Folklore and Tradition: Small Encounters, Broader Meanings

Session Submission Type: Panel

Affiliate Organization: Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association

Brief Description

This panel addresses the complex meanings of folklore and tradition in historical and contemporary contexts. Employing either ethnographic methodologies or archival research, the presenters explore a variety of phenomena illustrating that local small-scale encounters often carry broader implications for related communities. The (re)imaginaries of rurality in Bulgaria by post-socialist generations shed light on tensions between traditional heritage and identity. Traditional religious imagery appears to have played an important role in developing the strategies of hope in the context of oppressive regimes in imperialist Russia. Traditional stories from the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine reveal broader regional connections, while Central Asian traditional folklore is adapted to fit expectations of the Soviet silver screen. This panel is sponsored by the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association (SEEFA).

Sub Unit

• Folklore Studies

Chair

• Isabella Palange, U of Wisconsin-Madison

Papers

• Liberation in the Epistles and Folk Hymns of Vasilii Stepanov - J. Eugene Clay, Arizona State U

• A Boy in Red in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine and Beyond - Elena E Boudovskaia, Georgetown U

• 'The Children of Postsocialism' and the Village Paradigm in Bulgaria - Sarah Craycraft, Harvard U

Discussant

• Erin M. Collopy, Texas Tech U