner dynamics of spontaneous artistic creativity. In an attempt to redefine folkloristics, around the middle of the last century, experts began to agree that folklore is not a pre-industrial fossil, but is also present in modern, increasingly globalised society. From these discussions, an understanding of folklore as a spontaneous non-professional creativity handed down in (small) social groups, adaptable and thus still present in the world of pop culture, computer games, Internet social networks and artificial intelligence, has developed. In the case of verbal folklore, although it also serves as a relaxing and entertaining activity, at the same time it reflects in an original way fears, anxieties, desires and ideas about the world, which are shared in different variants in similar communities across the globe. These stories are often an active part of enculturation and acculturation, while they can be a tool for strengthening intra-group identity, but also for sharpening inter-group conflicts.
The thematic issue, dedicated to both traditional and non-traditional genres of verbal folklore, invites contributions that relate to verbal folklore in a variety of forms, for example:
- theoretical and methodological approaches of verbal folkloristics,
- current forms of field research of verbal folklore,
- new forms of verbal folklore (urban/contemporary rumours, elements of verbal folklore in pop culture and mass media etc.),
- verbal folklore in relation to rumours, hoaxes and misinformation,
- historical, social and psychological contexts of verbal folklore research,
- scenic forms of verbal folklore,
- history of verbal folkloristics,
- the meaning and perspectives of verbal folklore research.
The upcoming issue of Etnologické rozpravy is dedicated to doc. PhDr. to Hana Hlôšková, CSc., on the occasion of her life anniversary.
Abstracts of the contributions should be sent to the editors at etnologicke.rozpravy@gmail.com and the guest editor Z. Panczova at zuzana.panczova@savba.sk by December 15, 2024.
Submission deadline: February 15, 2025
Guest editor:
Mgr. Zuzana Panczová, PhD.
Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS, v. v. i.
Instructions for sending contributions: follow the instructions listed on https://nss.sav.sk/en/ethnological-debates/guidelines-for-authors/