In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore StudiesUniv of Wisconsin Press, 2009 M07 30 - 320 pages Authenticity is a notion much debated, among discussants as diverse as cultural theorists and art dealers, music critics and tour operators. The desire to find and somehow capture or protect the “authentic” narrative, art object, or ceremonial dance is hardly new. In this masterful examination of German and American folklore studies from the eighteenth century to the present, Regina Bendix demonstrates that the longing for authenticity remains deeply implicated in scholarly approaches to cultural analysis. Searches for authenticity, Bendix contends, have been a constant companion to the feelings of loss inherent in modernization, forever upholding a belief in a pristine yet endangered cultural essence and fueling cultural nationalism worldwide. Beginning with precursors of Herder and Emerson and the “discovery” of the authentic in expressive culture and literature, she traces the different, albeit intertwined, histories of German Volkskunde and American folklore studies. A Swiss native educated in American folklore programs, Bendix moves effortlessly between the two traditions, demonstrating how the notion of authenticity was used not only to foster national causes, but also to lay the foundations for categories of documentation and analysis within the nascent field of folklore studies. Bendix shows that, in an increasingly transcultural world, where Zulu singers back up Paul Simon and where indigenous artists seek copyright for their traditional crafts, the politics of authenticity mingles with the forces of the market. Arguing against the dichotomies implied in the very idea of authenticity, she underscores the emptiness of efforts to distinguish between folklore and fakelore, between echt and ersatz. |
Contents
3 | |
PART 1 THE INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF AUTHENTICITY | 25 |
PART 2 THE ROLE OF AUTHENTICITY IN SHAPING FOLKLORISTIC THEORY APPLICATION AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION | 95 |
PART 3 QUESTIONING THE CANON | 155 |
Other editions - View all
In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore Studies Regina Bendix No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
Abrahams academic aesthetic American Folklore American Folklore Society anthropology argued assessment ballad Bauman Bausinger Bausinger's Ben-Amos Boas Bodmer Brothers Grimm canon century Child collection collectors concept context critique disciplinary discipline discourse Dorson efforts emergence Emerson ethnic European expressive culture fakelore field fieldwork folk culture folklife Folklore Society folklore studies folklore's folklorists folksong formulated Francis James Child genres genuine German German folklore goal Grimms Herder Herderian Hoffmann-Krayer human Hymes ideology individual insight intellectual interest invention Jacob Grimm journal Köstlin Lachmann language legacy legitimate Leitzmann literary literature Lowell manuscript materials modern Moser native Native American nature Naumann's Nazi Newell oral origin performance philosophy poetic poetry poets political popular Public Folklore purity realm reflexive Romantic Romantic nationalism Romantic nationalist Romanticism scholarly scholars scholarship scientific social sociopolitical song term thenticity theory tion tradition tural verbal art vocabulary of authenticity Volk Volkskunde Whisnant