On Sociocultural Categories

Abstract

Much has been written about the outdated, ambiguous, embarrassing, stigmatized word that gives the name to our field.1 “Folklore” is a word we can neither live with nor, apparently, live without. The term is a moving target, impossible to pin down. “The folk,” to some, denotes a submissive lower class deluded by paternalism and not yet awakened to political self-consciousness. To others, folklore is a rich repository of resistance and alternative histories. Folklore can evoke both the pseudo culture imposed by authoritarian governments and the presumably authentic culture that resists this. The word is tinged alternately with condescension, nostalgia, and defensiveness.