Introduction into Health-Related Folklore and Its Research: From First-Hand Experiences to Second-Hand Narrating Models

By accentuating the central keywords and observations of the articles published in this special journal issue, the author - situating the articles in a broader theoretical framework - offers a glimpse at the role of the humanities in the research of the realm of health in such a unique period as the Covid-19 pandemic The author concludes that based on the complexity of the topic (its physical and mental, individual and collective angles, impact of the mass media and partly recycled narrative models), health research needs to take into consideration the topic’s social, narrative, religious, belief, and other aspects in a nuanced way, and here folkloristic and medical anthropological approach with its specialized methodology and empirical groundedness can offer significant added value © 2021, FB and Media Group of Estonian Literary Museum All rights reserved