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Applied Folklore
The course ‘Applied Folklore’ aims to describe ways of applying concepts and insights from
folklore studies to a broad range of situations and issues. It has antecedents on identifications,
collections, classifications, descriptions, analyses/interpretations, and documentations of
folkloric genres and elements. Folklore in creativities, museums, educations, and the public
sector have been discussed widely and separately. This course differs from others in several
ways. First, though it is intended primarily for folklorists, it can benefit practitioners in other
fields. Second, the issues transcend speculation or theory to describe actual applications of direct
knowledge, mostly emanating from occupations. Third, it is more skills-oriented than its
predecessors identifying particular knowledge, abilities, and techniques of folklorists enhancing
many professions and useful in trying to solve a variety of problems. Using the resources and
gains for practical day-to-day purposes need clear explorations and exemplifications.
Part I demonstrates how utilizing folklore can promote learning, problem solving, and the
conservation and presentation of folklore. Teachers can achieve the goals of pluralistic
education by acting like a folklore fieldworker, thereby reducing intergroup stereotyping and
increasing students’ self-esteem while simultaneously developing independent learning skills.
Examining recent trends in different types of museums indicates the values of including folklore
programming. Narratives use in diagnosis and intervention in solving problems, illustrating
applications for policy and programs. Folklore or folklife research is a crucial part of
environmental planning.
Part II focuses on how values, concepts, and approaches from folklore studies can improve
the quality of life. Health care can be rendered more effectively if practitioners become aware of
a variety of ways of thinking about the causes and cures of illness – achieved in part by adopting
a fieldworker’s point of view when interviewing patients. Art therapy can be democratised by
sensitizing the art facilitator to the value and implications of everyday creativity and traditional
aesthetics and thereby helping to improve communication in therapeutic settings. Improving the
design of public spaces needs emphasis on symbolic behaviour in face-to-face interaction.
Taking a folkloristic approach to the study of organizational behaviour and incorporating
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concepts and methods from folklore research helps the efforts at organization development.
Folklore studies play roles in developing a more responsible tourism.
Part III discusses ways of utilizing folklore research that, for whatever else may be
accomplished, can enhance identity and a sense of community. Reviews of some past decades’
experiences as public sector folklorists put folklore to use in schools, museums, and parks and
recreation programs not only to educate but also to stimulate appreciation of and pride in local
traditions. Folklore programming for and with the elderly helps to promote a sense of self-worth.
Experiences in public relations work for professional association, helping reflect and create a
self- image. It helps to set forth an agenda for helping rural communities survive and even thrive.
Other applications of folklore and its study include journalism, librarianship (where some learn
and tell myths, legends, and folktales as part of their job description); photographing,
filmmaking, and videographing to document examples of folklore and aspects of folklife;
increasingly folklorists serve as consultants to media projects; and program officers for state
humanities councils where selected academic folklorists sit on boards of directors.
Creativity and creative resources for national literature is among areas where folklorists
contribute to development. Elements and features of oral literature can be resourceful bases for
the development of national literature and arts such as dance, music, drama, fictions, poetry and
film.

Opportunities for applications are diversified. The topics are in areas folklore is considered
relevant (education), institutions or agencies in which folklorists are needed (e.g., the public
sector, such as museums and arts councils), and fields that are likely to draw increasingly heavily
on folklore studies as well as employ more folklorists in the future (e.g., health, aging,
organization development, and environmental planning). Particular application, necessary
overviews and case studies are focused.
The content is loosely structured. Promoting learning, for example, is just as likely to have
implications for improving the quality of life and enhancing identity and community. It made
sense to move from promoting learning and conserving examples of folklore to questions of how
this can improve the quality of life, essential aspects of which are self-esteemed and closeness to
others. Common principles throughout are methods of folkloristics, as well as skills and abilities
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of folklorists that may be applied to another field, how one applies them, and some issues in
application. Overall, there is a deep-seated concern for appreciating and understanding folklore
and, through it, people, and for utilizing this respect for tradition and understanding of symbolic
behaviour to help solve social issues and improve the world in which we live.
The course is meant to provide guidance and direction to folklorists who are considering
applying their training, skills, and knowledge to the problems of human welfare, such as aiding
the homeless, caring for the elderly, or improving workplace conditions. Another is to inform
practitioners in professional fields about using folklore studies to augment their own
specializations, thereby enhancing the quality of education, health care, urban planning, and
other services extended to the public.
An underlying assumption is that knowledge of folklore is vital. People tell stories. They
celebrate, ritualize, play, and use figurative language. These traditional, symbolic forms and
processes are universal in the species. Particular examples may express values, transmit precepts,
teach and reinforce norms, or occupy leisure. Or they may project anxieties, express joy and
satisfaction, provide meaning, and in other ways help people make sense of their world, cope,
and act. Whatever their functions and consequences, the very existence of these forms and
processes defines homo sapiens. To be effective, therefore, efforts to alter conditions, attitudes,
or behaviour must take into account the presence and impact of traditions and symbolic
interaction.
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______Applying Folklore Studies: ______

An Introduction

Michael Owen Jones

It implies lack of faith in field or profession

not to see its relation to the life around you.
_____Benjamin A. Botkin (1952)

Interest in, documentation, and speculation of folklore has started long ago. Among these are
works of:
Plutarch (40-120 A. D.), wrote the first formal treatises on folklore, grappling with the origins
and meanings of a people’s beliefs and customs just as contemporary folklorist do.
Robert Burns (18th C. Scottish poet) collected ballads and composed poetry in the “folk” idioms,
like American folksong revivalists in the 1960s, some of whom became well-known folklorists.
Grimm brothers recorded tales from their housekeeper, published two-volume Kinderund
Hausmarchen (1812-1815), and hypothesize the history and dissemination of these stories,
particularly in relation to German identity.
Despite the long interest in people’s songs, stories, sayings, and rituals, folklore research did not
exist as an academic discipline in most countries until recent years. Folklore was studied,
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however, and put to use in search of a usable past or for other personal, political, administrative,
or humanitarian purposes.
Surveying foundations of folklore studies, setting forth several concepts, and describing skills
and knowledge of the folklorist in practical application lay the groundwork for the rest of the
course.
First, some basic terms. In 1846 the Englishman William Thoms coined the Anglo-Saxon
compound “Folk-Lore” to replace “Popular Antiquities,” in vogue since the 18 th century. Among
other designations are “oral traditions” (used at least as early as 1777), the French traditions
populaires, and the German Volkskunde (an 18th century term, literally “knowledge of the
common folk”). In 1909 was lectured on folkliv (a term that appears as early as 1847), the
Swedish equivalent of the German Volksleben and the forerunner of “folklife” (used at least as
early as 1897 when William Parker Greenough published Canadian Folk-life and Folk-lore1), a
term that championed in the United States in the 1950s.
“Folkloristics” emerged in 1960s to differentiate the subject matter of folklore or folklife from its
methods of documentation and analysis. Influenced by German scholarship, the term implies a
systematic and disciplinary approach. Some folklorists prefer “folklore studies,” suggesting a
field of study but perhaps not a script discipline (others prefer “folklife,” which they feel
encompasses more than “folklore”). “Applied folklore,” employed occasionally in the 1940s and
1950s, found currency by the late 1960s and early 1970s. With the growing popularity in the
1980s of “folklore studies” to designate the field, “applied” began to be used in conjunction with
this term instead of with “folklore” alone. “Applied folklore studies” or “applied folkloristics”
suggests a discipline in its own right with theory methods.
Whether they use the term “folklore,” “folklife” or “oral traditions” most folklorists probably
would agree that the forms and processes studied have in common at least three characteristics.
They are symbolic, they are learned or generated in people’s firsthand interactions, and they are
traditional, exhibiting continuities and consistencies in thought and behaviour through time and
space, respectively.
“Attack the problem, not the person,” “If you want people to tell you the truth, then don’t shoot
the messenger,’” “If you want to get to know someone, walk a mile in his shoes,” and other
proverbs and traditional sayings are colourful, encapsulate the wisdom of many, and evoke a
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multiplicity of images and ideas. The stories that people tell are not simply a dispassionate
reporting of facts but dramatic performances vividly portraying some aspects of an event, in the
process engaging tellers and listeners alike in a host of associations and possible interferences.
Rituals convey meanings that transcend the mundane, invoking associations and feelings that
otherwise are often ignored, discounted, or suppressed in our workaday lives. In other words,
something visible is taken to stand for the invisible, whether ideas, qualities, or feelings. Even
customs are symbolic. As “our” way of doing things, these traditions define behaviour and
express identity.
In addition, the sayings, stories, and customs called folklore arise in the interaction of people and
therefore are shaped by participants’ personalities, social identities, and relations, and shared
experiences. A “story,” for example, is not a “text,” as in literature. Rather, it is the entire
performance, including linguistic as well as paralinguistic and non-verbal behaviour, with
“digressions,” “asides,” and feedback; and it is a product of an interaction between the narrator
and the auditors who assume particular social roles and identities during the storytelling event.
Finally, because they are repeated, emulated, or reproduced, those symbolic behaviours labelled
folklore are “traditional.” That is, they have both a social and historical character, exhibiting
similarities in assumptions, attitudes, and ways of doing things through space and time. To be
traditional also means that customs, stories, rituals, beliefs, and other symbolic forms become
imbued with values – either positively or negatively – and are perpetuated, altered, extinguished,
or revived.
Among the forms and processes of folklore are jargon, argot, proverbs, traditional sayings, and
nicknaming; myths, legends, and anecdotes; jokes and kidding; rumours and gossip; costume, the
making of personal items at work, and the personal decoration of space; recreation, games, and
play; celebrations, festive events, parties, and cooperative work efforts; traditional expressions of
beliefs; ceremonies, rituals, and rites of passage; and customs and social routines. Much could be
added to this list. There are dozens of kinds of stories, for instance, from exempla to sagas,
floating legends, memorate, and personal experience narratives; and there are many types of rites
and rituals. In addition, folklorists have identified such phenomena as ethnic display events,
small group festive gatherings, and the proto festival (a celebration that may become
institutionalized as an annual community event). E.g. Irreecha and Golfaa geggeessuu
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In their work, folklorists consciously seek evidence of continuities in what people do and think.
They document the stories that people tell, the figurative language they use, the rituals they
engage in, the songs they sing. Folklorists interpret these traditional, expressive forms and
examples according to one or more of several perspectives. Viewing folklore as an index of
historical processes, some researchers use examples of folklore to reconstruct the past or to
examine historical events and movements. Others treat folklore as an aspect or manifestation of
culture, and as an index to cultural processes. They examine how aspects of workers’ culture,
say, reflect work-view, socialize newcomers, to an occupational setting, enculturate values, or
mirror social and cultural change; or they investigate cultural identity expressed through folklore,
or ways that examples of folklore help immigrants adjust to a new culture or sometimes hinder
intercultural communication and understanding. Increasingly more researchers conceptualize
folklore as a behavioural phenomenon. They explore traditional, symbolic forms as expressions
of psychological states and processes (e.g., projections or transference, wish fulfilment, an aspect
of the grieving process, a means of coping or adjustment), or examine such cognitive and
interactional processes as learning, communication, and social dynamics.
In addition to documenting and interpreting examples of traditional, symbolic behaviour in
people’s everyday lives, many folklorists also present these examples and their interpretation in
museum exhibits, films, festivals, phonograph recordings, and radio programs. Some folklorists
attempt to help a people perpetuate some of their traditions, acting as “stewards” and “cultural
conservationists” on their behalf by documenting the traditions, making them public, typing to
get others to appreciate them, assisting in the development of apprenticeship programs, and so
on. Other folklorists apply their training in yet other ways to help solve problems related to
education, aging, urban design, and cultural pluralism.
Delineating “genres” of folklore and developing constructs and perspectives are a necessary part
of folklore studies. But before discussing folklore knowledge further, we need to consider such
questions as the following: To what uses have folklore and its study been put historically and
why? Should contemporary folklorists step down from the ivory tower of academe and engage in
applications? What does “applied “folkloristics” mean?
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Folklore Studies in Theory and Practice

The terms “applied folklore” and “applied folkloristics” are new, the notion of systematically
documenting and utilizing traditions is old. In 1630 Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, decreed
the taking down of traditions to inform about the way of life of ancient times. A collection of
“antiquities” could demonstrate to older European countries that Sweden, which then ruled
Finland and other areas, had a long history as a nation. In 1666 an antiquities council was
founded in Stockholm. Eight years later the council implored the Finish clergy to gather data on
the old narrative songs because they contained “much truth about the heroic deeds of the
forefathers”.
In the 18th century, Finland mounted a reconstruction program to recover from the ravage of the
Great Northern War. Aimed at finding better means of governing and of improving productivity,
the program first required thorough documentation and analysis of prevailing conditions. From
the 1730s to about 1800, scores of young men set out to describe their home regions. They
published more than one hundred scholarly treatises that recorded agricultural techniques,
architectural traditions, health practices, foodways, wedding and funeral customs, calendar
observances, recreational activities, legends, proverbs, and superstitions, as well as flora and
fauna.
One use of folklore in Germany in the late 18 th and early 19th centuries was nationalistic. The
abandonment of German language and literature in favour of French distressed members of the
Romantic Movement. The Romantics’ conviction that folk poetry contained the essence of the
nation’s creative heritage led to attempt to retrieve the ancient traditions in order to uncover
traces of heroic, noble past. Folklore was documented but also often rewritten and transformed
into kind of literary discourse about a nation’s values, virtues, and manners. This occurred in
Finland, Scotland, Ireland, and many other countries during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
At the end of 19th century, many members of the American Folklore Society (founded in1888)
were governmental workers and museum professionals (particularly from the Bureau of
American Ethnology), along with some writers, academics, and librarians. Folklorists put
folklore on display on natural history museums, made it a key educational and tourist attraction.
Extensive publications on traditions of immigrants had been meant to ease labour and racial
strife and congressional restrictions of their immigration. Folklore’s applications to the problems
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arising in the question of restricting immigration, extensive notes on local immigrants’ folklore,
including foodways, help to better adjust in hostile surroundings.
We can make a place where group of people could gather together to celebrate familiar holidays,
dress in traditional costumes, sing the old songs, and reminisce about days gone by. Museums of
products, photographs, and demonstrations can display similarities in the historical development
of textile processes, pottery, metalworking, and other handcrafts; such museums link with one
another, reveal continuity between experiences in the old and the new countries building a bridge
between immigrants and their children and their hosts. Such ideas gain general acceptance
leading to the rejection of the melting pot simile and proposes instead the metaphor of a mixing
bowl in which the characteristics of each nation are preserved.
Folk customs can help as a guide to social assistance to make progressive reforms in social
justice. The study of race psychology helps to determine as far as possible what relation their
home mores and norms have to their adjustment and maladjustment in new environments.
When social workers have acquired a fair knowledge of cultural differences of immigrants, their
ability to approach individuals and family groups acceptably is greatly enhanced. Types of food,
attitudes towards the government, and mortuary rites vary from section to section. A social
worker utilizes two techniques to increase understanding among people of different ethnic
backgrounds. One is group conversation in which neighborhood participants, under the guidance
of a facilitator, recalled childhood experiences, trying to get back to a time when they accepted
their traditions and their neighbors. The technique became festive and ritualistic as well as
therapeutic through the interpolation of songs, dances, and games suggested by the conversation
and by concluding the session with a symbolic song, dance, or ceremony.
Another is “progressive party,” in which several families hold open house with guests traveling
from one home to the next. Children can be made leave the classroom to visit the homes of
families of various cultural backgrounds. They have different types of food and take part in
songs, games, and dances as well as learn about customs through conversation and interview.
These in turn are reported back in the students’ compositions and integrated into the school
experience through “intercultural assemblies.”5
Folklore in the Schools is about its application to education. Concrete examples have a
justifiable place in the schools as an integral part of a coordinated program for child growth and
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development where children become aware of the folklore process, what it is, and how it
operates in their own lives and in their community.
Public agencies play roles in applied folklore, including folklore documentation, festivals, or
publications; art projects, music projects, theatre projects, writers’ projects, and historical records
survey can contribute and gain; research agencies on food habits dedicated to the belief that
studies of cultural patterns and customs revolving around food are crucial to solving nutritional
problems are likewise. Ethnomusicologists, folk-singers, dancers, traditional musicians,
archivists, performers, folksong collectors, compilers of best-selling books on folklore,
researchers, exhibition experts, filmmakers, and publishers, advocators, gain tremendously from
folklore application.
Folklore programs fund local traditional festivals, workshops, demonstrations in schools, and
other activities that present folk art and artists, in part to help perpetuate traditional art forms,
skills, and knowledge. They also provide funding for folk arts coordinator positions in arts
councils. People with training in folklore or ethnomusicology can be hired to coordinate the
documentation and presentation of traditional arts, performers, craftsmen, and cultural
programming for the park services.
Individuals trained in folklore have also pursued careers in museum work and administration,
performing groups and arts management, journalism, parks and recreation departments, social
works, the medical legal professions, and business. They also stimulate interest in culturally-
based science, conduct research and curate exhibits for agencies, work for management
consulting firms, direct urban traditions, serve schools and government agencies, work in
environmental issues and land use policies, consult with businesses, universities, and other
organizations regarding the multicultural workplace; others found their own organizations.
Nations can devote to folk culture and its study, preservation, and presentation. Folklore centres
provide technical assistance, carry out model documentary projects, and organize public forums
in the name of cultural conservation.
Folk studies programmes specifically designed to provide usable degrees to make graduates
marketable in the burgeoning field of folklore: arts coordinators, oral historians, museum
curators, and parks and recreation department personnel. Other folklorists teach, although not
necessarily in the university or folklore programs.
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Folklore in and out of academe

“I contend that it is not business of the folklorist to engage in social reform, that he is
unequipped to reshape institutions, and that he will become the poorer scholar and folklorist if
he turns activist,” insisted Richard M. Dorson in 1971. This is the only challenge to folklorists
helping to improve educational systems, urban planning, and health care. Dorson continued, “We
cannot afford much division from our primary responsibilities as scholars to seek and record the
truth about man and his ways.” Beyond being an educator, Dorson hesitated to advise on “how to
make the world better, or happier, or freer, through folklore.”
Dorson’s objection to folklorists putting their research to use depends on:
1. The long history of abuse or misuse of folklore. The documentation of traditions too
often had been inspired by nationalism or employed as a tool of colonialism or
totalitarianism. Warnings against the perversion of folklore research for political ends
depend on examples like Nazi Germany’s exploitation of the Aryan myth, Soviet
Russia’s glorification of its power elite as heroes, and Red China’s indoctrination of
children in its government’s philosophy through folk songs, dance, and puppetry. This
appears to be American view.
2. Commercial exploitation posed a threat. For decades Dorson railed against popularizers
like Benjamin A. Botkin, author of many short-lived popular “treasuries.” Dorson’s
famous concept of “fakelore” was coined in 1950 to simulate such works. It designates
the fabrication of stories, songs, and other “traditions” for financial gain, whether in the
form of advertising, popular treasuries, television hootenannies, or community
boosterism. By it, the unfortunate consumer would mistake having genuine folklore
article. This also discredits folklore as an academic discipline with each new treasury and
literary tall tale. Dorson strived to make folklore legitimate and honorable discipline in
university and attacked all he thought obstacle to it.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, folklore was largely an adjunct to philological studies and
literature. For many historians and anthropologists, customs, legends, and other forms of folklore
were useful but secondary in their pursuit of the past or as a way to understand a culture.
The first academic folklore programme in the English department at the University of North
Carolina, started to grant the master of arts degree in 1939. By 1950 Indiana University offered
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both the Ph.D. degree from the folklore department, chaired by Stith Thompson. Others followed
these some initiating two-track degrees in folklore focusing on application-oriented, preparing
students for employment in museums, archives, and historical societies. These include folklore
and mythology; folklore and ethnomusicology; folk studies combining folklore and ethnic
studies; folklore, regional studies, and literature; folklore, mythology and film studies, and so on.
Several institutions offer a concentration in folklore within anthropology, Slavics, English,
American Studies and other fields. Today, many colleges and universities list courses on folklore
across the globe.

Conception of “Applied Folklore”

The question “What is applied folklore?” is additional to the specter of its political and
commercial abuse and subversion of its academic mission. A number of folklorists (Richard
Bauman, Robert H. Byington, Henry Glassie, Rayna Green, and Harry Oster) agreed upon the
following conception of applied folklore and dispatch the letter of invitation to participants at a
conference in 1971:
We define applied folklore as the utilization of the theoretical concepts, factual
knowledge, and research methodologies of folklorists in activities or programs
meant to ameliorate contemporary social, economic, and technological problems .

This notion of applied folklore as an instrument of social reform and the folklorist as a change
agent infuriated Dorson, a participant in the conference. For him the folklorist is not equipped to
reshape institutions, has no business trying to do so, and will become the poorer scholar if he
turns activist.
The advocacy rhetoric later dropped to invite general support from colleagues for establishing a
Center for Applied Folklore. Applied folklore expands the folklorists’ customary activities
(research, fieldwork, publication and teaching), specifically in teaching into areas out of the
academic programmes, some even denying having a social or political platform. It was to be
largely a repository for materials and a clearinghouse for disseminating folklore (e.g., through
publications) but also a service center promoting festivals, training community leaders for
folklore programmes, guiding social workers in the use of folklore, and providing courses in
folklore for teachers. The establishment of Folklife Centres and the development of Folklife
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Programmes can fulfil some functions envisioned in Applied Folklore Centres and the Folklore
Society’s Centres for Applied Folklore.
Other conceptions of folklore include Dorson’s three meanings. First is social reform, “the
obligation of the folklorist to ameliorate the lot of the folk.” Second is putting folk wisdom and
know-how to use – for example, the utilization of home remedies by modern medical sciences.
Third is the “application of folklore concepts and content to teaching and research in other
fields”, such as history and literature.
To Botkin, the folklorist becomes an ‘applied’ folklorist when he gets outside of folklore into
social or literary history, education, recreation or the arts. He perceives the “pure folklorist” was
too much a purist, thinking “of folklore as an independent discipline,” as Dorson did. By
contrast, “the applied folklorist prefers to think of it as ancillary to the study of culture, of history
or literature – of people.”18 Botkin thought of his book as example of applied folklore because
they use “folk-say” as “folk literature,” “folk history”, help “keep alive folk expression that
might otherwise be lost” and exemplify “”giving back to the people what we have taken from
them and rightfully belongs to them.” 19 By associating himself with Rachel Davis DuBois, Ruth
Rubin, and other experienced social work and education, Botkin gained ideas about broader
applications for folklore, which he wrote about in one essay, whether or not he actually practiced
them in his own endeavours.
Those favoring the term and work of applied folklore studies often make up an assumption
(W.F.H. Nicolaisen 1971) contending that the basic notion of applied ….seems to be the use of
the results of pure research, theoretical study, academic inquiry and the like to enrich human life
practically. Recognising past abuses in the use of folklore, Nicolaisen was optimistic to think
application of theoretical results aims to improve human condition and not the reverse. This
makes application a value-laden concept.
Others argue for neutral definition of applied folklore. But historical misapplication have given it
“a number of rather more limited definitions” or generated opposition to it. Such misconceptions
include folklore use to justify and enhance political ideologies, well-meaning but naïve attempts
at revivalism, and the “frequently silly and misguided attempts to apply so-called folklore to
education through song books, over-organized teaching of folk dance, and so forth. Hufford
writes, “My definition of applied folklore is simply the application of concepts, methods and
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materials from academic folklore studies to the solution of practical problems,” rather like
engineering and other fields that have their theoretical as well as applied sides. He contends
“Such an application of academic folklore knowledge to practical problems provides an excellent
setting for the empirical testing of folklore hypotheses and generates by necessity a richly
interdisciplinary approach”.
In sum, applied folklore may mean or connote ameliorating social ills, utilizing traditional
knowledge and techniques in modern science and technology, drawing on insights from folklore
studies to illuminate issues in other (usual academic fields) enriching human life, or applying
concepts and hypotheses from folklore theory to solve practical problems of whatever nature. All
these ideas assume research, intervention and a body of theory and knowledge. A broader
conception of applied folklore studies might be stated as follows:

The field of applied folkloristics ethically utilizes concepts, methods and theories from
the discipline of folklore studies as well as its own specialization to provide information,
the formulation of policy, or the initiation of direct action in order to produce change or
stability in behavior, culture or the circumstances of people’s lives including environment
and technology.23

Major elements in this conception warrant brief discussion. First, explicit reference to ethics, at
the very beginning of statement warns against misapplication and emphasizes the need for moral
consideration at every step. It also conveys the spirit of ameliorative definitions intent on
reforming institutions and improving life without having to explain or defend what “socially
desired” or “betterment” is.
Second, the notion that instrumental activities are informed by research, concepts, and theories
means that the field of applied folklore studies encompasses far more than “applied folklore.” In
its narrowest sense, applied folklore involves using only forms and examples of folklore, such as
simply publishing a compilation of folktale or teaching a folk dance (without knowing the
history, performance context, meanings and significances of the forms or examples of folklore).
Applied folklore studies in the broadest sense is illustrated by “Presenting Folk Arts.” Folk Arts
Programme was designed to introduce presenting organizations (arts organizations that presents
performances produced by other rather than themselves) to the performing folk arts. Many
presenters want to offer folk arts but lack the necessary knowledge of how to locate and choose
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them, how to present folk artists appropriately on stage. One panel discussion selects and
presents artists in ways that are appropriate to the organization and compatible with the cultural
and aesthetic values of the performers. Other panels deal with the performing venues (from
proscenium to the community dance party), how to bring existing audiences in to see unfamiliar
traditions as well as how to reach new communities, and ways of educating audiences for both
understanding and enjoyment. For all these issues there is a growing body of research, methods
and theory developed by folklorists involved in public sector programming. This research and
technology constitutes part of the unique field of applied folklore studies.
Third, in applied folkloristics, the utilization of research may involve not only providing
information or advice but also helping formulate policy or initiating direct action, or a
combination of these. In road constructions, bisecting farms and religious site and thus cutting
off internal transportation routes, “the proposed road can threaten the social fabric of a
community. The notion of an “Ethnic Culture Survey,” needs to invite a folklorist to design it.
The study plan needs to call for ethnography of the community’s land use, perceptions and use of
space, and transportation patterns. In other words, the research would provide basic information
on traditional behavior, values, and customs. These perspectives be factored into new proposed
alternative routes.”24 Thus the study becomes a key element in policy planning and program
development.
Fourth, including in the conception of applied folklore studies both “change” and “stability” as
possible purposes and outcomes of the intervention recognizes the complexity of situations
involving people’s tradition. All too often consultants to organizations dwell on change having
been called in to intervene in a dispute or to enhance communications or improve cooperation;
they don’t understand the impact or potential value of history; custom, and tradition. On the
other hand, folklorists involved cultural conservation may be too readily inclined to preserve,
present, or perpetuate folklore just because it constitutes a group’s arts and tradition; they are
unwilling to admit possible dysfunctions socially or psychologically and the need for change.
Fifth, practical folkloristics includes applications not only to institutions and social relations but
also to the realms of individual behavior, culture, technology, and the environment. Child
psychologists, family therapists, and marriage counselors can learn from folklorists about the
kinds of ritualistic behavior and narrative performance that people generate their role in
 16

communication, and their consequences as interaction strategies. Anthropologists, social

workers, and educators concerned about intergroup tensions can utilize concepts and skills from
folklore studies in documenting, interpreting, and presenting folklore that teach one to appreciate
the diversity of culture and to value multiculturalism.
Technologically, specialists in artificial intelligence have experimented with programs that
mimic human storytellers for decades. Those who explore folklore from this perspective have
worked on computer models of dialects and myth structure, and they have applied principles
from works in the field such as Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktales to create a Folk
Telling System. An inventor of a narrative-producing programme called Talespin, and creator of
Minstrel, understand that a study of storytelling can reveal how people communicate, which in
turn may be used to help computers better communicate with people.
In regard to environment, folklorists engage in conducting folklife cultural surveys to investigate
about effects of chemicals from factories. Their purpose is to provide information about the
impact of projects on people’s traditions and customs as well as help shape policy and action
regarding them. Major themes at such conferences as “Cultural Conservation: Reconfiguring the
Cultural Mission” are meant to incorporate environmental research reports on potential cultural
impact. State and local governments should “require … a review of cultural resources alongside
the architectural and the archaeological review” accompanying development projects. 26
The last matter to consider is whether teaching is an example of applied folklore studies. Many
instances of applied folklore ultimately involve “education” (through training, instruction, or
enlightenment) or invoke education as a justification (such as public Folklife programming of
festivals and arts demonstrations). On the other hand, teaching is an academe often entails trying
to influence attitudes and behavior, not just conveying information. In the final analysis, whether
or not classroom instruction exemplifies the pragmatic side of folklore studies depends on
circumstances, content, and especially purpose. When the intent is “not necessary or even
primarily to train new generations of professional folklorists, but to develop in students a
sensitivity to traditional culture and the esthetic dimension of life, and to foster an appreciation
for cultural diversity,” writes Richard Bauman, teachers “are engaging in applied folklore up to
their very ears.” 27
PUTTING FOLKLORE TO USE
 17

By the late 1960s and early 1970s folklore programs and courses had more graduates in folklore
studies than they could employ back into these programs and other departments. Besides
universities producing excess graduates in theoretical fields like folklore studies, demands
continued for greater relevancy, accountability, and advocacy – to do something to try to solve
problems, in race relations, health, housing, and the workplace. Increasing more English majors,
historians, and philosophers sought and found employment outside academe. So did folklorists.
Applied Folklore Studies in the Public Sector
Folklorists can be employed to become folk art’s coordinators, ethnic arts survey directors for
historical and museum commission. They can survey traditions and develop archives of
resources, build resource files of artists and arts agencies, establish liaisons with traditional
craftsmen and performers, study marketing of the folk arts, direct folk arts programming for arts
council, and engage in similar activities. Their number grows gradually and includes territories
and cities as well as states.
Most of these arts programs lodge in administrative councils on the arts. Other programs are at
the auspices of historical societies or preservation centers. Some folklore programs combine arts
and humanities organizations. Culture affairs departments boost a folk and traditional arts
program; cultural arts divisions, folk arts programs, arts council and councils on arts and
folklore-related organization – bureaus folklife program. All employ and have folklorists on their
staff to produce many records, videotapes, slide/tape programs, and other programming about
ethnic, regional, and occupational traditions in their states.
In addition to individuals employed in arts council, historical societies, and other government
agencies, as “folk arts coordinators,” “cultural conservationists,” or “folklife specialists,” others
can found or work for not-for-profit corporations. As private organizations, rather than
government agencies, the not-for-profits theoretically have greater latitude in programming and
in advocacy or activist efforts, 30 although such potential has not always been realized. These are
in national council for the traditional arts, music institutes, and ethnic arts centers.
Some found Centers for regional folklore and direct them. Others guide the activities of folklife
resources, work with urban gateways, establish urban traditions. Many folklorists employed in
government and private agencies, not-for-profit organizations, refer to their field as “public
sector folklore” rather than applied folklore studies. The relationship between the two can
 18

confuse. “Applied folklore” originated at least twenty years before “public sector folklore” or
“public folklife programming.” But its merging to the Public Sector Section leads to its losing its
name and identity resulting in the supposition that public sector folklore has superseded applied
folklore.
Because so many folklorists are now employed by government agencies and not-for-profits
geared towards providing arts, educational and cultural services to the general public, the notion
of “public sector” rather than applied folklore is appealing and seems appropriate. The sobriquet
“public sector” helps unify diverse programs, even if not all projects are funded with public
monies, carried out by public agencies, or of benefit to the general public; folklorists are united
by a common name, and presumably in common cause. The term “public sector” sounds
innocuous enough, even humanitarian. It thus escapes some of the connotations of “applied
folklore” (whether the political misuses and abuses or the reformist rhetoric).
Changing the name does not alter two facts, however. One is that public sector folklore is one
kind of applied folklore or applied folkloristics. To document forms of traditional symbolic
behavior and then present the performers or craftspeople and information about traditional
activities in public events, as public sector folklorists do, does not differ conceptual from
researching traditional, symbolic behavior in regard to health or aging and then providing
information, planning programs, or developing policy in order to help bring about change
benefiting the ill and the aged.
Conceptually, then, public sector folklore programming is one example among many of applied
folkloristics. The activities of a folklorist in “public sector” provide educational, arts, or cultural
programming. The applications of folklore studies are in the realms of education, museum
exhibitions, medicine, art therapy, urban planning, aiding the homeless, organization
development, tourism, aging, public relations, economic or community development. Folklorists
also use their skills as archivists, librarians, journalists, photographers, marketers, and program
officers of humanities council, to name a few other fields.
The second fact is that public Folklife programming, like other examples of applied folkloristics,
is a form of intervention. Intervention is not bad; but how we intervene matters a lot. As David
Whisnant write, “To engage with public issues and act in the public arena is to intervene –
inescapably – in the lives of individuals and in the institutions that embody their collective will
 19

and vision. The question is not whether we shall intervene, but how and with what effects, amid
what particular set of historical, cultural, and political circumstances, and in the service of what
values and social visions.” It is for this reason that the conception of applied folklore studies
stated earlier begins with explicit reference to ethics. Even when “intervention” is used in a
positive sense of interceding with the express purpose of resolving conflict, reducing tensions, or
removing the causes of stress, there are likely to be far-reaching unanticipated consequences.
Whisnant’s warning clearly applies to situations of hard advocacy and activism in which goals
are to redress social ills by affecting policy in government, education, health, and business or
industry. But it also applies to the more subtly expressed mission in public sector folklore, “to
honor and make visible the stylistic and cultural variety that has made life an exciting challenge
and an adventure in human understandings. …. To encourage those community or family based
arts that have endured through several generations, which carry with them a sense of
community.” Hard decisions have to be made as to which examples of stylistic and cultural
variety should be honoured and made visible through government funding, and which
community or family tradition are to be valorized or perpetuated with others languish.
The same points apply to a more recent term, “Cultural Conservation” and promulgated at the
Cultural Conservation: the protection of cultural heritagess. To some, the term conjures up
images of putting natives on “reservations” or of “endangered species” in “preserves,”
“sanctuaries” and zoos. A statement of concern, warns the possibility that artificially sealing of
elements of culture would result in their embalmed or arrested in suspended animation.
Moreover, selecting, conserving, and manipulating cultural exchanges can play havoc with
scholarly values of detachment and objectivity. They are certainly not responsibilities for the
faint of heart. In response, others insist that fostering the continued vitality of endangered
species’—natural or cultural – without dismantling or derailing national and international
economic, political and social institutions is possible. They refer to exhibits at folklife festival
about cultural conservation, which documents efforts on the part of the keepers of traditions
themselves to conserve their own culture in the face of the changing social and physical
environment.
The concept of “culture” in cultural conservation, about “natural” and “unnatural” cultural
growth, and about how to determine, “in a non-legislative context, ‘the will of the people’ can be
 20

questioned. ‘Cultural conservation’ essentially denotes a competition within official culture for
control of the cultural environment. Dissatisfaction with it expressed strong. Its meaning,
difference from ‘conservation, possibility of conserving dynamics culture, its containing workers
activities are questioned. Yet its brilliancy from public relations standpoint evokes ideals,
resonate positively and accepted widely. It serves to bring together not only folklorists but also
anthropologists, planners, museum curators, civil servants, historians, and others; a virtue, as
long as the term is recognized as largely symbolic and serious questions continue to be raised.
Some of the other issues and concerns that have arisen are a function of the period. While there
are basic similarities, issues also differ somewhat, depending on whether the application is folk
arts programming, museum exhibitions, folklore in education, craft assistance programs, urban
planning, organization development, and so on. In what follows I mention only a few of the
topics receiving particular attention in the literature.
An area of concern has been on conceptual and logistical. Fundamental problem is that arts
administrators often consider the plural ‘folk arts’ as the common man’s versions of the fine arts.
Thus a skilled woodcarver becomes a ‘folk da Vinci’ and a badly rendered portrait is termed
‘folklike’ in its crudeness or naivete. In their programming, therefore, some folklorists are
restricted to those traditional forms having a fine arts counterpart, which greatly distorts the
picture of aesthetic expression in everyday life.
Another difficulty is those trying to develop state folklife programs “must view politically
defined area (the state) as a distinct culture area, and then create research and presentation
strategies appropriate to both the folkloric materials to be found within the state and the
constituencies served.” Compromising the problem is that folklorists, who like to see themselves
primarily as educators rather than civil servants, begin to be treated as a kind scholar-in-
residence, a conception that greatly limits what they can accomplish and creates
misunderstanding “by fellow workers (not colleagues) as well as the public.”
In addition, measuring the efforts of folklorists are difficult to define as so few practical
precedents, reasonable goals and a means exist. Their objectives are mostly furthering public
awareness, appreciation, and support of traditional culture. They are vague. Typical
measurements include attendance figures at festivals, concerts, and variety of groups involved in
folklife programming as workshops participants, correspondents, or field information sources.
 21

Yet another set of problems for folk arts coordinators revolves around the appropriateness and
defensibility of standard presentational models and techniques, such as festivals, concerts,
exhibits, and lectures – but particularly festivals. Justification for folk festivals has not been
confirmed by actual experience. The contention festivals bring information and understanding of
folk culture to a wide and varied audience is dubious; many festival goers regulars from middle-
class backgrounds attend for enjoyment and are given a highly conventionalized, formulaic
program of musical performances, dancing, craft demonstrations, and food for sale. It is argued,
“If festivals are to begin to live up to their educational claims, those responsible for their
direction and planning are going to have to realize that folklife festivals, as currently produced,
do not present folk culture, even when they present tradition-bearers; and that the information
presented in them, which is intended to lead to public knowledge and understanding of folk
culture, is not presented in a form which that public associates with education.”
The author’s notion of “folk culture” and “tradition-bearers,” older terms implying only certain
individuals communicate or behave through traditional, symbolic forms and processes might be
part of the difficulty. Also important is the ideal of “education.” Those involved in developing
folklore programs for the public must justify their activities to administrators, politicians and
fund sources. Because they have advanced degrees and are inclined to think of themselves more
in terms of educators than bureaucrats, folklorists in government agencies or not-for-profit
organizations tend to plan, implement, and defend programs by claiming educational purposes.
But perhaps education is too rigidly defined in terms of the formal educational model in which
the folklorists have been trained rather than in regard to a model and theory of informal,
experiential learning. Finally, national folk festival construction has been based largely on
foreign or exotic models and recent mass-culture commercial forms. What is needed is for
festival theory and technology to pay more attention to traditional national templates – the
customary, indigenous, less institutionalized festivals found locally and regionally.
There is also growing concern about ethical issues in the deliberate staging of cultural pluralism
by festival organizers serving as cultural brokers. Scholars offer numerous justifications for the
necessities of annual national festival of folklife on publicity and market. Basically, festival
encourages “preservation and transmission of traditional cultural repertoires”; in doing, the
festival is explicitly political, serving as “an advocate for human cultural rights, for cultural
 22

equity, for cultural diversity in the context of national institution founded with democratic,
enlightened ideals.” “The Festival, then, is among other things a kind of morale-builder,” “it
strengthens the self-esteem of folk arts … and may enrich their understanding and appreciation
of the culture of which they are the bearers. The festival, moreover, provides a kind of training
ground for the representation of culture.” Folklorists interview performers, demonstrators, and
presenters at festivals. Their report suggests a certain degree of success overall but a variety of
problems as well, ranging from a lack of organization and specific direction (according to some
participants) to professional rivalry among several staff and unfilled expectations for a number of
demonstrators.43
Brokering of Ethnic Folklore: Issues of Selection and Presentation at a Multicultural Festival,
confronts head-on the matter of how festival organizers “select, define, manipulate, and
sometimes alter the cultural symbols and strategies of the ethnic groups. Organizers of annual
and other festivals modeled on it “create new forms of ethnic interaction and promote a fledgling
national folk festival culture, with its own standards of in-group competence and performance.”
Exploring ways festival organizers confront issues of stereotyping, traditionality, acculturation,
and, ultimately, the implications of cultural pluralism as a belief system must emanate from
experiences. Among the decisions to be made (some are influenced politically and ideologically
and philosophically) are what groups to highlight in the festival, which segments of the ethnic
community to invite as participants, whether to include the young or the old performers (the
ethnic group often prefer the former as evidence of the traditions’ continuity, while folklorists
often prefer the latter as evidence of survival), which particular individuals to invite, and what
traditions from each group to include or exclude.
Seemingly simple matters as making food available for sale involve issues of stereotyping and
traditionality and authenticity. For example, festival planners deliberately choose food vendors to
make those traditional dishes well known to themselves but not familiar to the general public.
Yet the very stereotypes which festival culture opposes may be those symbols which constitute
the most common meeting ground between strangers. Folk groups will be happy if their foods
are liked; they feel they are respected.
Issues of authenticity and context have also confronted curators who present folk artists in
museums. Regarding the first matter, “Too often museums take the path of least resistance and
 23

use performers who interpret or recreate folk arts because these people are easiest to get and are
practiced performers.” The other problem concerns changes in behaviour and performance that
occur when “an art or craft is removed from its natural context in family or community and
moved into the museum.”46
Other matter of concern in regard to museums include how “concepts from folklore theory can
be used … to present a more dynamic and accurate picture of the relationship between people
and things.” In particular the performance-centered approach” emphasizes the “process and total
performance with audience and performer, user-maker, participant and onlooker.” A logical
extension is exhibitions that include, say, Zuni interpretations of Zuni history as well as
interpretations by anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians. Exhibits would also show
multifaceted aspects of an event, for example, both the positive and the negative impact of
acculturation.47
So much programming in folk arts has depended on a few governmental agencies for funding.
Some questions and issues focus on marketing of folk arts. Others concern political and ethical
issues precipitated by folklore programming threatening the existing power structure in a
community. This and related problems can be confronted developing a “partnership approach”
between the folklorists and the community that makes “the public” an active rather than a
passive partner in any programming effort. What resembles “participatory action research”
advocated by William Foote Whyte and other for use in, especially, organization development is
proposed in the realm of public sector programming.
Another issue is whether folklore societies – which are scholarly – can also function as a
professional organizations, serving the needs of not only those in academe but also folklorists
occupationally involved in the application of folklore studies, particularly the freelance and
consulting folklorist.
Yet other concerns are how to train this new breed of professional folklorist and how
developing careers in applied work will fit into existing status system based on the academic
model. Answering these questions requires identifying some of the skills and knowledge of
folklorists that can be and often are applied in different realms.

FOLKLORISTS’ SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

 24

Folklorists possess skills and abilities that serve them well regardless of the areas of application.
One is knowledge of the many different forms and processes of traditional, symbolic behaviour.
All people tell stories, celebrate, ritualize, play, and use metaphorical expressions; they
participate in traditions that convey meanings, recall past experiences, and act as symbols.
Folklorists study these phenomena to discover how people interact, communicate, instruct,
persuade, conceptualise, create, mark transitions, project anxieties, cope with the environment,
and solve dilemmas in human relations. In the process, they also learn what defines homo
sapiens as a species, namely, the fact that people behave in remarkably similar ways (i.e.
folkloristically), despite differences in language, religion, or color of skin.
Another skill is knowing how to isolate examples of folklore conceptually from the continuum of
human experience, record them, and analyse them. Folklorists take this ability for granted, but it
seems quite mysterious to many social workers, urban planners, organization behavioralists, and
others.
A third skill is the ability to make sense of the data. To some, folklore is an aesthetic
phenomenon primarily; performers, craftspeople, and art forms are to be appreciated for their
own sake, honoured, and celebrated through, specially, devised presentational modes (e.g.
festivals, demonstrations, or folk-artist-in-the-classroom-programs). Viewing folklore as an
index of historical processes, some researchers have used it to reconstruct the past or examine the
historical events and movements. Yet others treat folklore as element of culture and index of
sociocultural processes; they examine how traditions reflect worldview, socialize individuals and
enculturate values, or mirror social and cultural changes. Increasingly more researchers are
conceptualizing folklore as a behavioural phenomenon and are exploring symbolic forms as an
index of psychological states and processes or studying cognitive and interactional processes,
such as learning, communication, and social dynamics.
Richard M. Dorson (1972) enlists a baker’s dozen “Skills, perspectives, and methods that set the
folklorist apart from the anthropologist, the historian, the literary critic, the sociologist, the
psychologist, and the political scientist”. The entire list consists of the following: fieldwork, the
use of archives, the use of the folk museum, mastery of bibliographic tools, the use of indexes that
classify folklore forms (e.g., the types and motifs of folktales), skill at annotating oral traditions
to establish their pedigree and create a comparative base, the use of special terminology (i.e.,
constructs like “Esoteric-exoteric factors,” “oral formulaic composition,” and “proto-
 25

memorate”), using printed sources to detect examples of folklore and to analyze them in
relationship to oral forms, the knowledge of several languages in order to engage in international
communications so as to have comparative data, knowledge of the history of folkloristics, and
enough familiarity with literature to investigate literary uses of folklore, with anthropology to
explore the relationship of folklore to culture, and with the history to comprehend the historical
validity of oral traditions. One could also add familiarity with musicology, linguistics,
geography, sociology, and psychology, writes Dorson.
Although most are academically oriented, some of these skills have practical applications and
consequences. Folklorists not only know how to utilize folk or open air museums, they are or
have been employed in them to help develop or implement programs in cultural history
interpretation cultural resource management. Others are archivists or librarians whose training in
folklore is essential to landing a job in which they are with special collections. Doing fieldwork
has been a vital part of public sector work that requires locating traditional performers and
craftspeople to participate in arts and cultural programming.
Overall, we can infer from Dorson’s list five fundamental skills and abilities resulting from
training in folklore studies. First, in their research and analysis, folklorists are multidisciplinary
and interdisciplinary. Many are as conversant with “acculturation,” “anxiety reduction,” and
“group dynamics” used by anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists as they are basic
concepts in literature and history. Borrowing from dramaturgy and other fields, they have
evolved keywords like “art,” “performance,” and “praxis” to guide the study of behaviour,
culture, and society.51
Second, folklorists have well-developed interviewing and participant observation skills.
Documenting behaviour, feelings, and attitudes in situations in which they naturally exist or
occur provides qualitative information which the survey techniques relied on in many
professions do not achieve. Folklorists are able to grasp complex social situations as well as
present in less ethnocentric ways than the layperson. Questioning rarely threatens interviewees.
Folklorists have the ability to communicate sensitively and obtain information relatively
painlessly from individuals across cultural, educational, and economic backgrounds. Also, they
usually direct their queries toward the expressive, aesthetic, and social aspects of human
experience. In the process of interviewing, folklorists are able to ask global questions, put
 26

interviewees at ease by treating them as experts on the subject, and suspend personal judgments
about who or what the interviewees are and really need, which is common in ethnography but
new in the service professions.52
Third, folklorists, like many anthropologists, are able to bridge communication gaps created by
cultural differences.53 Folklorists can also perceive the larger whole, which many cannot do
because of disciplinary blinders; this skill encourages alternative views and responses to
problems.
Fourth, folklorists are comparatists. Isolating the telling of a story is a comparative act in that one
identifies it as a story, or a particular kind of story, on the basis of other phenomena with which
one compares it. Whatever is done with the data involves comparison. Amassing an archive, for
example, or publishing a collection of materials, requires comparing data within an ordering
system and makes information available for others to use in studies of structure, content, or style,
all which entail comparison. The oldest perspective in folklore studies, once considered the
folklore method – namely, the historic-geographic approach – insists on comparing elements in
texts or artefacts in order to ascertain ultimate origins and establish laws of continuity and
change. Inferring psychological, cultural, or social meanings and functions from folklore also
requires comparisons to isolate the phenomena and to test hypotheses.
His use of comparatism more than anything else sets Plutarch asides as the first folklorist. In his
enormously influential parallel Lives he relies on detailed comparisons to bring out detailed
parallels: “What Plutarch discovered was the extraordinarily repetitive automatism of human
behaviour in politics, especially under stress. Political activities are so stereotyped and
repetitious that individuals in different periods and societies can have almost identical careers.”
In Roman Questions Plutarch provides several alternative answers to each question he raises
about a belief or custom. He also compares different regions, which makes him “unusually
sensitive among ancient writers to change in folk beliefs over time.”54
In both theoretical and practical folkloristics, this comparatist orientation helps assure an
interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach. It leads to a search for alternative solutions to
problems. And it reinforces a propensity toward cultural relativism.
Finally, folklorists have particular set of values and outlooks. What they value is human
creativity, expressiveness, commensuality, and respect for history and tradition. They consider
 27

valuable and important what others often overlook: the patterns of behaviour, expressive
movements, figures of speech, festive events, storytelling, the communication of traditional
knowledge, and other symbolic activities in which people engage in their daily interactions.
Rayna Green wrote about the qualification of folklorists:
They are trained to take texts, pots, pictures and designs apart, taxonomies and make lists,
without getting lost in cultural descriptions of the whole. They are trained to follow up
information gained in one interview with information gained elsewhere. And they are trained to
look at and where scientists never look – at those artistic, expressive materials that are the
antithesis of science and the essence of culturally-based science. 55

Folklorists consider those whose traditions they record to be experts; they treat those whose
expressive behaviour they document with great respect, as star performers. Most folklorists are
populists. This attitude is reinforced by a field of study preoccupied not so much with the
common person as with what makes us all members of a common species.
According to Alf H. Walle, who is trained in both marketing and folklore studies, there are
several skills that most folklorists do not possess, to their advantage. Foremost of these is the
lack of “broad, state of the art expertise in making in management and marketing.” The “cultural
resource specialist,” therefore, must compete with arts management professionals who do
“possess a cluster of organizational, managerial, and marketing skills.” In addition, “applied
anthropologists have a long history of working with bureaucrats, and in predicting, monitoring,
and mitigating social change,” which, again, most folklorists lack. He cites Bonita Howell, an
anthropologist who “has been particularly active in cultural conservation and has encouraged
anthropologists to vie for dominant roles in folklife and cultural conservation activities.” 56
Folklorists themselves must be held accountable for this situation. To many, the very concept of
“organization” (not to mention management) has been anathema. Some attacked the idea of
studying “organizational folklore.”57 That the motives and research agendas of proponents of
organizational research could be grossly misrepresented by antagonists, in some instances for
purposes of self-aggrandizement, with little comment by other folklorists, suggests how well-
entrenched the antiorganizational sentiment was. Perhaps the remarks by Bess Lomax Hawes,
who headed the Folk Arts Program of the national Endowment for the Arts, express the feelings
of many public sector folklorists in the past, if not the present. “I used to think that issues
 28

involving structure and organization were not worth spending a lot of time on and that only
substance and content were really important,” she writes. “Perhaps the past seven years in federal
service have bureaucratized me, though I hope not to the point of paralysis. Be that as it may, I
certainly have more respect than I had when I came in for the limiting and shaping powers of
definition, structure, and form.”58
The worry over competition from other fields, voiced by Walle, also pervaded the 1990
American Folklife Center’s meeting on “Public Sector Training and Minority Participation.”
According to a memorandum called Summary Report on the Meetings prepared by Timothy
Lloyd, assistant to the director, “other fields, including anthropology, cultural studies, and ethnic
studies, have appropriated materials and approaches folklorists once considered their own, and
have established themselves in the academy and in the public opinion in places where folklorists
should be. Thus … our discipline needs to become more active in professional and public
education about folklore and the work of folklorists.” 59 A collection of essays such as this one, it
is hoped, will help in this public education endeavour. Considering the many skills that folklorist
possess, along with their knowledge of people’s traditional symbolic behaviour, much good can
be accomplished by folklorists if given the opportunity.

Conclusion
Attention has been given to folklorists in the public sector. Nowadays, there are more of them; or
else they are more outspoken and better organized. Only a handful of trained folklorists have
been involved in medicine. Not many folklorists have published on the traditional and symbolic
uses of space by residents of our cities. Few Folklorists who have become travel agents or guides
have related their training in folkloristics to tourism.
A second reason for this emphasis is that those involved in public sector folklife have written
more about conceptual, administrative, ethical, and political problems than have those involved
with other applications. Such issues pervade applied folklore studies, however, and are not particular to
one area.
Finally, folklore has been a university subject for only sixty years but an object of scrutiny for
millennia. Although public sector programming is now in the limelight, much of the attention to
folklore in the past was for other practical reasons and professional use – by physicians,
politicians, administrators, educators, and so forth.
 29

Not all folklorists want to work for arts councils. In future more will likely seek employment in
journalism, education, human resources development, public relations, cultural resources
management, and other areas. Perhaps the largest potential realm of application of folklore
studies is the school system. Many who have folklore classes have been teachers. But it was only
a dozen or so years ago that Richard M. Dorson and Inta Gale Carpenter asked, “Can Folklorists
and Educators Work Together?”60 Beginning in the late 1960s, many folklorists consulted with
educational laboratory a folklorist can work closely with educators and curriculum planners.
Annual summer conference can be oriented to teachers and librarians. Urban Traditions work
closely with the school system. District Schools want an annual institute on folklore for public
school teachers. And folklorists can develop curriculum materials for public education.
The perceptions about public sector folklore must change because of the in-depth research and
modest records of publication to measure up the works. Newsletters report on activities and
debate issues; they solicit reviews of exhibits, catalogues, conferences, and other creative works
by public sector folklorists. The number of conferences and published collections of essays on
applied folklore, cultural conservation, and public sector folklore has increased significantly. The
status of applied folklorists will continue to rise as they develop and articulate a discipline with
its own concepts, methods, and theories.
Increasingly folklore programs are offering courses in applied folklore studies not only because
more graduates will seek careers outside academe but also because there is a growing literature,
body of issues, and set of skills to teach. Public sector folklore is not separate from academic
theory. The chairs of folklore programs estimated that 60 percent of their graduates find
employment outside academe; hence the need for training of students in applied folkloristics, and
even the hiring of faculty with both academic and applied experiences.
Some folklore courses currently taught are obviously more relevant than others to practitioners,
e.g., courses on fieldwork, folk medicine, belief and ritual, and organizational culture and
symbolism. No matter how esoteric or arcane the subject, however, much other folklore
instruction is also valuable. This is because of the question raised. Typically folklorists attempt
to establish what the traditions are and analyse the themes, structures, and rules that underlie
them. They require about how and why examples of folklore are generated, perpetuated,
modified, extinguished, or revived. They also seek to uncover meanings, uses, and functions.
 30

Such questions help to differentiate the field of folklore studies. Their repetition drives home the
fact that folklorists deal with certain data in particular ways for specific reasons. Students are
taught to identify, value, and understand the traditional symbolic forms and processes called
folklore that are common to human beings everywhere and that define the species. Although
certain courses may take applications more apparently, almost any curriculum in folklore studies
is, ultimately, useful.

Part 1:
 31

Promoting Learning,

Problem Solving,

and

Cultural Conservation
 32

1. A Fieldworker Enriches Pluralistic Education

Under this topic, we discuss about ways in which fieldwork and fieldworkers contribute to enrich
learning, especially, pluralistic education. Research results, fieldwork experiences, and
assumptions and speculations are exploited. The fields of uses or subjects where folklore can be
employed will be explored. The research results are mainly from JUDITH E. HAUT.

1.1. GOALS IN PLURALISTIC EDUCATION

Folklorists have a number of avenues through which their training might be applied to education.
- They can assist in curriculum development for geography, culture studies, social studies,
comparative literature, and/or language teaching.
- They can help teachers identify folkloric forms that children enjoy in peers.
- They exploit folklore fieldwork data and personal experience from face-to-face research to apply
in educational setting.
Folklore helps:
– to incorporate variety of learning and interactional styles in the classroom
– To increase self-esteem and reduce inter-group stereotypes. The students become resources to
classroom lessons. They are encouraged to analyse information they bring to classroom.
– Children to express and explore their own ideas and perceptions of the world.
– To bring cultural elements and firsthand knowledge to classroom.

1.1.1. What Is Folklore Fieldwork?

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Fieldwork – a systematic approach to answering researchable questions about our own and others’
behaviour, culminating in some sort of reported description and analysis. For the folklorist, the specific
behaviours or activities under scrutiny are those that we consider to be “traditional” – i.e. those that we
assume to exhibit historical and geographical continuities and consistencies. Research is carried out in
situations in which these behaviours naturally occur (in contrast to, say, library, archive, or laboratory
research).
The most rudimentary requirements for folklore fieldwork are curiosity and the skills for appropriately
and adequately serving that interest.
- ‘Appropriate’ is to mean utilizing acceptable and ethical means of obtaining data and
information: this may include protecting interviewee’s identities, learning about informal
hierarchical authorities (social channels), observing what may be very subtle rules of discourse
(who can ask what of whom and in what specific circumstances), and finding common ground
before exploring differences.
– ‘Adequate’ is to mean the production of a full description and analysis, which are inseparable.
The goal is to move beyond the assumptions and perspectives we carry into the field experience;
to engage in the fieldwork, we hypothesize, observe, question, and participate while trying to
defer judgement. We make inferences and eventually reach generalisations. Finally, good
fieldworkers also let themselves be the subject of inquiry.

1.1.2.Benefits of Methods and Materials of Folklore Fieldwork

Practicing the basics of folklore fieldwork – observing, questioning, analysing, and reporting – students
utilize concepts that enhance their ability to notice issues, appreciate ways in which they answer
questions, learn to identify what the question is, how to ask it, is an essential quality of good fieldworker
and independent learner. Still, methods and materials of folklore fieldwork can help teachers discover and
practice new communication strategies, internalize the curriculum using easily available folklore
publications.

1.1.2.1. Folklore Methods Help Students

- It involves using children’s activities where students see themselves reflected in the classroom;
e.g. employing traditional games in teaching math, vocabulary, or spelling.
- It encourages children to be resources and analysts through teaching them the techniques of a
fieldworker and thus stimulating their interest, engagement, and analysis. For example, narratives
 34

have broad application in the classroom: for language arts, bilingual programs, geography,
history, and even public speaking.

a. Students as Fieldworkers
Students get opportunities to deal with different groups of people as fieldworkers. They get the
opportunity of learning from different people instead of just getting limited to one man’s knowledge
and techniques. The lesson becomes nearer to their lives and environment. Students also learn
techniques of investigating and understanding culture and cultural values. They acquire basic skills of
folklorists – participant observation, inferences, and reporting – at the very early stages of their
education.
These widen the students’ interactions, communications, and cultural cognitions; they promote their
analyses and interpretive skills and knowledge. This improves their total personalities.
 Promotes independent learning and critical thinking about issues in the culture nearer to them.
 For this bringing data or visitors to class and stimulating their curiosity and helping them learn
the appropriate means for generating questions, puzzling over answers, analysing, and inferring
are all possible.
 Folklore in the curriculum provokes interest and helps in teaching social sciences (geography,
history, civics, etc.), languages and literature, math and others. E.g. ‘tapha saddeeqaa’ (playing
dice) can help as starters in arithmetic progression, probability, and the like.
 This also promotes the ideas of self-worth among different groups and members of the society.
Students become resources and analysts in here.

1.1.2.2. Fieldwork Methods Help the Teachers

The teacher learns comfortably and profitably in and out of classroom. He aims at accepting, respecting,
and appreciating human beings an honest and authentic and dynamic in the classroom. … he becomes a
model and inspiration for students ….
As a learner, the teacher needs the opportunity to become flexible decision-maker. Folklorists explore the
options of entering into limited partnerships with classroom teachers. Their researches describe the
various communication strategies students’ use among their peers or within their families. E.g.
encouraged kind of narrative behaviours at home, ways in which verbal and written classroom exercises
can be modified to make things familiar to students at school.
Such partnership benefits the lesson for longer time. Folklorists provide ideas to enrich a brief workshop
for teachers; they provide data from fieldwork, and model for teachers the methods of folklore research.
 35

Teachers can encourage students to be good fieldworkers. But they have gained the skills, techniques,
methods, and experiences from folklorists first to teach these to their students.
Being a teacher and a fieldworker help teachers to be communication-oriented in writing and teaching
folklore. This enhances interaction and interactional skills. It also helps to understand that communication
is aided or hindered interpersonally, not one-sided.

1.2. CURRICULUM PROSPECTS AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Providing students with familiar materials could help to improve communication. E. g. the use of
narratives in teaching reading. But it requires careful thinking about the materials and users’ attitudes.
Misuse could damage the resourcefulness of the material in anyway. Teachers and students need to
characterise folklore neutrally – as expressive behaviours that we infer to exhibit continuities through
time and space – and to address the symbolic nature of much of what we identify as folklore.
Folklore data are results of human interaction; there is no one right version in folklore. E.g. the variability
of oral narratives can be determined by contexts, audiences, seasons, or perception that the storytelling is
a primary or secondary activity to other work may profoundly influence how a storyteller tells a story at
that moment.
1.2.1. Focusing on Narrative Techniques and Skills
Bringing narrators: quilters, healers, musicians into classrooms for students to watch in hopes that they
will learn to appreciate special skills and the people who practice them. These provide excellent fieldwork
opportunities, expand students’ experiences, and illustrate theoretical discussions, humanizing
curriculum.

1.2.2. Folklore Concepts Enhance Curriculum and Style

Students become both resources and analysts of expressive human behaviours. Teachers create such
environment through modeling and encouraging the development of fieldwork skills and attitudes. The
student-teacher relationship becomes cooperative; students have the opportunity of asking questions and
making meaningful discoveries for themselves. Students also become resource accumulators by collecting
data from society which can have the potential to be archived for future use. This could enrich the
curriculum and the styles of teaching and learning. Further students learn to appreciate their culture and
develop self-esteem and self awareness.
Using folkloric methods and materials in the classrooms helps teachers and students with conceptual tools
they need to assimilate information about diverse peoples, develop communication strategies, and become
independent curious learners. The students get opportunity to learn and analyse about their environment.
Members of the society get their hands in the curriculum. Students get exposure to various kinds of
 36

lessons from differing sources and angles instead of being confined to a single teacher and textbook. It
also promotes the school-society interactions.
Folklorists teach and model fieldwork techniques and enrich teaching through their site-specific research.
The practices and applications can go further:
 Helps the students to learn culture drawing from comparative materials beyond their reaches;
 learning and exercising folklore fieldwork develops students’ self-esteem and positive classroom
interaction
 Folklore fieldwork methods and its information help to devise classroom strategies to reduce the
differences of teachers and students.
 As students and teachers gain know-how of the research methods and data of folklore, the various
aspects of the identity and culture of the society becomes the integral part of education and topics
of classroom discussions.
 It helps to learn and acquire data organizing and managing effects.

2. Issues and Applications of Folklore in Museums

Research reports, visit experiences and beliefs are employed to allow learners realise the significances of
museums in efforts of cultural preservations and conservations. Research report mainly depends on the
work of Jo Farb Hernandez.
Parts of the elements of human identity and culture lie in the materials it produces and exhibits. In other
ways, these materials and artefacts are representations of people’s perceptions of the world and
complexity of their environments, cultures, and ideas. This implies that their material cultures which
represent these demands preservation/conservation, and helps to recreate the identity of the people and
make it sustainable and known to others. In other words, it provides considerable evidences in
reconstructions of their culture and history.
Folklorists can play a number of roles in such museums of artifacts. They can be museum staffs or
advisory consultants for exhibitions, interpretive programs, and collection acquisitions. These trends have
not been limited to living history or folklife museums but have become manifest across the range of
museum types, sizes, and area of concern. The issues raised by these folklorists or in these exhibitions
parallel folkloristic research in academia and in other public sector fields. Those concerning the process
and extent of creativity within traditional or culturally determined aesthetic parameters, or the relative
strengths of the influences promoting continuity versus those promoting change, both inter- and intra-
generationally are part of these. Moreover, the specialized nature of public presentation of museum
 37

scholarship provides an excellent forum for the resolution of these issues and concerns and may therefore
serve as a model for the field as a whole.
Utilizing objects and collections as a basis, museums have the opportunity to present information and
educate their visitors in enjoyable, non-threatening way. In past years, unfortunately, this education was
too often Eurocentrically biased. When alternative or ethnic images were examined, they were most often
subjugated to the metaphor of the melting pot: quaint reminders of colourful customs that someday would
be little more than intriguing relics of a folksy past.
Situations and perceptions about these are changing today. The reality of increasing pluralistic society is
overtaking the notion of a singular culture whose ultimate objective is homogenized, westernized whole.
Aesthetic norms are not handed down from high (i.e. Western Europe) but are culturally (as well as often
age, gender, and geographically) specific. Within this new conceptualization, we cannot but accept that a
society of such diversity would enjoy multiple aesthetics and cultural values. By implication, smaller unit
of a society can have collections of its own artefacts.
Folklorists help museums to realize that the presentation of alternative objects and images reveal these
multiple aesthetics can only serve to expand the visitors’ understanding of the themes, and, more
important, can help change those perceptions that are based on outdated reality that may negatively
impact daily life – globally as well as locally. Further, in this new win-win situation, presentation of
alternative images can open up a dialogue helping to empower diverse constituencies with the validation
that the museum can bestow, while it increases museum attendance and broadens the outreach of public
programming.
It is apparent, however, that the treatment of issues, as evidenced by the manner of presentation of
material culture displays, is handled quite differently in different types of museums. It is important to
chart the ways in which several kinds of museums present (or could present) such materials, and explore
the various issues that are raised (and, hopefully, resolved) through such exhibitions. Incorporating
folklore and traditional artifacts can enhance the educational function of museums while simultaneously
providing positive experiences for visitors and broadening the museum’s participation in community life.
2.1. Art Museums
Primarily, art museums are meant to present the finest aesthetic masterpieces. Contextual and personal
environments that influence their productions are secondary. Curators have to trust the creative abilities of
the bearers of the culture and have to convince audiences or visitors of the materials on display about
these creativities. Like ‘fine’ arts, traditional arts can exclusively or concurrently be reacted to: (1)
formally, in colour, shape, composition, and so forth or (2) contextually, in historical, social, economic,
geographical, and personal influences on the artists at the time of the creation of the work. Both are
 38

equally valid and exhibit varied types of aesthetic experiences to visitors. But the latter may demand an
educated mind for evaluation of the object.
The extent of adding supplementary contextual information to art exhibition is debatable. But the
inclusion of fundamental information seems advisable. The material of the art museum is chosen based on
the superiority of artistic quality.
Added contextual item and critical analyses of the composition come in the following publications
varying from photocopied sheet to elaborate four-colour catalogues. Other sides of the life and time of the
artist can be portrayed through lectures, discussions, panels, workshops, and performances. These
provoke depth of understanding about the work. The objects of art museums are often isolated on the
wall, individually and often dramatically lit, and individually labelled. But it has to lead to cultural
understanding where from its expressive behaviours emanate. Through these, the museum could address
folkloric issues about indigenous societies and their artefacts.
2.2. History and Natural History Museum
More concerned with using artefacts to reveal the distinctive factors constituting local, regional,
or natural sagas of development. Earlier such institutions used to emphasize the ‘mighty’ and
‘memorable’ (e. g. Abba Jifar Palace), but gradually has realized the significances of including
more thorough and democratic history. This called for the inclusion of traditional artifacts to tell
their story. The ethnographic museums of peoples and their traditions are typical examples of the
later development. The latter opposes the former with the realizations that the way the people
recognize themselves and their history is as important as historians’ interpretations from the
academia.
Browse critically the differences between Jimma and Wallaggaa museums: which one is
more about the mighty and memorable, which is ethnographic or on peoples traditions?
To interpret the past profitably and authentically from this ways of arrangement a folklorist has
to advise to make curatorial decisions along with the groups’ members. The knowledge of the
traditional values a group considers important is critical and can only be elucidated by a
professional in the field. The vital esoteric/ exoteric counterpoints offers important opportunity
to contain a comprehensive education about the subject, for differing interpretations of the same
artifact or manifestation of expressive behaviours can mirror the multifacted aspects of the
objects or events, and the differing perspectives responding to the experience. In this way, the
museum may leave the question of final historical interpretation up to the viewer and can educate
 39

through open-ended questions inspiring dialogue rather than indoctrinating through a dogmatic
presentation of seemingly unassailable facts.
Household artefacts, products of blacksmiths and potteries, and others illustrate this cultural
model and verify their efforts in traditions and means of survival. Alongside scholarly
interpretations by anthropologists and historians that attempts to place the material in an
economic, social, cultural, geographic, and ritual context, labels might also include excerpts from
oral history tapes made by past or present-day creators, videos of artefacts being created, photo
enlargements of creators with their comments and in context, and so forth. The focus of the
presentation thus moves away from the “typical” pottery used to epitomize the historical context
to a focus on the individual, and on the variation and specificity that are always evident within a
group. Emphasizing individual behaviour within the group’s parameters concomitantly requires
an examination of the larger issues of evolving customs, diverse attitudes, and continuity versus
change that might be lost by emphasizing the similarities between objects rather than their
differences.
The physical aspect of display presentations in a history or natural history museum often
includes the attempted recreation of contextual scenes in which the objects are arranged as they
would have been in their original environment. In these cases, individual labeling of each artifact
is often not provided, except perhaps for outstanding specific items. But this is not of as great a
concern as it is in the art museum, for the use of more common or ordinary objects actually
serves to present local history in a more realistic light.
Folklorists involve throughout project planning and implementation stages of the technologically
advanced interactive computer programming to innovatively adapt in museums of this nature. A
touch-screen videodisc computer provides information for about thousands of objects in a history
hall. The system also makes possible viewing videotaped interviews with scholars who discuss
concepts illustrated by the artifacts, and clips of oral histories of the people participating in or
influenced by the historical movements or events. Designed to be easily navigated even by the
computer-wary, this system communicates information on a person-to-person basis that greatly
facilitates learning. The emotional response viewers experience as a result of these personalized
anecdotes provides a longer retention of the historical themes and concepts the curatorial staff
intended to explore.
 40

History museums have also been in the forefront of bringing “live folk artists” into the galleries
to provide a more personalized and in-depth introduction to and understanding of the objects on
display. Curators have learned the direct experience with an object in a museum provides a more
profound learning experience for the visitor than a mere reading of the written words. An
authentic practitioner of the tradition explaining the construction and use of objects to a viewer
goes even further, especially when the alternative is a static presentation with academic
curatorial labels functioning as an obstructionist device between the object and the audience.
Folk artists provide a memory instead of mere experience and broaden the constituency base of
the museum by serving as an outreach vehicle to the education of the target cultural group.
Further, by explaining which individuals the group itself values for their leadership roles or
special services, a folklorist can learn more about the social phenomenon of the group and how it
encourages and rewards the transmission of traditional skills and knowledge.
Knowledge of the values important to the group whose artifacts and expressive behaviours are
being displayed is essential in presenting an accurate picture that details life as it was.
Uncovering these values requires professional training in the field of folklore in order to make
the correct distinctions among a myriad of cultural patterns and to be able to clarify and interpret
these distinctions to viewers with greatly varied backgrounds.
Shortcomings:
 a museum can never recreate the past completely.
 the use of folk artists in the museum has problems.
2.3. Ethnic and Ethnographic Museums
Ethnic or ethnographic museums can instil or confirm a sense of pride in members of the cultural
group. Display of their artifacts and portrayal of their history serve to validate their special
importance vis-à-vis the nation as a whole and toward local history and is a stimulus for a re-
examination and a new appreciation of traditions and artifacts. Emphasizing group
consciousness, however, could occasionally create incoherent combinations of popular culture
and folklore in display that purport to represent traditional materials alone. Even if the intent is to
preserve a record of a (disappearing) culture through artifacts, it is still incumbent upon a
folklorist to make the distinction between those objects that are authentic examples of material
folk culture and those that were mass-produced or commercialised.
 41

Ethnographic museum emphasise the relationship of an object to other aspects of culture as a

whole, not an isolated object per se. Thus, objects of little inherent/intrinsic value may be
appropriate for exhibition if they lend meaning to larger themes. With this as a given, and with
the corollary that even the most humble object exhibited in a museum becomes treasured and
aestheticized simply by the fact of its placement in the gallery, the curatorial concept that serves
as the original impetus for the display becomes especially important. Thus, the most successful
of these displays or collections are those that have started with a strong thematic focus so that the
artifacts can illuminate the overall meaning of the concept rather than commencing with artifacts
related only superficially through their use by members of the given culture group and not
illustrate of any particular thematic conceptualization. For example, putting intestine at a centre
in the context of buttaa ritual or gadaa ceremonies shows its roles in the tradition.
An exhibition meant to positively examine a group’s own self-identification and explore the
perception of the group by others might deal with a publicly celebrated yet culturally specific
festival. The presentation might begin with a historical perspective on the celebration, to include
the religious or cultural impetus (thus including an exploration into the belief system), the
expressive manifestations of the observances in terms of both verbal and material culture, the
change over time of the observance and its outward manifestations, and the perceptions by group
members of the importance of the celebration in fostering individual leadership, group
identification, education for the young, and other social-cultural values and meanings.
As with historical examination … the insider perspective could be balanced by a more formal,
anthropological-sociological-folkloric explanation of the events and their associated expressive
manifestations. An ethnic museum might take this outsider’s perspective one step further,
perhaps by going beyond the academic interpretation to examining the perceptions of the
celebration by non-participant, non-academic onlookers. This in itself might be revelatory of
ethnic prejudices (the knowledge of which can be helpful in taking positive steps to reduce these
prejudices through intergroup education and clarification about the observance) but may also
reveal a secondary yet equally important folkloric focus: the exoteric view of the purposes,
manifestations, and rationales for the celebration. Although this latter view may point up major
misconceptions about the event, this exoteric folkloric perspective is nevertheless a reality (albeit
often subconscious) for the nonparticipant outsider. And, as it often shades intergroup
 42

interaction, it becomes a reality for the insider as well. Indeed, overtly examining dissonant
perceptions is often a more faithful depiction of an integrated reality than exposition of only the
most dominant voice.
As exhibition with this focus would likely include life performances, demonstration of dances,
hands-on workshops to create appropriate artifacts, video reminiscences by practitioners, and so
forth. Beyond increasing the educational effectiveness of the exhibition, these supplementary
events can serve as important marketing tools for the museum in increasing its audience base and
augmenting public participation with and involvement in the institution.
Some ethnic museums have also seized the opportunity of exhibitions of this nature to involve
local artists in a contemporary exploration of the folkloristic themes inherent in the observance.
The creation of new altars by contemporary artists as part of a traditional day exhibition,
underscores the continuing folkloristic tradition while also clarifying how new and contemporary
elements are incorporated and become part of the cultural continuum.
The positive ends of an exhibition of this nature are a reconfirmation of the group identity (basic
principle of museum of this type) and a potential reduction in intercultural friction caused by a
misunderstanding of each other’s folkloristic events and accompanying verbal and material
cultural manifestations. One of the most valuable interpretive lessons a museum presents can be
the clarifications of the distinction between who we are and who others think we are. Further,
through exhibitions of this nature, the museum is often able to become included as an active
participant in the life of the community, and recognized as such, which broadens its audience
base and may allow it to encourage the continuation of folkloristic behaviour because of the
perceived validation those behaviours have received from the local “official” cultural authority.
2.4. Living History, Open-Air, and Folklife Museums
Folkloric themes can be a perfect laboratory for exploration of contemporary recreation.
Constructing the past requires complete with staff in appropriate costumes, performing needed
tasks with traditional tools and in a traditional manner, speaking appropriate dialects, and
attempting an interpretation for the visitor with a disregard of subsequent historical events. With
museums of this nature, the present tends not to be considered as an element to aid in historical
interpretation. Rather, earlier, different cultural patterns are described only in their own terms or
in reference to even earlier expressive manifestations. Living history or folklife museum
essentially celebrates ordinary people rather than the leaders or elite. It follows that the story that
 43

is told is based on orally transmitted skills, beliefs, and assumptions and commonly held
knowledge. Inscriptions in diaries, old photographs, letters, and reminiscences thus form the
basis for personalizing and rounding out the displays that are presented.
Intense folkloristic research is crucially needed to emphasise the esoteric and private nature of
this source material. Determination of the actual ways things were made, crops were sown, and
calendrical rites of passage were observed holds equal importance with a determination of the
values held by the group that can indicate the meaning and importance of a given action.
Knowing that certain vegetables were planted in the dark of the moon exists in a vacuum without
an understanding of what that action was expected to achieve. In large measure, folklore played a
major role in the decisions about every aspect of daily life and is reflected in tangible cultural
patterns. Positive and respectful teamwork between folklorists, historians, and sociologists can
elucidate not only the expressive behaviours actually manifest but their reasons for existence and
importance within the group.
The more in depth the examination becomes, however, the more clear it is that, although values
may be shared and tasks may be handled similarly, individual variation within the group was the
paramount reality and must therefore replace an emphasis on the “typical”. Institutions which
depict the lives of individual families with their distinct ways of handling life’s traumas and
delights, strive to more faithfully reveal avenues to a realistic understanding of the past. By
immersing the visitor in the entire world of the past, the potential of creating the strongest sense
of “life as it was” can be conveyed.
The importance of first-quality, professional folklore research cannot be stressed too highly for
institutions of this type. Unless the correct historical and folkloristic details are provided to the
first-person interpreter, it is not only natural that, when pressed for answers by an inquisitive
audience member, the interpreter will create the answer on the spot. This is not done maliciously,
but rather in good faith in an effort to respond to the audience and keep the show running.
Nevertheless, contemporary folklore creation owing to assumptions and historical gaps must be
forcefully guarded against at all times by museum and folklore professionals alike.
Living history museums often supplement their first-person recreations with separate interpretive
centers, which try to place the historical depiction in context. As the first-person interpreters
cannot be expected to provide information beyond that which they would have known, these
 44

centers, which are often physically distanced from the traditionally maintained areas, can help
the visitor answer corollary questions, place the period depicted on a cultural/historical
continuum, and provide a more academically oriented understanding of the period. Together,
these complementary departments can be most effective in viewer education and understanding
about the localized time period on display.
2.5. Science, Industrial, And Technological Museums
Science museums and folkloristic studies might seem mutually exclusive. The latter can enhance the
former innovatively in many ways. For instance, traditional healing practices, folkloristic beliefs, about
the medicinal properties and relative effectiveness of certain herbs, chants, behaviours, and the like can be
part of medicinal exhibitions. Explorations into how human beings used to explain the origin of the stars,
retelling of legends and tales associated with the constellations, and examinations of the symbolic value
of eclipses in terms of expressive behaviours could be part of displays featuring astronomical discoveries.
Traditional crafts, intergenerational transmission, and values regarding skills and competency could be
parts of museums focusing on they could expand upon how economic, social, and cultural changes
encouraged the transition from home craft to commercialized industry, and might also explore the revived
interest in personalizing aspects of industry, from handmade furniture to customized automobiles.
An examination into the folklore components inherent in any industry whether they be the stories about
the “disappearing hitchhiker” of trucking lore the jokes exchanged around the office water cooler, or the
computer images and stories electronically transmitted by modern to monitors across state lines could be
another tack.
Science and industrial museums, by focusing on state-of-the-art theories, inventions, and practices, may
somewhat ironically be an exceptional way to underscore the notion that folklore and related expressive
behaviours are ongoing and contemporary and are not only those things that happened in the distant past,
created by those with little education and fewer cosmopolitan opportunities. Examination of
organizational folklore can be utilized well in presenting the more human side of our complex, urbanized
often impersonal modern society; the public forum available to science museums can provide excellent
opportunities for disseminating this important information.

3. Narratives in Diagnosis and Intervention: Homelessness

Marjorie Bard’s article is made to fit to the reality and the contexts of Oromo to make future application
feasible. Though restricted to ‘homelessness,’ the concepts of using narratives for ‘diagnosis’ and
‘intervention’ have wider applications and of multiple fields and purposes. The topic has much to do with
the course entitled ‘Personal Narratives’ and provides alternative opportunities to solve problems.
 45

Homelessness is one of worldwide problems. The figure of homeless population is rising alarmingly
forcing UN to designate 1987 the year for the homeless worldwide.
Issues like homelessness for which diagnosis and interventions are demanded are most of the time
neglected mainly because individuals with the problems are not well identified. This makes the problem
and its urgency escape attentions to win the hearts and minds of officials to invest on human welfare
programmes. Eliciting, documenting, or analysing stories about personal experiences of such people
could call attentions. Homeless people have no permanent residence resulting in their issues lacking
statistical data.
Folklore provides materials from such people showing the reasons and means of solutions of the problem.
Personal experience narratives help as strategy of intervention and uses as social and political activism.

Stories and Folklore Methodology

Absence of qualitative research about issues like homelessness can be related to lack of trained
fieldworkers. Psychologists, sociologists, urban planners, social welfare workers rarely attempt to create
rapport with the homeless in their milieu: in pathways and malls, on sidewalks, or campuses. Their
interviews use prepared questions demanding brief, direct answers. Folklorists can listen to hours-long,
open-ended narrations as they often do in seeking the manners of and meanings in aesthetic expressions,
traditional beliefs, and customs, and symbolic behaviours.
People often self-narrate, i.e. they tell their stories to themselves before they do this to others. Such stories
are idionarratives and the processes idionarrating. It occurs in cases of dramatic, traumatic, strange, funny
or sad, or socially vital (e.g. homeless and victims of violence). As so noteworthy incidents, memory bank
recreates the details to itself – the “first audience.” This leads to forming a story-mode of the incident as a
replay-in-sequence, we strive here to “get it right.”
This internalized characterization appears to be a natural by-product of being human: biologically coded,
culturally conditioned, and socially trained to make and tell stories. We daydream, and daydreams are in a
narrative mode; this storytelling is “self” narrating to “self.” It implies we also narrate in our sleep:
dreams are … plays offering their own stage and scenery. Chances help us to tell such remarkable
incidents to others. The experience may not be related to another; secrets are kept, an audience interferes
with the “trial run,” or the opportunity to tell the story just never seems to occur.
Secrets remain hidden; vital events wait: replays remain self owned rehearsal processes: a
recounting/rescripting a scenario for deliberate purpose, such as motivating oneself to speak out,
trying to search causes of situations, or planning for future. Communicating experience persists
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to form a group with similar interest to influence others: such stories are interesting and
persuasive.

Subconscious Themes and Coping Mechanisms (Yaada Ukkaamamuu)

The victims of homelessness often have secret personal problems to express. Victims of violence, for
example, may find that stories emerge only after extensive private grief. Domestic violence, in particular,
has become the source of many characterizations of events leading to homelessness. The severe stress
related to prolonged physical and/or psychological abuse may be manifested in unconscious themes and
coping mechanisms. Such a disproportionate number of stories pertaining to supranormal visitations by
attacker who is identified as the real-life abuser of which the symbolic nature of the experience and the
narratives cannot be ignored are heard. A phenomenon known in tradition and studied by folklorists are
referred to as “hagging” (or being attacked by the “Old Hag”).
A person who is hagged, witch-ridden, or attacked by the incubus or succubus is in a hypnagogic or
“altered” state of consciousness just before actual sleep, or in the hypnopompic state prior to awakening.
S/He senses a presence near the bed; that apparition is almost always described as one that means to
inflict harm. There is the feeling of a weight upon the chest and difficulty in breathing. The victim suffers
from paralysis and an inability to cry out. Inherent in some of the victims’ stories collected are
subconscious concerns: sexual symbolism and references to archetypical imagery focusing on domestic
life. Victims frequently tell that they had thought about these experiences many times before they had the
nerve to tell others. They feared to be disbelieved or considered mentally ill. They finally convince
themselves to face the reality because of the uniquely strange and frightening experience, and indeed,
some women have made a decision to leave an abuser immediately after such an episode.
Family myth may also be an unconscious mechanism to disguise reality. It masks an unacceptable
behaviour. A shared belief that “nothing is wrong” in a family distances individuals from positive
solutions. Some inappropriate acts are believed to stick a family together. When trouble makers are put
into jail once in a while, it’s believed just that because the men are real men. The men are just going to be
different; like they rule and rape and run round and sometimes it’s the woman who loses and gets put out
with zero. Such acts, once recognized, however, as symptoms of dysfunction and as a source of family
disruption and individual homelessness, dubious assumptions can be challenged while behaviours are
faced squarely for what they really imply. New stories can emerge as therapeutic tools for establishing
healthy family relationships.

Disclosing Concerns and Causes through Narrating

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Knowing the only alternative to indigence and immediate homelessness is to remain with an abusive
partner, creates a story to be told regarding the reason. Different reasons can force or delude a woman to
trust men: getting employment opportunities, succeeding in educational performances, getting financial
and material supports. Men can abuse and exploit women for so long promising but without realising
them. On the way, they can conceive and become pregnant, which creates a likely condition for their
being knocked out. Such women are forced to live on streets to rear children.
Attitudes about contemporary business practices are others. Especially those that are related to the
enforced retirement of fully capable, long time employees are related to this. Becoming a senior citizen
does not always mean being forcibly retired from a good job. Many seniors become ill or disabled and
cannot remain self-reliant. An alternative to a (usually expensive) nursing home is dependency on a third
party who will provide necessary care while sharing quarters. Often, however, no suitable partner can be
found, and seniors lose long time living places. The result may be a day and night routine of wandering
while attempting to pursue some type of personal interest that generates money. Many men who have had
successful careers become homeless because of one unforeseen circumstance. Most discover that the
public does not believe that they were once productive and respected members of society – and can be
again. ‘The city’ sources a lot to a number of personal and social problems resulting in homelessness.
These situations can be revealed through stories. Narratives are powerful to win the heart and mind of
people and to facilitate ways for solutions.

Problem Solving Through Storytelling

People dwell upon situations and behaviours that affect them adversely. They make them subjects of
storytelling. As one characterizes past and future scenarios to oneself through idionarrating, alternative
plots evolve. Often a consequence of self-narrating is an intuitive feeling for the cause of solution to a
problem or a conscious and deliberate effort to evaluate a situation and formulate a resolution. In the
minds of victims, then, may rest the innovative measures with which public and social planners can
intervene to create positive policy and programme.
The “haggings” violence victims report show how self-narrating about these extraordinary experiences
can be cathartic, act as a therapeutic tool in improving mental health, and support intervention in
deleterious life events. A dissatisfied retiree has undoubtedly told himself over and over again how useful
he could and should be in particular situations. The battered woman rendered homeless has probably
reconstructed her situation with alternative scenarios many times, providing for better community
services than are offered. Those who daydream (which is self-narrating) of opportunities are presenting
interventions in daily activities by formulating more agreeable ones.
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Narrating in interaction with interested others offers the opportunity to share one’s problems and seek
solutions through a continuum flow of information. Many abused homeless individuals have expressed
the desirability of becoming part of self-sufficiency communities in which personal privacy is assured
while all participate in creating homes, co-ops, cottage industries, businesses that benefit surrounding
neighbourhoods, and the sociability ensured through sharing experiences.
Initial movement toward such self-reliance and self-sufficient living is often found in storytelling sessions
in support groups (e.g. victims’ rights organizations). Synergistic behaviour may evoke collaborative
thought and action, intervention in system implementation, and the creation of new and more effective
methods of operation.
Storytellings are also useful as strategic manoeuvres to compensate dysfunctional behaviours. In one
instance, residents in a shelter for the homeless banded together with demands that would have caused the
facility to close. One staff member acted as interventionist by sharing stories of her past as a homeless
person to demonstrate both the personal and community need for the shelter. The residents, one by one,
then symbolically responded with personalized stories, the result being a restoration of faith in the
facility’s positive place in their (and others’) lives and a return to organizational equilibrium.

Narrating as Tactic and Strategy

Life experiences as told from a personal point of view can serve as a basis on which public and social
planners create and implement innovative programming for the homeless. These personal experience
narratives not only diagnose the ills of society, they also propose interventions in pre-crisis, mid-crisis,
and after-crisis situations. Moreover, narrating can be employed effectively as tactic and strategy. This is
because folklore is symbolic. It engages people, evoking strong emotions, visual imagery, and physical
responses.
Often personal narratives have been instrumental not just in helping redress individual problems but in
participating or advancing actual policy.
Certain principles regarding narrating, homelessness, research, and advocacy bear summarising.
1. The individual must be respected as the primary source of knowledge when it comes to
articulating the causes of (and possible solutions to) a problems like homelessness.
2. Methods need to be appropriate to the task. When interviewing the “hidden homeless” or related
matters, in particular, it is necessary to be flexible and patient and to utilize open-ended
storytelling sessions.
3. Narrative about personal experiences can serve a researcher in diagnosing social ills; narrating
can also be a tactic or strategy of intervention, change in personal relations and in social policy.
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4. The storying mode of human intrapersonal and interpersonal communication is the most
promising method of “the art of persuasion by planning.” This planning often begins with a
rehearsal-to-self: the silent, private characterization of an event that has happened and is relevant,
or is suggested by a prior occurrence and becomes the kernel for composing a new scenario.
5. Those trained in folklore studies are particularly skilled at eliciting people’s stories, to listen to
them, to take them seriously, and to present them to others. Folklorists can become activists, not
just documenters or advocates, by employing (or helping others utilize) narrating as a problem-
solving strategy.

4. Folklife, Cultural Conservation, and Environmental Planning

Folklorists and cultural anthropologists play various roles in environmental planning; they know
distinctive ethnic and regional subcultures, have ethnographic research techniques and interpersonal skills
cultivated through fieldwork. These help them resolve practical problems. Within the broad domains of
environmental planning, cultural specialists contribute to various activities that may be grouped into two
categories: cultural resource management and social impact assessment.
Cultural resource management programmes use archaeological and architectural, and folklife studies to
catalogue and protect resources, determine their significance, i.e., their contribution to national, state or
local heritage, and compile thorough documentation of their significances. Programmes that protect and
interpret cultural heritage to the public employ folklife specialists. The employments offer opportunities
to conduct research, prepare publications, and exhibits, or organize festivals and similar events.
Interpretation of local and regional culture is a feature of many national and state parks, parkways, and
recreation areas known primarily for their scenic and natural assets.
The natural resources in parks and recreation areas may be cultural resources as well. Environmental
histories record natural events and human impacts that have affected the resource base and modified the
landscapes we see today. Cultural specialists who explore aspects of ethnoecology, such as world views
that have value mastery or stewardship of resources or traditional knowledge and use of resources,
augment the park naturalist’s interpretation of natural history. Cultural knowledge can actually improve
management of natural resources and add richness to their interpretation. By conducting ethnographic and
ethnohistoric studies that reveal native knowledge and patterns of resource use, cultural specialists help
natural scientists understand the roles humans have played in shaping past and present ecosystems. Such
knowledge of human impacts is critical to develop sound resource management plans for the future. E.g.
how the acts of afforestation can be successful and the various natural attractions in Oromiya can be
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preserved are examples. Local people may have some ideas about and this can be studied better by
folklorists.
Cultural resource management is an ongoing activity on public lands. These can be places to conserve and
interpret major archaeological sites and historic structures. But almost all large-scale development
projects elicit an initial record of cultural resources and need easing of major impacts before construction
starts. In many cases, however, such as high way construction, saving the physical resource is impossible.
Thorough documentation before losing the site or structure becomes the only means of mitigation.
Another aspect of environmental studies coming before development is Social impact assessment. It may
also incorporate folklife research. Social impact assessment attempts to determine how a proposed
development, such as a new park or dam, might affect neighbouring communities, both positively and
negatively. By projecting likely effects in a way that permits calculating cost-benefit ratios, social impact
assessment attempts to help decision-makers choose the most beneficial least costly among available
alternative plans for proposed development projects. And economic costs and benefits, population
changes, increased demand for public services, and the like, are indicators most prominently features in
this kind of research because they are easily quantified.
Folklife studies can contribute to social impact assessment by helping planners appreciate community
cohesion and its basis in common traditions and values. Fieldwork also uncovers local assessments of
sociocultural costs and benefits and much information pertinent to “quality of life” – a dimension that
social impact assessment is supposed to address but cannot easily quantify. Because citizens do act and
react based on their perceptions, planners need to deal with these concerns whether or not they match the
“factual” data obtained from other sources.
Potentially there are multiple niches for folklorists in environmental planning, but folklife studies still are
rare in this field. Archaeologists and architectural historians predominate in cultural resource
management, as do sociologists, demographers, and economists in social impact assessment. A brief
lesson in legislative history will explain why folklife has been marginal to both kinds of environmental
planning research and how “cultural conservation” with its realignment of priorities is helping to change
this.

Legislative Frameworks Supporting Folklife in Environmental Planning

Environmental planning involves cultural and technical considerations. Planners become more conscious
about this fact. States have to set the foundation for changes and incorporate them step-by-step into
folklife research to the utilizations of environmental planners. Cultural resource management was
primarily similar to preservation, and assessment of social impact. This calls for qualitative analyses of
the size of population and econometric data. These have to be the standard methods of accounting for
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sociocultural factors in environmental planning. But ethnography or folklife studies have gained ground
as both historic preservation and social impact assessment have expanded their scope to address newly
articulated cultural conservation concerns.

Historic Preservation and Cultural Conservation

Creating state and local programs help to protect buildings, archaeological sites, and historic districts.
Oral histories, ethnography, and documentary research furnish information on cultural and historic
context needed to support nominations to register and develop interpretations of these properties for the
public. Help of academic folklore institutions with their experiences and skills on vernacular architectures
in state historic preservation programs can promote such programs.
State laws on such issues can use as instruments in expanding the historic preservation act’s definition of
cultural resources to include living cultural expressions and archaeological and architectural resources.
Similar institutions from state have to support folklorists transform the folk arts programs into
comprehensive folklife centers that document, interpret, and analyse and present all aspects of traditional
lifeways. Big and central institutions have to help to articulate an expanded heritage protection agenda
under the banners of cultural conservation – the principle that heritage protection should encompass
encouragement and perpetuation of living cultural expressions and preservation of artifacts from the past.
These must be done through their research projects, publications, and conferences.
Government bodies have to help, encourage and initiate such institutions to investigate means of
extending cultural resource protections to “intangible” and tangible resources. The term “Cultural
conservation” can be popularized by making the efforts of such institutions visible and its missions of
expansion of heritage protection represented. The perspective of cultural conservation is desired in
planning environment. Through this, the historic preservation programs used to be limited to tangible
materials (sites, structures, and artifacts) threatened by development projects can encompass ethnographic
and ethnohistoric study of “intangible” only to the extent that they furnished context for interpretation of
specific sites or structures.
Cultural conservation is a multidisciplinary enterprise, and it unites academics, public sector practitioners,
and concerned citizens. Different parts of complete cultural conservation can be established in programs
supported by government and private agencies operating at local, state, and federal levels.
Folklorists can surely multiply their opportunities to apply their skills to environmental planning
coordinating their activities and lobbying their efforts to focus on increased attention on cultural
conservation. Even though there are constraints, factors are contributing to cultural conservation to
promote its recognition and support. Various bodies are claiming cultural conservations in Oromiya. But
limited results are witnessed as they are few to reach to villages and districts to conserve their artefacts,
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monuments, and other cultural resources. Cultures also continue producing more types and periods of
such cultural elements.
This should not be satisfied by establishing and conserving cultural resources. Cultural tourism
programme must be part of the promotion. This has a number of purposes: (1) to help people learn about
them, (2) to financially support the programme to work further and better, (3) to guide and help those
bodies which expand different develop projects to take care of the cultural and traditional values and
ways of lives.
This helps to preserve historic places and stimulate creative approaches to interpretation and public
education; it also conserves neighbourhoods and towns and villages as wholesome environments and their
residents, to aid local people in controlling the pace and nature of the development that affects them, and
to ensure that economic and social benefits of tourism development accrue to local communities rather
than outside corporate developers.

Social Impact Assessment and Cultural Conservation

Development projects’ planners need to assess expected impacts and consult the communities. They have
to gather vital background information, prepare environmental impact statements to summarize the
anticipated costs and benefits of a range of alternative plans, and provide opportunities for the public to
respond and contest the planners’ data and conclusions, up to court if necessary. This is very essential for
the future of the project and the traditions of communities. Projects could include constructions of dams
and highways, urban renewal, sites of defence and chemicals, factories and facilities, establishment of
new parks and recreation areas.
Local laws must endorse the goals of preserving the diverse strands in national cultural heritage. Agencies
must adopt the regulations and guidelines to implement. They must thoroughly deal with natural
environment and resources and with the kinds of cultural resources already protected through historic
preservation programmes. Social impact assessment focuses on anticipated demographic and economic
impacts of development projects, factors for which quantitative data made calculation of the costs and the
benefits possible. This research draws heavily on statistical data sources rather than fieldwork in affected
communities. It seldom acknowledges cultural “intangibles” whose value is not easily quantified.
Cultural conservation now offers justification for numbering threats to community life and values or
“quality of life” among the factors to be considered in social impact assessment, just as it has expanded
the scope of cultural heritage protection. Greater sensitivity to cultural issues and specific resources
should increase the possibility that environmental planning will promote rather than undermine long-term
survival of still vital cultural traditions. Development projects affecting Oromo has to be used as
precedents to establish and expand social impact assessment.
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Economists, demographers, and sociologists extensively compile readily available statistical summaries
in routine social impact assessments. Cultural anthropologists often are required to do ethnohistoric and
ethnographic fieldworks when development affects a community. Their work indicates the utility of
information generated from ethnographic studies and fieldwork contact attended to an expanded range of
sociocultural impacts, and makes a strong case for timely, close consultation between planners and
members of affected communities. Cultural factors may have assumed greater importance in these cases
because pronounced cultural differences between planners and the native make the need for cultural
specialists on the impact assessment team obvious. More important, however, the federal procedure must
explicitly state the special status and rights of the natives as once sovereign nations and set some special
requirements for project planning.
Proposing sacred and religious centres for development projects has to consider religious rights stated in
the constitutions. Team of cultural specialists are needed to see into this. Wood-cutting and timber
productions must also exclude sacred sites and forests of some ethnic groups. Such sites are better
documented to avoid prior planning for other development projects in the long-range.
In planning parks, natives have to be allowed to continue their traditional subsistence uses of plants and
wildlife resources. To determine and maintain sustainable levels of resource use, anthropologists are
employed to compile “resource ethnographies” – extensive information about past and present substance
and settlement patterns, demography, and social customs that might affect the resource base.
It is hopeful that increased attentions to native cultural concerns in national parks fosters sensitizes park
managers towards cultural conservation issues which could also affect the neighbouring community as
well. Folklorists can persuade development planners and managers to fund Folklife research in an
assessment of potential environmental impacts. Such studies have to help to find ways of mitigating
adverse effects. They must be carefully spelt out the rationale and legal basis for social impact
assessments to include Folklife studies to help as experiences for future in planning development projects
in other communities and areas.
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Part II:
Improving the Quality of Life
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5. Folklore and Medicine

1. What do you know about traditional medicine and healing?

2. Who are the practitioners? What kind of persons are they?
3. How do they practice: sell in shops, market places, drugstores or treat needy individuals at their
homes?
4. How do their patients know their presence and contact them?
5. How many types of traditional medicine and healing systems do you know? Identify the types of food
items, herbals, prayers and belief systems, massage, and others?
6. How do people perceive them?
7. What is the logic at work in traditional medicine and healing?
8. Do you think they must get medical license? Why or why not?
9. If you have some convincing reason about their values how can we popularise and make them
alternative to the medical practices that are at use in the modern treatment?
Research reports and life experiences enrich the discussion on traditional medicines, treatments and
healing systems where David J. Hufford contributes. Folk medicine, beliefs, and practices may incur
obsolete information and signs of backwardness. “Folk medicine” is health related beliefs and practices
existing for long time. Still it exists alongside an official, politically dominant system of medicine.
“Official” roots in context to mean the “M.D. medicine” within a governmental system of regulation
(accreditation, licensure, the surgeon general, departments of health, and so forth). The “unofficial”
traditions are sometimes further subdivided according to their modes of dissemination, with those
primarily in oral circulation being classed as “folk” and those with a heavy reliance on print being called
as ‘popular’. The distinction has some practical significance. Folk medicine in oral tradition is the way it
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is known and disseminated through oral information and personal knowledge. “Popular” notices news,
advertisements, pamphlets, etc. – writing. Some sense of marketing is highly associated.
Health food beliefs develop from traditions of folk herbalists. E.g. garlic, honey, butter, meat, teeth
cleaning sticks, etc.
“Folk medicine” must not be taken as “isolated, uneducated, of rural, populations that depend on
traditional beliefs and practices simply for having no alternatives or cannot be persuaded to use them.
Stereotypes must be minimized; the fact that they can create good health care situation and evidence
strong cases of healing and surprise has been reported by medical practitioners.
The Prevalence of Folk Medicine
Folk medicine has therapeutic values, besides having psychological benefits in relieving anxiety. Studies
show that plants taken to be of medical values exhibit strong cases of facts. Assumptions about folk
medicine demand reconsidering and reassessing. Health professionals better learn more about traditions
of their patients to serve them well. Following are some important concepts about folklore in medicine.
Folklore Studies and Health
The application of folklore studies to medical education, practice, and research is benefiting. Traditional
foodways and folk religion are directly relevant to health and health behaviour. Folk narrative is a central
topic in the study of the ways that people perceive and describe their health histories. Folklore studies and
health involves its own kinds of inquiry, and basic folklore research often serves practical and
“theoretical” ends. This is behavioural science. It deals with the social and cultural aspects of health.
What are the very concepts: fayyaa, dawaa, badada, wal’aansa, qoricha (turi qorichan siif qotaa!), …?
This must stress on the patients’ point of view and heavily illustrated with cases in which folklore is
prominent. Folk medicine and folk belief can provide resources and be helpful to different groups of
health professionals: nurses, social gerontology, medical ethnography, clinical consultancy. They
generate helpful ideas for a variety of medical and multidisciplinary continuing education programmes,
especially with needs and behaviours of cancer patients.

Folk Medicine, Belief Systems, and World View

Folklore theory recognizes that folk beliefs and practices exist within largely organized systems of
cultural materials, health belief systems. Furthermore, these systems include sets of values, attitudes, and
expectations partly taught by culture and partly developed by individual through unique life experiences
that challenge these culturally provided “world view”. The question, “Why do you believe that works?”
cannot be answered purely on the basis of observations about a healing practice itself, but must include its
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cultural context. For example, the belief in the efficacy of herbals as a universally effective healer is
associated with a high valuation of age and experience, characteristics of wise healers as exemplified by
traditional herbalists. The belief is further supported by modern medical practitioners. That status includes
the observation that many health ideas are today conceiving serious medical scrutiny. Oromoo believes
that ‘Waaqa’ blesses us with natural medicines, even though all of us are not quite familiar with which
one is for which. Only the ‘ayyaantu’ are acquainted with some of them and they disclose the mystery to
one of their offspring to keep them secrets. This adds up their medicinal values and healing powers. The
observation that natural healing is safer than the harsh and ‘high-tech’ treatments by definition is related
to this. They are more like food than medicine connoting a nurturant mechanism.
Evolutionary theory which includes concepts like “diseases of civilization” support such natural remedies
in which some patients believe. This does not have any particular to religion. Health belief systems must
be understood in both their individual forms, as represented by single, real patients, and in the idealized,
cultural forms that help in the analysis of overall social interactions, such as the affinity of a particular set
of beliefs for specific groups.
Understanding individual folk medical beliefs is impossible by isolation. Never can they provide a
starting point to examine the interaction of modern medicine and folk tradition.
The Logic of Folk Medicine
To understand the prevalence of folk medicine, it is necessary to contrast the way that it operates among
those raised within a traditional folk healing system and those who are brought to it by circumstances
later in life, very often serious illness.
Highly prominent folk medicine systems identified with particular “folk groups” have served as model for
studies of folk medicine, resulting in the stereotypical notion of “their” medicine as opposed to “our”
medicine. However, even within those groups for whom a folk medical system is dominant, there exists a
variety of alternatives.
Diet, health food movement, folk medicine is quite frequent in our society. We observe the dominance of
folk medicine around us. In some cases they are taken and stick to independently; in others, they are
utilised along with the modern medical treatment. They offer alternative treatment and the degree varies
depending on contexts. Most urbanised and westernised educated groups trust the modern medical
system; while the rural and uneducated traditional group thinks and believes otherwise.
Both group present some “rational” at the back of their ideas. Most of the treatment types from
conventional medicine to psychic healing to homeopathy to herbalism are rational systems of thought.
The argument goes as, “ … this cannot be because such and such a system is not correct.” The logic is not
the correctness of the judgement but rather the fact that it depends on some data and reasoning – based on
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coherent use of human reasoning – rationality. These are sometimes formal deductive logic which cannot
guarantee truth and those which can.
The rationality of the system creates common ground for people having varied views to discuss. This
creates the opportunity for the surgeon and folk healer to listen to and understand the straightforward
descriptions of the assumptions and observations and analysis of each others’ logic. The discussion could
result in the benefits of both and most importantly in that of the patient. A medical folklorist or
anthropologist can mediate the discussion. A medical folklorist can also call the attentions of medical
professionals to test the reliabilities, validities, and opportunities of traditional medicine and treatment.
Folk medicine is highly valued in the scope of the experiences of patients. This could be seen as
subjective in the eyes of the modern medical personnel and the ones who trust them the most; this group
assumes itself as more objective, rational as it depends on technological proves and tests.
Dealing with Folk Medicine
Medical personnel associate folk medicine and treatment with people of poor education, backward
culture, and lack of civilization. They can neither prove its non-medical status to be stopped anytime. The
matter is more complicated:
 It is better for our physicians to be aware of their patients’ beliefs and practices; patients usually
conceal these from physicians.
 After developing awareness, the physicians should identify the risks involved such as direct risk
(e.g. liver toxicity) or the risks of conflict with medical advice (e.g. using medicine indicates lack
of faith).
 The absence of risk proves the continuities of beliefs and practices as patients’ health resources;
their medical implications may change over time.
 Risk-prove in the practices and beliefs of the patient must be followed by the assessment and
comparison of his/her commitment to it and to that of medical treatment.
 The light the commitment, the adequate the medical argument to result in desired effect.
 The stronger the commitment, the better the physician engage in negotiation between the
frameworks of medicine and that of the patient’s. This demands drawing the nature of the practice
or belief from the patient and its role within the patient’s health system. The understanding of
ethnographic interview methods or a willingness to draw upon non-medical experts for
consultation (such as faith healers and herbalists to folklorists and anthropologists) is necessary to
this effect.
Such negotiations could lead to complete compliance; but not very often. All these are intended to deliver
improved medical care, minimize risk, and create doctor-patient cooperation. The negotiations can be
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simple in some cases and complicates in others. But the path is more vital than the direct impact on
managing the case at hand. It makes doctors and nurses familiar with the beliefs and practices of the
patient population and the functions of the beliefs and practices in the cases of specific diseases.
Textbooks do not provide such information; having designated cultural specialists on every health care
team is infeasible. Therefore, the primary role of the folklorist herein is educating; clinical consultation is
another role.

6. Democratizing Art Therapy

Research report of Kirstin G. Congdon from teaching art classes to jailed women, and other observations
and speculations enrich this discussion. The women are indicted for varied crimes. Congdon is a middle-
class and they are from loweer-economic-class imprisoned in maximum security jail. One of her
questions was: what benefit could come from creating and studying art for these women at this time in
their lives? The question actually was not for the first time to come to her mind. She has been asking
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herself so many times before when she was offering courses to different groups of students: as a public
school teacher, she has been teaching art in museums, community centers, mental health treatment
facilities, and recreational settings. The answers could vary depending on the population and the setting.
Later as a university professor, she was encouraging her art education and art therapy students to ask
these questions of themselves. The answers to the questions in the jail setting came from a combination of
an understanding of culture-based aesthetics, lower-class perspectives, jail culture, and the inmates’ needs
and abilities to find ways to break out of their present despair. Gender cultural perspectives have to be
programmed in dealing exclusively with single gender groups.
The women became her teachers. They were of diverse groups but mostly poor women of colour and
unschooled; they had children, responsibilities, and a number of failures in life. All were eager to learn in
coming across an interesting, reasonable challenge. They are extraordinarily supportive and creative;
possess great humour and stories to tell; concerned about children and families; they aspire to be
traditional mothers, to live quietly and stably. Their artistic choices and activities reflected such dreams
and traditional female values.
These women were at crisis point and attention towards change was desirable. This can be actualized via
understanding of their cultural perspectives. This demands facilitating therapeutic environment to create
opportunities for empowerment rather than educating.
Success reflected in the completion of satisfactory project and the ability to communicate an idea or
obtaining knowledge to be able to teach a skill when the need presented itself became important. Their
own abilities to reflect on their individual and group identities impressed them. Distinguishing and
defining aesthetic taste of their own and envisioning more knowledge and assertive ways of presenting
themselves artistically happened. They learned that art was a means of communication; it reinforces or
changes the creators’ identities or sends a message of love and caring to bewildered child living with a
relative or in a foster home.
Women speak from different historical resources angles. Their art negotiates their roles in particular
historical moments and their needs to struggle against definitions and ideologies of femininity or the
necessity to bring themselves more comfortably within that role. The women under discussion perceived
themselves as ‘bad’ as they fail to become their given roles as homemakers, dependable and responsible
mothers, and good wives. Choosing to work in traditional ways helped them remake connections to these
roles. Embroidery, sewing, crocheting, and knitting were personally satisfying for them at the time in
their lives. They made connections to their lives, which Harmony Hammond theorizes as “… the function
and meaning of women’s traditional art, and it is still consistently a function of feminist art today.”
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Their art expression must not be agreed with the aesthetic tastes or life values of the teachers. Nor was the
art work always what is expected in the cultural values and tastes of the teachers. Talking, sharing, and
reflecting become important in classes. They naturally occur as extensions of art activities when the
women interacted positively to fulfill their individual goals on a particular piece.
Many scholars have written about the development of camaraderie and friendship that occurs in a sewing
group. Historically, the quilting bee or sewing group allowed its participants a time and a space to visit
and create social bonds without betraying their family responsibilities. It also was (and continues to be) a
time when women engaged in the meditative activities of moving a needle in a repetitive manner, thereby
creating a sense of calm, of order and control, and of working toward an attainable goal.
Dialogue beginning with reflection of one’s own work is clarifying and sharing: a crocheted pair of
slippers for a daughter, a necklace to wear to court to show the judge what a particular inmate was doing
with her time, a suggestive halter top fashioned to draw attention. Discussions involve cultural and social
topical issues: economic, political, social, responsibilities, cultural differences, the relationships among
different groups, and the desire to change. They clarify values, make choices, justify and reshape lives.

Art therapy mostly depends on aspects of human nature, artistic ability defined as universal; cultural
differences of race, class and gender type need to be noted, enjoyed, and developed in order to work
effectively with groups of people from different backgrounds.
Overview of Art Therapy
Art therapy and art education are often separated as many professional wanted them to be. They overlap
in many respects as they facilitate art experiences and both are concerned with the well-being of the
individual. Art educators work with specialized populations, and many art therapists believe that they can
be effective with nonlabeled or so-called normal people.
Folklore fieldworks and methodologies, however, have been readily accepted in art education literature
than in art therapy, probably because of the easily supportable interest in cultural pluralism espoused in
multicultural educational materials. A long way has to be gone for art education to full appreciation and
utilizations of the work of folklorists to benefit from; the field of art therapy tends to be less developed in
terms of its cultural recognitions. Curriculum has to be developed around diverse populations, e.g.
cultural differences in mental health fields are not responded to. This is partly because of the inflexible
approaches of hard sciences. Ignoring the artistic and cultural expressions of a pluralistic society is
undemocratic as it alienates and devalues people outside of the established art world and denies them the
opportunities of expressing themselves in the give-and-take necessity to health social well-being.
Besides being so closely linked with art education, art therapy has not been an easy profession to define
for a number of other reasons. 1. its relative newness as an academic field of study. Works of Freud and
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Jung influenced that art is believed to release messages from unconscious through symbolic speech.
Regardless of previous training in art, any psychologist could use this tool. The consequence of aesthetic
result was little giving importance to only the interpretation of psychoanalysis. Other psychologists stress
the need for aesthetically pleasing results, feeling that mental wellness and well-integrated, well-designed
works of art. Theorists disagree on how important it is to talk about and reflect on a work o art. Some art
therapists work with individuals, others work with families, engage more than one person at a time in
artistic expression.
Some theories suggest that art therapy be used in ways other than to uncover unconscious messages. The
developmental approach is most often used with children who are mentally or physically delayed to help
them move through the so-called normal stages of artistic development, which are hypothesized to be part
of normal human growth. Each theoretical approach, including developmental art therapy, is more or less
based on the idea that all healthy human beings have universally identified ways of communicating.
Although art therapists are becoming more cautious about stating that all knotholes in trees signify the
sexual abuse of the artist, or that all faces scribbled over are done so in anger at the represented figure,
little work has been done to recognize the difference in cultural symbology, both visual and verbal, in
therapeutic settings. A lack of this kind of understanding could readily trigger misunderstandings.
If art therapists were to study folklore theory using knowledge about folk beliefs, folk speech and folk art,
their attempts to communication with culturally different clients could be improved. Water may signify
one thing to a group of people who know the dangers of an ocean and have an entirely different meaning
to those who live in the desert. Likewise, colours do not necessarily have universal meanings but may
vary from group to group and even among individuals. Fkf. Keelloofi diimaan keenya.

A Folkloric Approach to Art Therapy

Most art therapists begin their sessions giving their clients freeing-up exercise; usually the creation of
scribble that may be spoken about as representative of particular emotions or may be further drawn on to
represent an object seen within the lines. Art therapists frequently begin with chalk or pastels on large
sheet of paper. These are materials that are often used by so-called fine arts, and the free-flowing use of
line is the kind of expression encouraged by instructors in art schools.
Paper, pencils, paints, and pastels are reported to be of interest to a few students in some contexts like jail
as they object to touching them. This may be due to cultural gaps. Contrarily, materials like cloth and
fibres traditionally used in the women’s communities are quickly recognized as familiar to their culture.
Beginning with such familiar materials and art forms help in developing awareness of who they are. Such
groups sew when they can, they do with available materials to them; such activities have long tradition of
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association with the values to which they adhere. Fiberwork is part of the dream of their becoming good
wives and mothers, the wish of home and middle-class lives.
In the academic art world, there continues to be a strong hierarchical value system that says that objects
made with fibers are less worthy than those made with paint; and those objects that hang on walls have
more aesthetic potential than those that are worn or used in some other physically utilitarian way.
Folklore study could contribute to changing these beliefs and expand on the art facilitators’ awareness of
the therapeutic function of a variety of art materials and art forms. The traditional artists express their
views of the world and their experiences of lives. One can find evidence throughout folklore literature of
how traditional art helps to provide an individual with a sense of place, identity, community, and history.
It functions to express values, creating stability and giving direction.
There is also folkloric evidence that the repetitive motions involved in activities such as basketry or
quilting can help to calm and soothe. As already noted, these processes can be a retreat to solitude, to
ordering and reordering the world, and the product can be the physical evidence that substantiates one’s
individual existence.
Art therapists can also benefit from the study of folklore by understanding the meanings behind folk
speech. A cultural phrase may be easily misinterpreted if one does not have grounding in target language
styles. This hampers the understanding or the taking into account of the worldview of the group. The
more we are able to encourage and understand language, both verbal and visual, from the creators’ world
view, the better chance we have of working effectively with that person.
Folklorists and others are beginning to make it clear that not only are there cultural-based aesthetics, but
inside group members repeatedly speak about their creations with specific language choices reflective of
what they see as important and pleasing.
Differences in language reflect ethnic, religious, environmental, technical, and generational identities.
Language is a powerful tool. Word, phrases and dialects have the ability to affirm one’s position and
dignity in an often unjust and difficult world. Verbal and nonverbal language, and a variety of other
artistic expressions, can teach us much about the creative powers, world views, and human needs of
varying cultural groups.
CONCLUSIONS
The field of art therapy could greatly benefit from the utilization of folklore studies in both its theory and
practice. Three interlocking ways in which folklore knowledge can be useful to the art therapist:
1. The recognition and utilization of art materials, artistic forms, and symbolism that comes from
the participant’s traditional culture can assist in engaging and interesting the individual and
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validating his or her identity as having positive, creative aspects on which predetermined change
can be built.
2. Recognising and understanding how language and folk speech can be used by a participant and
how it can assist the art facilitator in understanding the artist’s world view, value system, and
functions of artistic expression, thereby affecting better communication in therapeutic settings.
3. These forms of recognition can contribute to a respectful consideration of the participants’ art and
work to further the mental health of a community by building on the creative strength of our
pluralistic society, rather using the therapeutic settings to inadvertently engage in systems of
oppression. The use of folkloric understanding in the theory and practice of art therapy can help
lead to the democratization of art encouraging more active participation in our society by all of its
citizens.
If art therapists expand in this direction, they can assume a leadership role in reacquainting the mental
health field with the original intent and purpose of community mental health efforts: building on the
strengths and expressions of existing natural support systems in a community and encouraging and
developing mental health rather than treating mental illness. In the case of the women inmates who
resigned the men’s jeans, they learned to build on:
 Their knowledge of who they were and who they wanted to become (especially as the
women in our society);incredible richness of their visual and verbal communities;
 The strong commitment to mutual group support they shared; and
 The ability to communicate and create in the most horrible of settings.
Folklore can contribute to the ability of both mental health professionals and educators to work within the
perspectives of varying cultural groups. Culturally sensitive professional who benefit from this process
will be more effective in building on strengths and empowering groups by facilitating individual and
cultural communication that respects personal history, identity, and the viability of the people with whom
they are working.

7. Folklorist’s Approach to Organizational Behaviour (OB) and

Organizational Development (OD)
This topic is enriched with a research report of Michael Owen Jones and other observations. A specialist
in organizational behaviour mainly focuses on employees’ treatment as responsible adults; they must be
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allowed to participate in decisions affecting their work lives, and they had to have sense of “ownership”
in the organizations of which they were supposed to think of themselves as representatives. These issues
are essentially lacking. The specialist would probably question aspects of organizational structure, the
human resources function, and leadership.
Employees are denied some forms of symbolic communication and interaction that are fundamental to
human being. They are forced to work in an impersonal, institutionalized environment and disallowed to
surround themselves with personal items, mementos, photos, photocopier lore, cartoons or comic strips,
and other objects helping them deal with tensions, release pent-up frustrations, and cope with the job on
the one hand, and seek reverie and inspiration on the other. They can hardly express themselves in dress
in unique and individual ways and no hopes for a sense of “folk costume” evolving as an emblem of
individuality or source of identity.
Celebration is restricted. Its spontaneous occurrence at the moment that people feel joyous, as it does in
the “natural state,” is deterred; the urge to celebrate has been referred ‘to a particular place, time of day,
and season of the year’.
One can predict that there will be no joking except for “gallows humour,” little storytelling, and none of
the social routines and rituals usually generated when people interact on a cordial basis or organize
informally (e.g. food-sharing, playfulness, kidding, cooperative work effort). There will develop,
however, uncomplimentary nicknames, negative sayings and traditional expressions, a preoccupation with
“beating the system,” and other expressive behaviour with themes of antagonism, hostility, and
demoralization.
Describing ways of utilizing concepts and approaches from folklore research to better understand
behaviour in organizations and to help bring about change benefiting individual participants and the
organization as a whole is intended herein. It better begins with some background concepts and trends.

Organizational Behaviour and Occupational Folklore

Organizational behaviour (OB) is “the study of why people behave the way they do in organizations.” It
draws on psychology, sociology, social psychology, political science, and economics. Its specialists
mainly teach in university departments of behavioural and organizational sciences, usually in schools of
public policy, administration, and industrial and labour relations. They examine individual behaviour in
organizations, develop or apply hypotheses about perception, personality, learning, motivation, and
creativity. They investigate such aspects of group behaviour as inter-group tensions and interactions, how
groups develop a collective identity and common ways of doing things, and a group’s effects on
individuals’ attitudes and behaviour. They consider various kinds of organizational structure, including
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authority and responsibility relationships, job design, and reward systems. Finally, specialists in OB
examine organizational processes such as leadership, strategy, communication, coordination, and
decision-making. They have realized most behaviours in organizations is traditional and symbolic. An
organization without symbols have only tangible, explicit, instrumental objects; no retirement dinners,
stories or anecdotes, myths about the company’s past, annual picnic, catchy phrases, Christmas turkeys.
Its texture is reduced to a mechanical system, nearing machine perfection, yielding goods and services,
with robot-like efficiency.
Independent consultants advise government agencies, schools, hospitals, businesses, charities, and similar
institutions. Others find employment in various units of organizations, particularly those concerned with
communication, training, or employee relations, and human resource development.
Symbol-less organizations are difficult to human beings to work in. symbols provide a number of cues to
employees; employees interpret and learn the organization and their roles in it receiving information
“about status, power, commitment, motivation, control, values and norms.”
Much of the symbols are folkloric:
Lacking customs, social routines, rituals, specialised language, and examples in their work group of what to do and
how, people would be unable to function well – if at all. In addition, stories, ceremonies, rites of passage, festive
events, joking, play, and other expressive behaviour provide a basis for interaction and communication. Depending
on its context and content, folklore may instruct, persuade, entertain, help an individual cope, reinforce factionalism,
protect personal integrity and promote self-esteem, or stimulate bonding and sense of community. Folklorists have
long studied such occupational folklore.
Many of the research problems discussed in organization studies and administrative science are “verbal
symbols” (myth, legends, stories, slogans, creeds, jokes, rumours, names); actions (ritualistic special acts,
parties, rites of passage, meals, breaks, starting the day); material symbols (status symbols, awards,
company badge, pins). They overlap with folkloric subjects and studies. Origins of stories and how they
reflect the present organization, and its growth and stability, if industry wide symbols are present, if some
individuals are influential, happenings to the expressive forms during organizational exchange, impacts of
organizations, “symbols system” on the social environment and otherwise are examined.
Noting these calls for the needs of folklorists to study such organizational folklore. “Organizational
folklore studies,” has been described as a field of inquiry utilizing the concept of organization in research
on traditional, expressive forms and processes of communication manifested in people’s interactions.
The study of organizational folklore logically extends occupational folklore and Folklife scholarship as
well as the research on organizational culture and symbolism. Creating better understanding of
organizational behaviour and improving them are their objectives. The use of multidisciplinary approach
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enriches understanding of human behaviour in organizational settings, benefit organizations and

employees.
Organizational Development (OD)
OD draws on the behavioural sciences for theory and techniques, particularly of psychology, sociology,
and social psychology. It has several intellectual roots. One is “laboratory training,” essentially
unstructured situations involving small groups in which participants learn from their own interactions and
the evolving dynamics of the group. The T-group (T for training) is an educational vehicle for individual
or small group change – essentially an experience-based method of learning.
Another source of technique in OD is the survey feedback method. Researchers obtain data through
questionnaires, interviews, or other data-gathering techniques, which they feedback in summary form to
everyone taking part in the inquiry. This provides a basis for understanding problems and planning
actions as well as helping assure participation by all members in improving the organization.
A third source for OD is OB. OB concerns individual and group behaviour in organization along with
matters of organizational structure, functions, and processes (leadership, communication, decision
making).
OD is the applied side of research on organizations (though it has a theoretical dimension, too). It can be
meant as “a long range effort to improve an organization’s problem solving and renewal processes,
particularly through a more effective and collaborative management of organization culture – with special
emphasis on the culture of formal work teams – with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the
use of the theory and technology of applied behavioural science, including action research.”
Settings run from labour unions to volunteer organizations, industrial plants, government agencies,
research and development labs, schools, and businesses; they include small departments, large divisions,
or whole organizations. This might aim to improve morale, health and safety, group interactions,
interdepartmental communications, the effectiveness of an organization, or a combination of these or
other goals. OD emphasises collaboration among parties, an approach recognizing that problems and
solutions in most organizations are complex, that no particular group is necessarily the problem, and that
rarely is there a single, simple solution to any issue.
If a problem is essentially diagnostic, then the “change agent” or “catalyst” (i.e., a third party to the issue
and the organization, usually an outside consultant) may play a more active decision-making role in
gathering and interpreting data and in feeding it back to those individuals who provided it. At other times
e.g., when employees are attempting to develop processes to learn to solve their own problems (the long
term goal of OD), the change agent tend to adopt a more passive role, serving as counsellor, or sounding
board for ideas.
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Occupational folklore studies are desired to be clinical and applied not descriptive and academic. They
better provide insights into human behaviour and implications for OD to solve problems rather than
describing situations. Their authors engage in OD efforts preferred to proceed as follows:
1. Feed back a summary of their findings (from observation, interviews, and questionnaires) about
problem and/or positive matters to organization members participating in the research, which
includes a cross-section of personnel (i.e., as broad a range of “stakeholders” as possible);
2. Facilitate discussion of a feedback and emerging data with participants;
3. Assist with action plan and implementation;
4. Take part in the evaluation of development efforts;
5. Repeat the process, feeding back a summary of findings, facilitating discussion, and so on.
The researchers’ participation provides representatives of the organization who seek assistance. Data are
generated, summarised, and discussed collaboratively as an ongoing process in the spirit of learning,
changing, and solving problems from members’ involvement. The consultant must protect those he works
with from damage (e.g. the work group being studied must have the right to decide how information
collected about it will be used).
OD advocates point to several unique features of their approach, as indicated in the following list of
underlying values and assumptions (quoted from Organization Theory):
1. Assumptions about people as individuals: Individuals desire personal growth and development if
the environment is supportive and challenging. Most people are willing to make a higher level of
contribution to attaining organizational goals than is permitted by the environment.
2. Assumptions about people and leaderships in groups: One of the most psychologically relevant
reference groups for most people is the work group (both peers and superiors).
Most people want to be accepted and to interact cooperatively with more than one small reference
group (including the work group, the family, personal friends, and so on). The formal leader cannot
perform all the leadership and maintenance functions in all circumstances; hence, the informal part of
the organization is important in groups because different individuals must perform a variety of
leadership roles. Suppressed feelings and attitudes adversely affect problem solving, personal growth,
and job satisfaction. The level of interpersonal trust, support, and cooperation is much lower in most
groups than is either necessary or desirable. The solutions to most attitudinal and motivational
problems in organizations involve alteration of mutual relationships by all parties in the system.
(Attitudinal and motivational problems are “transactional.”)
3. Assumptions about people in organizational systems: Since organizations are characterised by
overlapping work groups, the leadership style and climate of the higher team tend to be
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transmitted to lower teams. “Win/lose” conflict strategies between people and groups are not
optimal in the long run in solving most organizational problems. Time and patience are important
in changing organizational values and behaviour because such changes take a long time. For any
changes to be sustained, the total human resources system (appraisal, compensation, training,
staffing, job, and communications subsystems) must change appropriately.
4. Assumptions about values held by members of the client organization: Members believe in both
collaborative efforts and the end products of the organization. The welfare of all organization
members is important, especially to those people having the most power over others.
5. Assumptions (values held) made by behavioural science change agents: Organized effort exists to
meet the needs and aspirations of human beings. Work and life can become richer and more
meaningful, and organized effort more effective and enjoyable if feelings and sentiments are
permitted to be a more legitimate part of the culture of organizations. Equal attention must be
given to research and action applying the research.
OD aims to utilize human resources more effectively. Power equalization and work environments
democratization may be important but are not exclusive issues in this regard. Better utilization of
human resources should increase everyone’s power.
First, OD practitioners consider themselves more facilitators than experts at solving the specific
problems of a particular organization. Second, practitioners of OD utilize “process consultation.” The
consultant works with organization members over time to ascertain and discuss issues, to plan and
implement action, to evaluate the programme that was implemented, etc. contrast this with the
“Purchase model” – or the “doctor-patient model” in which a client describes symptoms and requests
an immediate remedy.
Third, those OD assume that or an organization to develop, change must occur-most fundamentally
in bringing about conscious awareness in organization members o behavioural patterns that help to
hinder development. Once informed, people can better reinforce or alter these patterns as appropriate.
Fourth, OD practitioners assume that members of the organization value collaborative effort. As long
as one or another party sustains an ideological commitment to the disregard of basic human rights, to
chronic dissension and turmoil, to hatred, violence, or destruction, then OD cannot help resolve the
conflicts in the organization. With people unwilling to work together to solve problems, organization
development efforts can do little more than help clarify issues and suggest ways in which
collaboration might bring about change.
Fifth, OD practitioners value the welfare of employees, particularly those having had little power. OD
specialists consistently advocate employees’ involvement in decisions that directly affects them. They
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push to give employees choices. This contrasts with the one-sided decision-making and policy-setting
that bothers different institutions – denies people the most fundamental forms and processes of
communication and interaction, their folklore.
Folklore in OB and OD
What is the role of folklore in OD? How can folklorists’ concepts, methods, techniques, and questions
be applied to help organizations and their members? Folklore can be used as a tool of discovery to
uncover assumptions and values, as a diagnostic technique to probe for solutions in problematic
situations. ….
Institutions gain from understanding the environment and worth of formal and informal cultures
evolved. Participants reflect on and articulate meaningful aspects as satisfying/dissatisfying at
evergreen and help determine the aspects of culture to be perpetuated and to be altered. Feedback of
essential findings in progress, discussion, and action planning helps (with safeguards regarding data
in order to protect participants).
Folklore often mirrors culture, and it’s a source of information about basic assumptions and values;
many non-folklorists who study OB using the culture construct are unaware of two limitations. First,
many documented examples of folklore, esp. narratives, are widely spread rather than situation-
specific.
Second, folklore may not tally with culture but serve as a means of projection, fantasy, wish
fulfillment, scapegoating, or other psychological mechanism for trying to adapt, adjust, or cope with
stress and the vicissitudes of organizational life. Many stories are also projective.
Folklore as a Diagnostic Technique
Forms of folklore (stories, language, rituals, customs, festive events, and others) develop out of
individuals’ experiences on jobs and interactions with others. They may point to sore spots and reveal
problems, indicate positive attitudes and supportive conditions or suggest solutions to issues. Observing
ritualistic interaction helps to identify if they are positive or negative, if people take part in foodsharing or
in celebrating events spontaneously, and so forth. This allows inferring much about morale and climate.
Listening to people tell stories, noting rumours, and paying attention to the metaphors and traditional
saying that crop up in conversation will provide a great deal of information about not only assumptions
and values but also attitudes, perceptions, fears, and concerns. Thus, folkloristics can help uncover sore
spots and various problems and, sometimes, possible causes or cures.
Several aspects of folklore methods and techniques might enrich the research done by the OB specialists
as well as assist OD practitioners better understand and help others. Some are the following:
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1. Observing the presence/absence of particular symbolic content, communicative processes and

interactions. Much talk about beating the system, engaging in prohibited behaviour, and so on may be
symptomatic of a certain climate. On the other hand, the presence of celebratory events, foodsharing,
and play may signal quite a different ambience. The next step is helping members discover and do
something about the problems giving rise to tension, stress, poor self-image, low morale, and so on;
or, in the opposite case, assisting members in identifying and developing ways to maintain the sense
of personal satisfaction and social support.
2. Analysing the themes of narratives. Stories about dramatic events or “critical incidents” in the
organization’s history may reflect members’ beliefs regarding the environment, the organization’s
preparedness, for and responsiveness to change, and how the organization ought to act. Also,
depending on who tells them and in what situation, narratives can reveal what troubles people and
what might be done to improve job design, organization functions, and systems of recognition and
reward.
3. Noting rumour, photocopier lore, and stories and ritualistic behaviour that seem to originate out of
uncertainty, anxiety, or stress. By documenting and analysing these forms and processes, we may
better understand some of the sources of organizational tensions and interpersonal conflicts,
appreciate how people naturally cope and adjust, and perhaps discover causes of stress that can and
should be removed.
4. Assessing the consistency between what is professed and what is signalled through actual behaviour.
Because they look to supervisors and managers for guidance, rewards and leadership, organization
members are likely to assign meaning(s) to virtually anything and everything that supervisory
personnel do, i.e. to see them as symbols of the organization and their behaviour as expressive of
assumptions and values. How do organization members interpret the customs, social routines,
ritualistic actions, metaphors, and stories of their leadership? What act triggers acceptance,
scepticism, rejection?
Particular examples of folklore express aspirations and concerns, characterise perceptions, transmit
conceptions and interpretations events and occupy leisure, teach and reinforce norms and values. Others
project anxieties, express joy and satisfaction, and provide meaning and sense-making. Awareness of
multiple meanings of folklore examples in different situations makes it possible not only to infer
assumptions or values but also to understand psychological processes helping people cope with
vicissitudes of organizational life. Understanding behaviours and discovering conditions affecting it may
lead to programmes to change the bad and perpetuate the good.
Folklore as a Mean of Implementing Change and Continuity
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Change seems evident in OD. Folkloristics contributes to OD theory and practice through its bias towards
community. It has been focusing on historical artefacts in identifying, documenting, analysing, and
presenting certain behaviours as “traditional.” Folklorists mean these phenomena have been transmitted
intergenerationally and exhibit continuities and consistencies in thought, feeling, and behaving. They
sometimes have considered particular traditions to be not functional, feasible, or appropriate to the
present situation (especially customs and beliefs, such as “superstitions,” viewed as personally harmful or
socially injurious). In other instances they have attributed meanings and values to traditions and
traditional symbolic behaviours, even advocating the perpetuation of some.
While many specialist in OD have an intuitive awareness of the existences of traditions, few appreciate
the role of folklore in conveying information, transmitting values, reinforcing attitudes, or providing ways
to deal with difficult situations. Without folkloristic training, only an occasional organization specialist
can recognize when to leave well enough alone, balance change with continuity, or encourage the
development and perpetuation of certain traditions. Herein lie ways of utilising folkloristics to benefit
individuals and organizations.
Two recommendations are made based on lore research. 1. Folklore makes us aware of ways in which
people are already coping with stress; this hopefully will teach leaders not to interfere with processes that
are already working quite well. To a sensitive observer, folklore may suggest ways to remove the causes
of the sore spots and, in the process, abolish the need for coping means in the first place.”
Thus, management support of folklore as natural and normal adaptive mechanisms may be important in
regard to morale. Using folklore to identify the sources of problems can lead to remedies. Folklore itself
may be curative: Having a sense of tradition in an organization, and possessing traditions, are especially
appealing to many members (when these traditions are positive rather than deleterious). Leaders’
encouraging of certain forms and examples of folklore emerging from people’s interactions, especially
those that seem supportive, can contribute toward developing a climate and culture necessary to
organization members’ feelings of creativity and community.
2. Those seeking to affect organizations sometimes use folklore to aid the process. A folklorist helps
people create folklore to improve organization climate.
In addition, any important percept in an organization is best communicated not through memos or
manuals but in stories, metaphorical language, rituals, and other folklore forms in face-to-face interaction.
This is especially true for mission, values and philosophy.
Old-time stories are intentionally aimed at telling how workers learn about the organizational intricacies,
including the “matrix” system of project organization, and about how they are managed to succeed the
company. Programmes are intended to educate newcomers “handing down the old hands’ wisdom” to
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avoid or minimize much of the anxiety, confusion, disappointment, and (stress arising in large, complex
organizations – especially when values, goals, and ways of doing things change over time, are not
explicitly known and understood, or are contradictory.
This programme exemplifies the basic purpose of OD: to enhance the problem solving and renewal
processes in organizations, which includes improving the well being of members. Implemented by the
office of director of human resources, it proceeded according to standards of conduct established long
ago: “OD programmes are designed to improve the welfare and quality of work life for all the members
of the organization. They are not a method for giving tools of manipulation or exploitation to any group
(say the managerial group), nor are they a method for improving the welfare of one group at the expense
of other groups. Finally, the programme achieved these goals through understanding and appreciation of
the forms and processes of traditional, symbolic communication and interaction, that is, folklore.

8. Moving Towards Responsible Tourism: A Role for Folklore

Millions turn into tourists every year. Tourism is turning the largest economic factor worldwide. It serves
deep-seated needs of industrial, urban people, results in culture contacts to change folk cultures more
profoundly than any revolution and ideology. Unrestrained tourism can cause irreversible damage to
fragile natural and cultural environments, the very sources it depends on. Pollution, overcrowded resorts,
and resentful native populations are by-products of development motivated by profits. Nevertheless many
underdeveloped countries and peripheral rural regions of industrialized nations continue to seek in
tourism an answer to their economic problems.

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM (RT)

RT creates better places for people to live in and to visit. It:
• minimises negative economic, environmental and social impacts;
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well being of host communities;
• improves working conditions and access to the industry;
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances;
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage embracing diversity;
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local
people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues;
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• provides access for physically challenged people;

• is culturally sensitive, encourages respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and
confidence;”
RT is becoming a global trend. Operators, destinations and industry organisations in many countries are
already practicing RT, and many are joining them. Recognising the global significance of RT World
Travel Market, one of the world’s largest travel exhibitions, has created World Responsible Tourism Day,
to be celebrated annually during November. World Responsible Tourism Day is endorsed by the World
Tourism Organisation and World Travel and Tourism Council.

Things that RT is not

Responsible Tourism is not another form of ‘niche tourism’ – RT is about the legacy and the
consequences of tourism – for the environment, local people and local economies.
RT does not only take place in protected natural environments – Any tourism business, whether located in
a thriving metropolis, a desert, rural village, sub-tropical island, medieval town – can be a RT operation.
RT is the responsibility of big business - The smallest of owner managed tourism businesses are already
practicing RT.
How RT differs from Sustainable Tourism (ST)
RT and ST aim sustainable development. The pillars of RT are therefore the same as those of ST –
environmental integrity, social justice and maximising local economic benefit. The major difference
between the two is that, in RT, individuals, organizations and businesses are asked to take responsibility
for their actions and the impacts of their actions. This shift in emphasis has taken place because not much
progress has been made on realising ST. This is partly because everyone has been expecting others to
behave in a sustainable way. The emphasis on responsibility in RT means that everyone involved in
tourism – government, product owners and operators, transport operators, community services, NGO’s
and CBO’s, tourists, local communities, industry associations – are responsible for achieving the goals of
RT.
The forces that are driving the growth in RT
Reasons motivating tourism destinations businesses to adopt RT practices:
Planet Panic
Globally, concerns about global warming, destruction of the environment, erosion of cultures and
lifestyles, and millions of people still living in poverty, are increasing. Efforts to save environment,
improve the living conditions for vulnerable people increase by the day. This creates consciousness of the
crisis the earth is spilling over into the way people behave in their homes, how they spend their money
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and the way businesses run. Driven by changing personal ethics, individuals contribute financially or
otherwise to environmental and humanitarian initiatives. They are also changing their buying patterns.
There is a major upswing in responsible or ethical consumerism.

Customers increasingly demand it

Increasing numbers of consumers are looking at the reputation and responsibility of the companies they
buy from; they want to have “guilt free” holidays. This affects their direct purchases from companies in
tourism destinations and it influences the choices of source market companies too.
RT makes business sense
Tourists must look for better experience and quality product to enable them get closer to living culture of
countries and to experience our diverse natural and cultural heritage. This is a global trend in the
established markets as consumer expectations of their holidays change, people are taking more, shorter
trips, and they expect to get more from them.
Any tourism business cannot ignore RT as a market trend. RT makes business sense because a growing
proportion of consumers are looking for a better product. This trend implies that tourism businesses that
practice RT will have a powerful competitive advantage over other tourism products.
Tourism Development is the process of providing facilities and services for visitors to a destination in
order to gain economic and other benefits.
Economic objects
The economic objectives of tourism development include:
Employment creation
Increasing foreign currency earnings
Tourist contributions to the multiplier effect - the additional revenue created in an area as a result
of tourism expenditure.
Direct employment – occurs in hotels, airports, airlines, tour operators, travel agents, and tourist offices.
Indirect employment - occurs in industries that serve the travel and tourism industry.
Environmental Objectives
Environmental education - this is usually through visitor centres. This information helps the
tourist understand the reasons for conservation and encourages them to respect the environment.
Conservation
Environments improvements
Preservation of wildlife habitats
Regeneration - is used to preserve heritage sites
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Socio-cultural objectives
Promoting cultural understanding
Enhancing the image of an area
Creating a national identity
Partnerships

Tourism demands travel information and literary materials like accounts of early settlers, tales about
groups and individuals and their livelihoods, descriptions of roads, etc. Early stereotypes and underrating
attractions must be identified and tackled. Tourism potentials need critical identifications and careful
explorations to bring about development and change. The environment must be treated sensitively.
Tourism development must be guided by experts and professionals who have adequate knowledge and
experiences about different aspects of tourism (potentials, problems, opportunities, methods,
participations, roles, etc.).
Exploring and promoting good practices and early traditions of the people contribute. Traditional
cultures are among vital tourist attractions. Unspoiled natural resources and unique folk cultures draw
attentions for their positive contributions to tourism and negative impacts they incur. Such attractions are
focused for sightseeing and scientific interests. Sites must be explored for their rich folklore. In tourism
advertisement, the folklore of indigenous populations is used as one of the defining features of vacation
destinations. Rich folklore hugely and colourfully attracts tourists to tell about them. Folk remedies,
traditional dishes, ancient dialects, yarns, legends, holiday celebrations, community fairs, festivals, crafts
displays and sales are among the various attractions. Music festivals draw special emphasis: sing, dance
and play. Spoiling and infesting cultures of the traditions must be carefully checked.
Professional ‘folk types’ playing out the stereotypes will develop once tourists are attracted in large
numbers and want to be entertained as per the expectations raised by such advertisement. Initial friendly
attitude towards visitors changes when tourists become a routine sight. Odd, unusual, and spectacular
objects and folkloric features are major forces to draw tourists. It’s vital to describe such resources
clearly, effectively, and efficiently. Comfortable lodges and hotels need to be available and provide
utensils and facilities. Local communities must be friendly to their guests and visitors. Adequate road and
transportation facilities must be in place and displayed clearly.

New Ideas in Tourism

Touring introduces a different model of tourism. Educating concerned bodies to make informed
choices on how and if they want to participate in tourism development. Consequently tourism
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becomes teaching. Not only lecturing to classes but also tourism associations and offering
workshops to culture and tourism officers and rural development associations and similar others
are needed.
The host population needs to know the dangers of tourism development and participate in the
control over tourism to maintain a viable economic, social and natural environment. Tourism
development should be made by, with and for the local population. Tourists in turn are asked to
behave with restraints, to learn more about the country and its population, and to adjust to their
hosts rather than exploit an inherently unequal situation where what constitutes leisure and fun
for one is hard work and a burden for the other. Proposal for travel industry including respecting
local laws, customs, traditions, and cultural characteristics; providing clients with comprehensive
information about all aspects of the country they want to visit; and advertising honestly and
responsibly avoiding the usual superlatives, and stereotypes. Many of these proposals simply
make good, common sense. However, if taken seriously, they could change the nature of
tourism. It’s up to all of us, as tourists, teachers, interpreters, or critical scholars to implement
these ideas.

Folklorists Potential Contributions toward Responsible Tourism

Folklorists prefer to study rural, peripheral areas far from the cities. These are most coveted by tourists.
Folklorists may become precursors of tourism preparing ways with publications, exhibitions, and festivals
they help to produce. Fieldwork, too, is a form of tourism: the collecting of folk arts and crafts for
museums and archives can be considered an early form of souvenir hunting. In a sense, therefore,
folklorists are deeply involved in the rise of tourism.
We have to see back also that they play roles in curating museums to collect local artifacts to allow
tourists have access to them at a place.
Areas remained relatively untouched by tourism may need to experience accelerated touristic
development. By providing the population with information on dangers and benefits of tourism and on
alternative models, we can help them to avoid mistakes made elsewhere. Above all this is a political
issue; only informed public can make rational decisions and participate actively in the making of its own
future. It is not enough for folklorists to introduce regions to tourists; we must be held accountable for
what happens to people afterwards.
With the knowledge acquired by training in folklore combined with additional social and political skills,
folklorists can help to change stereotypical perceptions, encouraging tolerance and cultural appreciations
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instead. Because of their training, values and orientation, folklorists should be able to bring a different
perspective to tourism and, hopefully, a more sensitive approach. As consultants, interpreters, writers, or
tour guide, we can provide specialized advice and expertise in regard to traditional cultures and symbolic
behavior. This is an important task; given the tremendous impact tourism has everywhere.

9. Serving the Public: An Assessment of Work in Public Sector Folklore

BETTY J. BELANUS contributes significantly to the discussions on the role of the a cademically
trained folklorists in the public sector. The projects and programmes these folklorists carry out range from
focused internships to general surveys of regional folklore; from the creation of school or museum
educational units to being a member of an interdisciplinary “cultural resource management” team.
A folklorist works in many capacities in a variety of cultural agencies. Examinations of career in
public sector folklore serve in some sense as a microcosm; it allows an assessment the current
state of public sector folklore in general, including methods of training future professionals, the
type of projects and programmes currently practiced, and a forecast of the future of the field. It
presents practitioners’ experience in the field, observation of fellow public sector folklorists, and a critical
stance developed evaluating public sector Folklore.
Academic and Practical Training
Workers in public sector folklore have no folklore degrees to give them a definite advantage
because of the experience that these degrees represent. Folklore theory and techniques offer a
deeper understanding of the material common to both academic and public sector folklore. Work
in the public sector requires practical experience and a thorough knowledge of the field including
all of those seemingly mysterious models and paradigms. Besides, academic folklore training has
its practical side as well: training in research techniques, the analysis of problems, and the
relation of single items to larger contexts.
Students draw from their training in preparing for a career in public sector folklore. The training
in socio-cultural history, sociology and literature proves useful in researching into various areas
or regions of a culture and beyond. Many students do not discover folklore studies and its
opportunities to open career in the field. The interdisciplinary nature in folklore in general and
public sector folklore work in particular allows a wide range of studies to become relevant in
career.
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Early exposure to practical work situations is an important academic study. Accessing and
cataloguing items in collections give tours of cultural aspects, and assemble exhibitions. This
helps to introduce curating museums. The understanding this museum work provides invaluably
helps in developing exhibitions and museum education programmes.
Public sector folklore desires a career in this aspect of the field. University education offers
opportunities to acquire necessary skills through its (supportive) courses. Photography and film
courses, and museum studies are some of the academic routes to obtain these skills. Skills in
editing, archiving, and classifications are helpful.
Folklore programmes must seek internship in public sector and jobs for students, enlisting the
help of earlier students. Students interested in public sector careers are well advised to lay their
own groundwork by pursuing the skills needed for such jobs, and keeping well informed of
opportunities for part-time and summer employment in the field.
Applications
The first position in public sector folklore serves as the “rite of passage” into professionalism. It
consists of conducting folklore or oral history fieldwork and either preparing a written report or
planning a public programme.
The sites we visit for such purposes maybe endowed with natural or historical significances.
Archaeological remains, homes, buildings, natural sceneries, etc. are among many to be
mentioned. We need to conduct oral history interview with residents who remember living and
working in the area when the community existed. Many people recite stories from early days,
and their insights into the later community are very valuable to understandings of archaeologists’
findings. Bringing interviewees to the field laboratory to identify specific artifacts prove
inconclusive, general information about the types of cookwares, clothing, tools, and other
household goods used within the peoples’ memories aided in the analysis of artifacts. People also
remember the sources of the remaining artifacts, buildings, their placement and modifications,
and their appropriate dates of habitations. The human dimensions the oral histories add to the
projects are more important. Stories of family and community life, tales of local ghosts (bulguus
and dead persons), humorous characters, and accounts of the seasonal cycle cultivations give
flesh and blood to the stories told by artifacts, post-holes, and flora and fauna samples.
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The atypical part of these jobs is: (1) opportunity to work as part of interdisciplinary team
including historical archaeologists, and traditional historians, and (2) the chance to work on a
“cultural resource management” project fueled by funds not available to folklorists. As young
folklorist the job provides opportunities to hone personal interviewing skills, test narrative and
material culture knowledge, and put other information gained to practical uses. A successful
blend of historic archaeology, oral history, and traditional history to form a picture of the site and
its historical resources from the early days of its history will be actualised. Folklorists have a
great deal to offer to this type of project that combines the viewpoints of several disciplines.
Folk arts’ programmes hire folklorists to collect folklore from parks apiece and to plan
programmes at the park. It increases awareness of and appreciation for traditions to attract the
local community to park programmes, and to collect a body of material for future use. Much of
the knowledge held by older tradition bearers would die with them, since young members are not
interested in or do not have awareness about the songs, stories and occupational and craft skills
still practiced or living in memories of older people. Local people often viewed park
programmes as serving only tourists and feel unwelcome. Collecting information to place in
library and archive and presenting programmes based on this information in parks is an excellent
way to achieve the goals of folk arts programme.
Common public sector work is four: collecting folklore by means of audio-recording and
photography, preliminary archiving of the material (logging tapes and photos, collecting
background information about informants), planning programmes, and doing all of the publicity
for the programmes to insure an audience. The work is urgent and important. It adds to field
collecting experiences and teaches presentation and publicity skills.
Our own experiences at department help us realise two frustrating elements as a typical of many
short-term public sector positions: lack of time to do one’s best and lack of the fulfillment that
comes from personal follow-up are introduced. Going to wide areas, learning about the types of
traditions found there, locating and interviewing individuals to present the traditions in library
setting are supposed to be carried out. The material is turned over to supervisors with little
chance to process and analyse further and adequately; no opportunity to present and publish.
Meeting and interviewing tradition bearers call for making good recommendations for the
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programmes, more time and background in the communities makes the work more satisfying and
relevant to ourselves and the community involved.
After graduation, we can use our skills from field and training. We also learn vitally the complex
negotiations of office politics; we may administer and hire fieldworkers; this is a necessary evil
to keep costs down; and reach wider areas in short time; collecting a list of possible traditions
and gathering the names of many potential bearers beforehand.
Another venture of public sector folklore is independent contractor. Resigning full time jobs, we
can venture to working on a project documenting the folk craftspeople for publications and
exhibitions. We can draw upon much of the fieldworks done during the library and slide-tape
projects and other folklore projects carried out over years. Editing workbooks and setting up
teachers’ workshops are others. Carrying out research and planning an innovative traveling
exhibition rewards. Working with teachers and other educators on folklore in the classroom
paves ways for a world of folklore and education. Continuous engagement research, writing,
administering our exhibition as it travels is dependable. We can make students collect artifacts,
archaeology, architecture, oral history and folklore, and visual and written documents and write
background booklets for each of these subjects and create a number of activities for students. We
also help plan workshops to show teachers how to use it. The work turns interesting and built on
many of our academic and practical skills. E.g. historic photography and its impact on family
folklore. We learn more about museum education. Though contact with teachers during the
course of preparing both the folklore in the classroom and others we learn more about their
criteria for using those materials in the classroom.
A Career in Public Sector Folklore
Public sector folklore in general has no ‘typical’ but the following can give insight into the
evolution, present state and future problems of the field.
1. True public sector folklorist is “born, not made” Despite the academic degrees, political
know-how, and honed fund-raising and administration skills, most public sector folklorists,
who have stuck with the often frustrating trade begin their career wanting to work with the
general public instead of academia. They consciously set out to gain the skills and
experiences to lead them into public sector work. There are desires and efforts to reach many
tradition bearers and the communities they live in to encourage perpetuation of folklore in
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our society and beyond. We need to carry it through teaching and publishing. Public sector
folklorists seek to reach an infinitely wider audience through media concerns and festivals,
films and exhibitions, curriculum materials accessible to teachers in public schools, and
articles in popular or regional publications. This work takes different skills and different type
of commitment from those required of a career devoted mainly to teaching and writing on the
university level.
2. To perpetuate careers and the field, public sector folklorists need to become masters of many
job related “worlds”. Folklorists move from place to place and job to another to experience
new and more challenging. This requires gaining appropriate skills that neither academic
training nor previous experience has prepared us for. Thus, within one career, we may learn
diverse skills as mastering the nuances to obtain a broadcast-quality recording in the field,
writing good exhibition labels, administering grants, helping a teacher manage a visit by a
folk artist to a certain grade class and ushering a parliament member through a folk festival
featuring his/her constituents. In short, the public sector folklorist must remain extremely
flexible and willing to learn throughout his or her career.
3. Education, experience, and skill do not necessarily ensure a stable, well-paying job in the
location of one’s choice in the field of public sector folklore. Sometimes the folklorist prefers
to get his interest rather than money, or “goes freelance” to choose self projects and
schedules. Little available public sector jobs and a current funding squeeze on all levels of
private and public cultural agencies have caused the “choice factor” to dwindle. Many public
sector folklorists string together a series of temporary jobs, or looking outside the field for
work that (ironically) builds on some of the experiences they gain as public sector folklorists
(becoming museum administrators, pursuing careers in media production or publishing,
working as professional fund-raisers, and so forth). It does not bode well for a field when
many of its most able workers are receiving pink slips and pursuing other career paths.
4. Public sector folklorists need to broaden their support base, stretching the field much further
than its current boundaries. Many public sector folklorists have assumed a proprietary stance
toward their work, legitimizing some types of folklore over others and shutting out local
enthusiasts who are not familiar with the materials of “authentic folklore.” More programmes
need to offer training and a forum for information exchange to “kindred spirits” such as
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community scholars. Working with communities and with people already involved in the
collection and perpetuation of folklore on the inside of those communities is one way to
broaden support and serve the public more effectively.

10. Promoting Self-Worth among the Aging

Folklorists seek out the elderly as rich sources of cultural information within the communities
they study. With this, they tend to reinforce a traditional veneration of the aging. Equally
important, the process of encouraging elders to talk about themselves and their communities
serves as a vital source of personal validation for older community members. Developing older
adults’ public cultural programmes use ample tools of the folklorist’s trade in developing
curricula and models for educational programmes.
Techniques fieldworkers employ to encourage their research “subjects” to share cultural
knowledge are quite applicable to the implementation of educational programmes that invite
participants to share their own views and memories. We can use them in devising strategies for
eliciting reminiscence and review of personal and social experience utilising readings, films, and
other materials and formats. Meaningful dialogue can be simulated on a wide range of subjects,
including local history, ethnicity, and traditional arts and music. In the course of such
programming elders are able to assert their sense of self and community belonging to, as a
reflection of their continued vitality and engagement.
The outlook and methodology of the field of folklore are ideally suited to the collaborative effort
of scholarship and public programming. Involvement with community of elders and the network
of those who provide services to older adults allow the demonstrations of the ways in which
folklorist has been generously applied to a task whose most tangible benefit has been the
promotion of self-esteem among the aging through programmes that emphasize mental validity
and “wellness”.
Roots of the Programme
We have to help elders to use them as sources of folklore and folkloric knowledge. Analysing
and evaluating ways of their lives are important. Two factors contribute to reassessment of the
case:
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(1) The rapid increase in elders and elderly alienations and the emergent appeal for the needs
of constituency for its programmes; and (2) the need of attendance for older persons at
funded programmes.
A special effort with political activism is needed to grant elders social security as the earlier way
of living is changing affecting them basically. Constitution has to state clear ways for
organisational establishment and accommodation of elders to new ways of life. Such
organisations can be governmental or non-governmental. Recruiting feasible elders for such
centres need criteria. This must explore and investigate their desires, available options,
opportunities, and appropriateness to provide support. Elders who have homes and homesteads
can be better helped and served there; the psychological and emotional attachment have with
them is powerful to replace with any other. But the kind of help and support they seek and the
potentials to provide them must be balanced. Their sustainability need also be analysed and
forecasted. It is important to establish centres for those who do not have homes and homesteads.
Ways of minimising costs they incur must be explored and evaluated in establishing such
centres.
After elders are provided with appropriate support for lives, contacting and working with them
and their agencies becomes easy whether they are at their homesteads and agencies and centres.
Folklorists play significant roles in all the matters concerning elders. We can provide and
encourage them to take advantage of programme materials and to apply for grants to bring
programmes to sites where elders meet. To accelerate this process through the vehicle of
longstanding we serve in “scholar-in-residence” programme.
Agencies and public organisations sponsor works intended to bring a “humanistic” perspective to
programmes and policies of institutions to which they are attached. Setting a precedent presents
aging concerns through this programme with the placing of a scholar-in-residence at media. This
scholar (folklorist) in the course of his activities at the stations contributes to media series
consisting of interviews with older people from various walks of life. The issue of old age
reaches wider audience – a proposal to fund a “humanist-in-residence.” Developing and
supporting innovative programmes and approaches help to address elderly such as job training
for older adults, a nursing home programme, and an advisory council.

A Folklorist in the Community of Elders

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Folklorists can specialise in ethnic history and culture, occupational folklore, and folksong, and
oral history. Forms of expressions of identity among various groups can interest us. The process
of conducting interviews with men in their seventies and so gives privileges of sitting at the feet
of these repositories of living history and the importance of providing an opportunity for those
with whom we meet to share their live stories with us.
Bridging the gap between the academy and the public presents the speed of a fruitful synthesis.
Working among the aging as scholar and ways in which we train and our outlook as folklorists
prepare us for such jobs and positions. Folklorists who conduct fieldwork have long developed
skills in academic discourse and in communication with the “folk” – those members of the
general public who have been their primary research subjects. Among that public are members of
ethnic and occupational groups whose cultural wisdom and life experience are their “degrees”
and whose outlook and forms of expression are the “data” upon which the scholarly species
thrive. It is this very mediation between academic community and general audience – between
scholarly and conventional discourse – that is the essence of public humanities programmes.
From another perspective, it has long been the aged within traditional communities who have
been sought after by folklorists as the richest of cultural resources whose memories may yield
portraits of worldview, lifestyle, local history, and the like. By seeking out aged community
members as sources of “primary data,” folklorists have tended to reaffirm a traditional respect
for elders as bearers and guardians of communal knowledge. By treating elders as valuable
repositories of cultural wisdom, fieldworkers instill in them a sense of worth of comparable
importance to the information gleaned from them to compensate what they have missed in their
traditions due to cultural change.
Perhaps one of the most vital roles played by the folklorist is that of stimulating the very process
of reflection among interview subjects that has yielded those precious “gleanings from the field.”
It has long been said that life review and reminiscence are important ongoing activities engaged
in by people as they age – a poignant process, not simply of summing things up, but of
maintaining a sense of self and community belonging, signalling a continued vitality and
involvement in the present. By encouraging elders to talk about “the old days,” folklorists have
been made aware of the crucial role that such reminiscing plays in establishing (or re-
establishing) vital links between present and past experience. Folklorists with skills in the
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methodology of oral history would find themselves ideally prepared to develop and lead public
humanities programmes for the aging, since the techniques used in eliciting life stories may be
brought to bear in encouraging elders’ participants in educational programmes to contribute their
experiences as vital programme components.
The Department on Aging Hires a Folklorist
Clear and open-ended questions are “fishing expedition” for fresh ideas to set up a model for
humanities programmes for older adults. Oral history programmes encourage elders to share
memories and traditions. The folklorists’ approach fills positions for many problems on aging as
their “humanist in residence.”
Our marching orders are broad: to develop and implement cultural programmes for older adults
under supervisions of community services divisions on aging with freedom to use our devices. In
the aging field, we visit seniors and their residences and successful programmes in humanities to
learn from them how they go about finding and utilizing resources for programme development.
We discover the accomplishments of innovative works of inspired individuals of senior centres,
therapeutic creations in nursing homes, and the like, and that a variety of resources are known
and utilized at various sites in scattered parts.
Information from local sources, individuals and institutions across the country leads compiling
an inventory of resources and potential programme presenters to contribute to interested persons
in developing humanities programmes for elders. It includes providing information on films,
traveling exhibits, historical societies and museums, exercising folklorist’s prerogative by listing
storytellers, folksingers, and other sources of “vernacular education.” In the process of
developing and presenting programmes among older adults in communities the tools of the
folklorist’s trade are drawn out of their kit bag, sharpened and utilized. As a common
denominator – and driving force – an emphasis upon interaction between participants and
programme presenter, much like the conversational style of the field interview that provides a
comfortable setting for communication, aimed at stimulating people to share personal experience
and integrate it with particular themes addressed (be they subjects about which information is
sought from an interviewer or topic of group discussion). In effect, by making life review and
reminiscence vital components – standard operating procedure – of humanities programmes for
older adults, effort to select materials and design programme formats that encouraged reflection
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upon life experiences as a means of stimulating the fullest audience participation. This process is
naturally enhanced when the specific subject matter under discussion reflect folkloristic concerns
(local history, traditions, values, and arts).
Films on traditional culture and religion provoke discussion series on aging. Audiences offer
variety of responses relating what they view on screen to their own experiences, including
touching stories and memorable rites of conversion and recollections of the sense of wholeness
characterize traditional community. The demonstrative nature of the services become difficult to
convince during discussion periods in the ways in which other life parts provided needed outlets
for expressive behavior.
Slides depict changes taken place in sites to help reach decisions. Participants break in during the
presentation to make comments about what they see on screen. Since the audience members are
longtime residents of the area, recognizing is easy as photographs depict scenes that come within
the scope of living memory of audience members. Scripts provide with the slides utility;
responses are elicited concerning historic sites viewed. Presentations rapidly transform into a
moderate collective “oral history” neighbourhood. The successful events promote a request from
group for another programme on a different historical theme but sing the same format.
Folklorist’s special interests are the nature and role of traditional arts and music. Materials on
this subject in a form readily available for public programmes are relatively scarce to approach
suggesting they acquire several films about older traditional artists and musicians. Arranging
preview showings of the films enables its rentals with cross-sections of older adults. The
opportunity lets us organize a film discussion series on “Aging and Creativity,” to bring to
audiences. Some of the issues to be discussed include (1) the character of creativity, (2) formal
vs informal training, (3) the influence of personal and social background in creative expressions,
and (4) the place of artists in their community and in society at large. Audiences are encouraged
to recall lives spent in their communities of origin, and the role that music and traditional arts
played as integral parts of social life in an earlier era.
Some films look at character of folklore and historical memory in stories. Folklorists talk about
ways in which legend attempts to explain the mystery surrounding a real-life figure, and the role
of legend in conveying a sense of importance to the teller and his/her locale. Audiences are
invited to share their recollections of incidents relating to the films.
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11. Reflecting and Creating an Occupation’s Image

The discussion under this topic is much driven from Sue Samuelson’s article working as public
relations officer graduating in folklore.
When folklorists move from academe or public sector work to take jobs in the business world,
the path is not always a straight one. Assuming public relation’s position with an association may
follow meandering through several fields of folklore-related activity. Those jobs include
government contract work, consulting for arts organizations, and temporary teaching positions.
Jobs or consultancies following completion of a degree programme in folklore represent a
common pattern for a young scholar, a kind of school of hard knocks described as the “purgatory
of itinerant employment.”
Communication specialist for associations represents chief officials plus administrative and legal
officers. Associations provide lobbying, education, and research services on a nonprofit,
nonpartisan basis. As communication specialist, the responsibilities of folklorists include writing
and editing a newsletter and producing less frequent publications such as conference
programmes, yearbooks, a history of the association, and various reports and surveys. A second
major task is meeting planning, which includes promoting conferences and coordinating their
speakers, special events, trade shows, and hospitality activities. The third responsibility is
supervising the office’s main computer system as well as a second system that operates a
telephone-based electronic bulletin for members.
Although relevant in several respects, the word “folklorist” is not in my job description; neither
is “association management and public relations” likely to occur to folklorists as an employment
opportunity. Folklorists do possess public relations and computer skills, they exhibit them either
in government agencies or in business settings, not associations. Folklorists involve in the study
of corporate culture to bring skills and tools, analytical and applied, to a new arena. The
folklorist serves as a technician and a guide to help them understand their professional identity
and their role in political network. The association, folklorist’s work in it, facilitates a feeling of
belonging, of working together to achieve mutual goals. Association is an organization with its
own tradition and sense of history.
What Do Associations Do?
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Folklorists and people in related fields may best understand the role of associations by
considering their own membership in professional societies such as folklore societies,
anthropological associations, or modern languages association. Collectively known as trade and
professional associations, these groups represent a mind-boggling array of occupations, hobbies,
and social interest groups. They include doctors, restaurant owners, stamp collectors, peach
growers, retired persons, teachers, bankers, journalists, and dog owners.
Association management is an industry in itself and is one of the growth areas for employment.
Association staffs have their own support groups, may be having a course of study, training, and
testing, plus practical experience.
Trade, professional, or special interest associations perform a variety of functions and employ a
wide range of people. Their emphasis is on external and internal promotion of the group’s cause,
product, or service. Associations seek visibility and understanding of what their members do.
This goal frequently manifests itself in lobbying agencies or legislatures for money, changes in
regulations, or creation of new programmes. External activities include outreach efforts to
educate a broad public about the groups concerns. Such activities include outright marketing
campaigns, or more altruistic concerns such as health screenings.
For the folklorist, one of the most intriguing aspects of associations is their internal work.
Associations stimulate a sense of identity, of working toward common goals. They are excellent
vantage points from which to observe group patterns of work or behavior. Associations formalize
the idea of folk group, a collection of people sharing a common bond and expressing it in a
variety of ways. This may be accomplished via political action or presentation of information or
opinions. But association members also share speech or slang expressions, stories and anecdotes,
group history, ceremonies and festivities, songs and costumes; all are genres easily recognized as
traditional expressions of group identity or behavior.
Folklorists have frequently studied work groups with a well-established sense of tradition, a long
history, and/or obvious symbolic displays of group identity such as sailors, loggers, miners,
cowboys, and railroaders. In recent years more modern professional groups have become the
focus of folklorists’ attention (trial lawyers, doctors, firefighters, even folklorists themselves),
along with special interest groups such as science fiction fans. But researchers have paid scant
attention to associations representing these groups. Recognizing the potential powers of
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associations to shape (or reshape) its members’ perceptions and actions, and the behavior of a
“folk” group. This power is bestowed, however, by the group itself. The association must
respond to its members’ basic beliefs and ways of acting or else the formal organization will be
abandoned. Methods of displaying, acknowledging, reinforcing, or modifying occupational
identity, group awareness, and expressive behaviours in an association setting are presented as
follows.
The Role of a Folklorist
Many of the activities and events that can influence the sense of identity either originate in or are
delegated to the folklorist. The folklorist, entitled communications specialist, makes it obvious.
Others find it difficult to share common goals and a sense of cohesiveness if they did not
communicate with one another, especially in scattered situations. Social, economic, and political
issues can vary dramatically. Binding forces are (1) statutory designations of the responsibilities;
(2) their expressed need to unite against a common enemy, usually proposed legislation, agencies
regulations; and (3) their desire for continuing education on how to do their jobs more
effectively. Legally commissioners share the same duties. But the creation of new laws and
regulations often makes their jobs more complex. There is no “school” or established course of
study for new commissioners. If commissioners must work together, they need to feel connected
to one another. The association serves as a focal point, disseminating information and
coordinating public and private action to accomplish collective objectives. Each staff member
supplies special skills in this regard. Folklorist’s contribution to developing this sense of purpose
and group identity for commissioners concentrates on three areas: meetings, publications, and
informal contacts. In folklorists’ terms, working primarily with ceremonies and festivities and
oral history, as well as informal encouragement of group identity are included.
Association Ceremonies
Commissioners meet on schedules a year. These contacts are of necessity very intense. Much
information is conveyed and actions are planned within a limited amount of time. Part of the
folklorist’s job is to convince the members to attend these meetings. Orchestrating the events
help the attendees have ample opportunity to meet one another, share information (often
anecdotal and repeated, and in the form of stories), make contacts, agree on joint action, and
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recognize the group’s success and individuals’ contributions. The highlight of the year holds
continuously.
The membership anticipates the annual conference all year. Members select sites. The
conference is recognized as the one event that brings most everyone together. The importance of
this concept is dramatically expressed by the desire to be “under one roof,” meaning all
participants housed in a hotel. The selection of an unfamiliar site has encouraged other groups to
lobby for conferences in their areas where multiple properties will be used. The situation reveals
an issue of fundamental importance – the need for unity (being together) and the desire for
fairness (going to all parts of the state). A few districts could not dominate an issue, including the
choice of sites for the association’s major meeting.
Once the site is selected the planning of the annual conference reverts to the staff, with guidance
from the executive committee (officers, regional representatives, committee chairs). Folklorist’s
main responsibility include (1) coordinating the programme of speakers, sessions, meals, and
special events as well as producing a printed programme; (2) scripting introductory remarks and
major presentations such as the awards luncheon and banquet; (3) directing the trade show with
approximately thirty-five vendor booths; (4) soliciting sponsors for conference items and events
(briefcases, printing costs, coffee breaks, meals, receptions, outings); (5) coordinating evening
hospitality suites; and (6) working with other staff on family and recreational events.
This type of work draws on own talents and interests in planning and attending to detail, but it
also affects own training as a folklorist, particularly professional interest in festival, ritual and
ceremony. Interest in celebrations varies from major holidays to smaller expressions. As a
potential avenue of research, conventions intrigue as a kind of “secular ritual” or a celebration of
special identities. Instead of doing “pure” research, we put knowledge of celebratory behavior to
work.
Folklorists work exceeds planning meeting. Considering what members want to accomplish in
terms of group action, training, or information sharing. Bring them alone to the same place and
engaging in the same activities is not enough. There has to be occasion for personal interaction,
for recognition of special achievements, for humour, and for venting frustration at the people and
things that get in their way of doing their jobs. Despite the possibility of the press perceiving the
convention as a perk or junket, we must offer many types of social events as well as formal
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sessions with speakers and panel discussions. People talk more over a meal or on a boat trip than
they do sitting in neat rows in a meeting room. Scheduling “cracker barrel” discussions
introduces topics of general concern and the attendees can complain, compare notes, and offer
alternative approaches, often expressed in the form of stories, traditional expressions, and other
folklore. Audience participation routines are encouraged in selecting banquet entertainment
because commissioners love being in the limelight, especially among a group of their peers. This
tendency is also reflected in the annual awards luncheon in which commissioners are recognized
for things as varied as their commitment to conservation and transportation safety to their
prowess on the tennis court or the golf course. Recognition of incoming and outgoing officers
occur at the annual banquet. Both events, held on the same day at the end of a conference, instill
feelings of pride, accomplishment, and success in a group endeavor. They do not occur,
however, without a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Yet ultimately the success of ceremonies is in
the hands of those who attend. They never falter in their mission to congratulate themselves and
the individual contributions of services to the group.
The success of the annual conference and the staff work involve in producing is evident in the
high attendance, the year-round anticipation, and the compliments the staff receives. But to
provide continuity in bring the members together; the association also produces other
conferences. They have same goals with annual conferences – information sharing, networking,
informal discussion over meals or in hospitality suites. They are less intense but serve to keep the
feeling of community alive in the intervals between the annual conferences. Folklorists might
compare the situation to the effect of meetings of local and regional folklore societies, as a way
of bringing people together at a time.
Conference planning does not take much time consciously thinking about applying the theories
of festivity we learn in school. But familiar patterns of celebratory behavior are an integral part
of the conferences. These include feasts (the banquet); a sense of being in a special, well-
bounded time and place; a spirit of playfulness (outings to theme parks or on-site events such as
barbecues); an occasion for excess (after-hours drinking); egalitarian participation (all members
are welcome), and functions as a seasonal marker (looking forward to August as “convention
time.”).
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These components are built into the meetings. They are expectations that must be met, slots that
must be filled. The importance of the commissioners conference traditions have to be
acknowledged and the backstage mechanics by which the public event is introduced must be
conducted. Knowing what the members like and want in their meetings is important to work as
one that involves in any celebratory function – publicizing the event, procuring food and drink,
coordinating entertainment, planning the programme, and ensuring ritual correctness. It’s on a
large scale than a family holiday observance but makes use of the same planning skills and
reveals many of the goals common to celebrations everywhere.
Association Publication and History
A second major area of folklorist’s job that involves reinforcing the commissioners’ sense of
group identity is in publications. It is not the regular publications that accomplish this as much as
some of the specialty items s/he produces. A monthly newsletter does help to maintain
communications and keep ideas flowing. It establishes ties between individual members and the
idea of the association, specifically the information coming from the headquarters, the staff, the
corporate entity that serves them. The newsletter examines common problems and goals, but
issues of group identity and behavior are not paramount (except perhaps in photographs or
publicity items relating to the conferences). Folklorist conducts the oral history interviews that
serve as the basis for writing the history. Grants subsidize the cost of tapes and travel to
interview commissioners and staff about the history of the association and the changes
experienced in positions. S/He also collect archival evidence on the association’s past –
yearbooks, membership directories, minutes of meetings, platform statements – and did
background reading on the growth of branches and local relations in general.
It reviews the growth of the association from an informal self-help group, uses of volunteer staff
and administration by committee, and tremendous growth in size and colour. These challenges
are paralleled by the assumption of new responsibilities on the part of commissioners, beginning
with social pressures created by increasing populations, changes in constitution, and the growth
of human services.
Production expenses for the book are subsidized by corporate contribution. It’s published for
annual conferences. A special yearbook feature group photos and text on history and tourist
attractions is also published.
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Publication provides a significant opportunity to instill a sense of history in the members, with
regard to the office of commissioner and terms of association. This point is an important one that
becomes much clearer through the solicitation of oral history. Identity as a commissioner and
identity as an association member is obvious. One is broader and more open to variation and
idiosyncrasy. It depends on citizens’ perceptions of the office and the officeholder and it’s
influenced by local political networks and social and economic climates. Commissioner identity
is shared with fellow commissioners, but the sense of being a group is nurtured within the
context of the association. It is in association activities that commissioners more clearly display
their sense of cooperation and mutual efforts. And it is the association staff that produces the
ceremonies and written texts and orchestrates opportunities for replaying personal experiences.
The folklorist as a researcher and author makes considerable use of his/her fieldwork experience
in developing contacts in a community and conducting interviews, as well as using technical
skills involving photographic and sound recording equipment and doing tape transcriptions.
He/She need to know about the grants (sources, budgets, follow-up reports) and about archival
procedures. On a limited scale, he/she produce the kind of company history that has been popular
with businesses in recent years. Since “doing a history” is so much more understandable to
people than “collecting their folklore,” it is an excellent way of getting to know commissioners
and understanding the workings of the association for them and the folklorist. Produced
documents detail the current state of many programmes and recommends changes. Strength is
enhanced by an awareness of where it has been and by presenting a blueprint for what it wants to
be.
Informal Exchange
The folklorist as a communication specialist deals with the issue of association culture or
commissioner culture on a more informal basis. He/She contacts with commissioners frequently
to interview people for the oral history, at committee meetings or conferences. When they
request information or answer questions the issue at hand is the particular problem being
addressed and how the response is conveyed. The folklorist acts as a clearinghouse or point of
reference but often suggests they contact other commissioners for advice or examples on how a
problem is solved elsewhere. Information sharing is also encouraged. They can record requests
for information or listen to updates on legislative activities, conference agenda, and committee
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meetings. It will never replace the face-to-face interaction and exchange of ideas found at the
conferences. But as an organization service, it does call attention to the organization as an entity
that responds to commissioners’ problems or need for information.
Other Skills
Besides job responsibilities and adaptation of folklore-related concepts and methods, general
skills acquired or refined in the process of receiving degrees are used. The ability to research an
issue, gather background information and raw data, and then analyse and interpret are included.
Writing skills are obviously necessary for publications. The application of research abilities,
analytical thinking, organizational skills, attention to detail, and written and verbal
communications skills to “real world” jobs is nothing new. It’s not what many expected to do
with their training, but because of the state of the academic job market, well-trained people have
been forced to examine other opportunities. By and large they have thrived in them.
Organizational Communications and Folklore
Opportunities for trained folklorists steadily expand. Employment can be sought in various
agencies, in museums, arts organizations, and even in the corporate sector. Folklore, which
started as a field of study and then turned into a profession, becomes an industry. Its
interdisciplinary nature produces workers who are well prepared to succeed in more than one
setting.
A folklorist working in a trade association believes he/she is alone; but not the only one in a
situation where his/her primary occupational identity is not as a folklorist. One describes
him-/herself as PR person, or as being in association management. Such job is taken partly
because of disillusionment with trying to get a more recognizable “folklore job” that would pay a
descent salary and last longer. But despite the serendipitous employment opportunity it helps to
put the training in folklore to good use. How to present things sometimes needs care, especially
with staff members.
Having job skills that are in demand in association management marketplace (in the public and
private sector) is lucky. Skills of computer and word processing, taking internship in a corporate
setting (producing a multi-ethnic festival for employees), writing a clear and grammatically
correct sentences, writing a graduate paper demonstrating ability to take and complete a project.
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Association managers have little understandings of the values of employing personnel with
folklore training without an effective presentation by the job-seeker. Executives in other
industries share this to hire specialist in organizational communications. They need to be
convinced that someone with a folklore background will be a better choice than other candidates
with more main extreme experience. Points to keep in mind for such “presentations of self”
include:
1. The interdisciplinary nature of folklore can be conveyed as the potential for versatility on
the job. Associations are almost always understaffed so someone hired to edit a
newsletter may soon find herself writing summaries of research reports or producing a
specialized publication. A prospective employee need to emphasise the many things a
folklorist does: researching background data, writing grant proposals, going to new
communities, and getting to know people, conducting interviews, making public
presentations, analyzing data, and preparing material for publications. Since it is obvious
that this individual is changing career areas, it is important to stress the ability of the
folklorist to evaluate and adapt to new situations, again by offering fieldwork examples.
The background provides the folklorist the intellectual capacity to handle a new job.
What needs to be demonstrated are the accompanying social skills and commitment to
accepting new responsibilities.
2. Folklorists in career transitions are fortunate that the concept of corporate (or
organizational) culture has become more than just a buzz-word. The publicity in popular
press enables most executives understand basic notions of worker identity, at least as it
applies to large organizations. They may not have applied such concepts to members of
their own association (or company) but will probably understand the train of thought
when a folklorist-potential employee presents it. By doing so, the folklorist demonstrates
creativity and openness to new ideas. An employer will value these with regard to any
worker but may also be intrigued by the potential application of the concept of cultural
identity to the members of specific association.
The folklorist, however, still needs to provide concrete examples of how cultural identity
can be assessed and utilized for the association’s purposes, such as increasing
membership, planning more effective educational programmes, or initiating outreach
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efforts to the general public. By administering questionnaires, conducting interviews, or

small group discussions with an association members, or researching an association’s
history, the folklorist can elicit concrete evidence of what members think is important
about their work (or hobby or cause) and determine what kinds of support and services
are needed to nurture that identity.
3. In addition to the folklorists general understanding of notions of community is the ability
to recognize associated forms of expression, such as stories, songs, customs, and
ceremonies. Again, the association employer will want the folklorist to provide examples
of practical applications to a particular group of people and the organization that
represents them. In such instances, the folklorist-worker should be prepared to discover
and describe the ways in which people express themselves within the context of the
association and how new forms might be created, introduced, and evaluated for success
or failure. What must be emphasized is the folklorist’s contribution to the success of an
association via increased membership and participation in association activities. These
changes affect the bottom line in terms of dues, conference registration fees, and
subscription to publications. The folklorist can contribute innovative approaches that are
also income producing. The executives of non-profit associations understand this
outcome as well as any other manager.

12. Helping Craftsmen and Communities Survive: Folklore and Economic Development
This topic is developed by same titled article by Patricia Atkinson Wells.
Insuring individual folk artisans’ economic survival and preserving traditions and culture of
which they are a part are dual problems to plague folklorists. History and impact of crafts
assistance programme and the role of the folklorist in marketing folk arts have to draw attentions.
We face fundamental dilemma: are individual economic security and cultural survival mutually
exclusive? Do we imperil tradition when we advocate expanding a maker’s market? Can we
mitigate or minimize the effects of our well meaning cultural intervention and, if so, how?
Rural development specialists, with very different training, expertise, and purview have
encountered a parallel problem in their work. Like folklore studies, it’s an interdisciplinary field.
Depending on the region and the project, agronomists, economists, environmentalists,
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sociologists, bureaucrats, capitalists, and a host of other specialists may all be concerned with or
involved in the development of a rural area. (Folklore studies relates to the broader concept of
“community development” inasmuch as folklorists can go into any community, rural or urban,
and contribute to the analysis and solution of many of the community’s problems and needs.)
A tension exists between the very real problems of contemporary rural economies and the need
to develop public policies that sustain rural ways of life. The problem, then, is how to strengthen
communities economically while preserving their culture and environment.
Historically, rural economies have been founded on land-based businesses, such as forestry and
agriculture, and home-based businesses, including the production of handmade objects. The
small family farm is no longer economically viable in many areas of the country, and large-scale
farming has also become a financial disaster for many in the wake of changing government
policies. Rural development specialists are looking increasingly at the raising of specialty crops
and rare livestock breeds, as well as the production of fine foods and indigenous crafts, to
provide economic bases in rural areas while sustaining the aesthetic qualities of country living.
This chapter is a brief presentation of the politics and economic development in a rural area. The
nexus of rural development and folklore – crafts marketing – is presented through a case study.
The Project
The economic development of rural area is a thorny problem. Economic decay faces many small
towns to welcome growth and new jobs. Contrarily, the growth threatens the quality of rural life.
Land is developed or put to uses that may not be in the long term public interest, and the
aesthetic qualities of the countryside rapidly and alter amid added roads and housing
developments. Community economic development, no matter how benign or well-intentioned, is
a type of cultural intervention and, as such, has the potential to enhance or disrupt the life of the
community.
The Community Development Corporation
Private nonprofit organizations can be dedicated to rural development; studies conducted with
the aim of betterment of the lives of rural community support this. It depicts a hidden economy
of small businesses within areas. Business owners in sparsely populated areas face obstacles
inherent in such businesses as arranging credit and financing, promotion, marketing, and
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advertisement, as well as the difficulties created by the very rural nature of the area. In addition,
the majority do most of their business outside the towns in the nearby urban centres.
State agencies grant funds to development corporation to support and build on the town economy
by “helping people to help themselves.” They set about this by offering a wide range of loan
programmes, technical assistance and courses to educate the small business person, pilot studies
and programmes to begin or expand land-based businesses, the publication and distribution of
town business discovery, and through job training and housing rehabilitation programmes.
The Artisans Guild
A folklorist is selected to consult and direct project because of particular combinations of skills
and experiences, among which are a knowledge of traditional arts, crafts and festivals;
experience with community, educational, and cultural organizations; and the ability to
communicate through writing, editing, teaching, and public presentations – are deemed desirable
and appropriate to the particular job. The folklorist organizes a nascent artists and craftspeople
with a view toward forming marketing cooperative. Previous experiences and successes of
corporations are evaluated, new business plans and intentions are analysed along that line to
expand considering market opportunities and scope of demands.
Determining the number of craftspeople living and working in the town, the range of crafts
represented, and an interest in, and need for, the formation of an organization of craftspeople call
for holding an open meeting. Attendances with samples of works can contribute in the
discussions and decisions. Samples’ involving of varied material goods, folk arts, revivalists,
authentic traditional forms (baskets and wood carvings) is helpful. Some artists can be trained;
other could learn from families as apprentices; others still self taught. Some might have well
established businesses; others are attempting to make transition from avocation to vocation with
their crafts. Their needs could be likewise: some seek primarily for an informational and/or
communicative network to share problems, advice, and strategies; some need business
counseling or aid in finding a market for products; some look for potential collaborators in the
power of an organization to achieve their desired goals. All can agree on forming the guild.
Folkloristic training helps to organize such a group. The techniques and perspectives of folklore
study reliably serves in matters of organization development and policy analysis. The folklorist is
a fieldworker, a cultural architect, and a cultural interpreter. This clarifies and codifies the
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identities, needs, and desires of individuals into an ethos for artisans guild and to serve as the
spokesperson and liaison for the group.
Envisioning great plans is inevitable. These include opening and operation of a cooperative
gallery and shop with ongoing crafts demonstrations, and mail-order marketing through a
catalogue. This is, to large extent, predicated on potentially “fundable” – for the kinds of pilot
projects that government agencies grant operating and administrative funds. Politically, the
guilds need to establish a track record of visible and successful projects and of successful
funding proposals. The artisan guild seem natural for grant support for several reasons: (1) crafts
marketing deals with the production and aesthetic qualities of material objects and is therefore
highly visible; (2) most craftspeople have low incomes, and many of the artisans can be
designated as “rural poor:; (3) precedents are in place historically for crafts assistance
programmes in community economic development; and (4) tourism and the marketing of native
products have strong support at times. The willingness and engagement of members is desirable
and a temptation at this stage.

Unshared Vision
The politics of public programming in oral history and folklife project in rural area poses
problem. Possibilities of conflicting public and private agenda for cultural change are inevitable.
Within a community there are both congruent and divergent points of view, cultural assumptions
and cultural self-images. References are made to the “public persona” of the project – the public
presentation or collective vision of the project’s accomplishments as opposed to daily operations,
conflicts and challenges, decisions and dilemmas that reveal the political dimension of the
project.
The concept of public persona and unshared vision are germane any organization and are
particularly important in understanding the relationship of external (or exoteric) agencies and/or
projects to the community or communities that they intend to serve.
Being native or non-native matters here. The representatives of traditional native residents of the
communities better have posts to serve them. Newcomers can be sincere to preserve the country
life of the native community, but could be at odd with natives on the aspects of rural life valuable
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and worthy of preservation. Sometime residents could believe that projects have nothing to do to
them even if their members are part of them.
A native or related folklorist can play unusual role under situations. Her living with and studying
their culture for sometimes prior to the project is helpful. Developing artisan guilds into an
organization that have meaning for, and provide the desired services to, its members, is a long
and challenging process. Members can agree they want to form a guild; there could be lack of
agreement regarding its functions. Predictably the group goes through the period of idealism,
intense enthusiasm, and energy, followed by one of disillusionment and frustration, culminating
in a new vision of purpose and priorities – a commitment to practical and do-able goals and
objectives. This pattern of development is complicated by pressures from the parent or
sponsoring organizations to its goals and objectives for the guild.
Crafts Marketing: The Solution
Though all marketing has sales as an ultimate goal, the variables of what goods and where, how
and by whom they will be sold makes the development of marketing strategies highly individual.
What works for commercial products is not necessarily appropriate for fine handcrafted objects;
nor is the way to sell a quilt necessarily effective for baskets or jewelry. How then does one form
a marketing plan for an organization of people who make a diverse variety of items?
The solution is to focus on place. The work of guild members would be sold under a place or
town label and logo from a central location – a gallery and/or a catalogue. However, this plan
does not take into account the enormous difficulty of mass-producing handmade objects; nor
does it satisfy the makers’ desire to have their products reflect their personal identities rather
than a somewhat anonymous designation. For the artists, individual identity and recognition in
relation to their art held primacy; for the guild, group identification is primary.
Another approach is that of developing new products – as in so-called “tourist art” – which can
be sold as souvenirs of a particular locale.
Folklorists who have advocated the involvement of their profession in the marketing of folk art
have tended to approach the problem from two tacks: (1) directly, either as agents for
craftspeople and their wares, or as entrepreneurs, actually buying and reselling objects; and (2)
more circumspectly, attempting to broaden the market for folk arts by educating the general
public regarding the forms and their aesthetic qualities and the complexity and skill required in
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the technical processes of object production, through exhibits, demonstrations, fairs and festivals,
and folk artist residency programmes do little to help the individual folk artist sell his/her wares.
With artisans’ guild, a third approach will be tried. Rather than selling their products or
attempting to create a market for them, we provide the artists and craftspeople with business and
marketing education and aided individuals in making their own informed marketing decisions.
Arts extension service specializes in arts advocacy and a variety of arts management courses can
be taught. We can develop a series of workshops to fit the specific needs of the artisan guild
working with them. The workshops include such topics as pricing, targeting markets, test
marketing and market surveys, product development, promotion and publicity, portfolio
development, how to work with an agent, display techniques, how to sell at fairs and festivals,
and the jurying process (and how to survive it).
Rather than becoming a marketing association the artisan guild can be primarily an educational
and advocacy organization. The guild becomes a network for information exchange and mutual
support and, as a body, is able to tap into larger art and craft networks. It can be a member of big
and nationwide organization to receive journals, newsletters, quarterly information on major
shows. Such professional publications enable the guild to advertise its existence and to research
other community-based craft organizations and fairs or festivals that might be appropriate
markets for guild members’ wares. Having an organizational identity also allows the artisans to
be computer-listed by the arts extension service in data base of arts service/advocacy
organizations. Through this channel, the guild is placed on a variety of mailing lists and receives
notices of arts and crafts activities from sources throughout the region.
Members are kept abreast of the activities of individual members – who is showing where, who,
is having an open studio on what date, who have received travel/study fellowship, and so forth –
and both current future educational, marketing and financial opportunities. Information on fairs
and festivals, newly opened and recently discovered galleries and shops, professional studio
courses, art administration workshops, apprenticeships, grants and fellowships are featured and
updated in the newsletter.
Members may meet each month at rotated sites. In addition to conducting business and
socializing over shared foods, a guild member would present a programme at each meeting.
Programmes include a slide/lecture by a potter on her experiences as apprentice, a workshop on
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production of sewing by a quiltmaker, a slide/lecture on mosaic techniques, a demonstration of

the techniques of metal sculpture, and a programme on herbs and dried flowers, to cite just a few.
This kind of programming allow members to learn more about one another, to ask questions
about each other’s work – both technically and in regard to marketing – and to share knowledge
and experience with their fellow artisans.
By providing individual artists and craftspeople with business and marketing education, the guild
implements a method that help to ensure self determination for the artisans guild. Artists and
craftspersons to whom purity of tradition is important learn how to target and reach markets to
allow them to continue the production of traditional objects. Some place their work in galleries
and shops to feature traditional art, while others – through “networking” – become associated
with living history museums, teaching and/or demonstrating the tools and techniques of their art
as well as selling pieces through museum shops and catalogues.
On the other hand, artisans who wish to be more receptive to the demands of consumers gain
knowledge of market surveys, product development, and test marketing. A potter scouts crafts
fairs in the region to find out what and where to sell then create a “bread and butter” line of
simple, inexpensive dishes intended for daily use to be both made and sold in greater volume
than her more complex and individual pieces. The sales of this line then support her more artistic
and expensive works, which she creates only as commissioned pieces because of the cost and
time involved. Another potter and a sculptor working in a metal collaborated on a line of birth
baths could be sold in galleries and at craft fairs but also by lawn and garden businesses. With
emphasizes on communicative networks and education, individual members of artisans guild are
equipped to make their own marketing decisions.
Folklore and Community Development: Shared Concerns
In approaching the marketing of folk arts, the folklorist’s central concern is the development of
strategies and policies that improve the life of the folk artist emotionally while simultaneously
conserving traditional culture and protecting traditional forms of expression from commercial
expectation.
The development of rural communities has raised similar issues; cultural conservation has
become as important a concern as the preservation of the environment.
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In what ways can the principles and techniques of folklore study contribute in the evolution of
policies for community development that help to strengthen rural culture while simultaneously
recognizing the needs of and assisting individual members of the community?
Strategies
“Rural development” and “economic development” are not identical. The economy is one facet
of a culture, albeit and important and influential one. “Rural development” entails the cultivation
and strengthening of rural culture as a whole. Strategies for rural development must flow from
the answers to the following questions:
1. What are the important characteristics and traditions of the area/community that must be
preserved and/or developed?
2. What type of economy will weaken local culture? What type will strengthen it?
3. Why is an understanding of tradition, expressive forms, and symbolic interaction and
communication vital to serving the community?
Forms of folklore generated in community settings constitute a source of information regarding
the values, attitudes, and tastes of those communities. Oral forms such as stories and jokes may
also provide insight into both existing and desired conditions and relationships. Celebrations,
festivals and rituals, as well as helping fulfill needs for fellowship, reward and recognition, may
reenact community myth – the “public persona” of the community. Through observation,
analysis, and understanding of traditional expressive behavior, rural development specialists will
be better able to enact policies and invent strategies that address the complex needs of the
community.
Knowing the cultural characteristics of a community or area can also help organization and
agencies in the development of their public persona and in creating programmes and policies
compatible with community ethos. Oromoo cultural profile includes the following:
1. There is strong tradition of self-help, of taking care of one’s emotional and economic
needs oneself or in association with family and friends; cases of buusaa-gonofaa
2. Cooperation is of great value and importance;
3. The tradition Gadaa, as exemplified in meetings, is still strong;
4. Value is placed on technical expertise in hand work;
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5. Efficiency is regarded as necessary – “Waste not, want not;” the case of environmental
and natural resources conservations.
6. Family is the central core of people’s lives;
7. Value is placed on unpretentiousness – competition for material wealth and its symbols
is viewed as a threat to community comfort and equality;
8. The elderly are valued for their knowledge and expertise, and as living links with the
history and community traditions.
Knowing about the culture the folklorist impart the guilds of economic development plans
for the artisans guild which are at odds with ethos, and evolve policies that centred on
cooperation and self-determinism in the marketing of art and craft. The artisan guild becomes
a viable independent organization whose foci are education and communicative networks.
Artisans can better their lot without negative impact on their communities that increase
tourism or mass production might have.
How are the administrators of rural development projects and agencies to go about getting
this kind of cultural information? One way is to sponsor or engage in community-based oral
history and folklife projects. This kind of public recognition of the importance of their
history and culture not only stimulate the community to present what they feel is of value but
demonstrates the agency’s awareness of and commitment to indigenous culture. Such
projects can be undertaken in partnership with local community groups of all ages. Scouts,
arts councils, and local historical societies can provide both volunteers and a wealth of local
knowledge. Another way is to integrate the board of directors, project staff, or advisory
group with “natives” representatives of the rural culture are the best sources of information
about that culture.
Folklore, or traditional human expression, can be regarded as a resource in solving both
interpretive and managerial problems. In developing public policies that sustain rural ways of
life, an understanding of folklore serves as the key both to rural culture and to ways of
preserving that culture that are both effective and acceptable to members of the community.

13. Folklore and Literature

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This is a summary and winding up unit. It visualizes the relevance, and name of the programme
and the department. The programme aims to create bridge between the existing oral forms
(folkloric) and written forms (literature). While working in the areas discussed so far, we can
exploit the folklore genres and features for our major purposes. The Oromoo have prosperous
accumulations of folkloric wisdom which have been transmitted orally over centuries and
generations. The diversified groups have developed and accumulated diverse types of folk
wisdom and experiences. On the contrary, the written literature is scanty.
The exploitation of these rich traditional forms is essential for the development of the written
forms. It vitally contributes to historical investigation and cultural studies. It provides creative
works of literature with national flavour. Naturally, folklore and literature display strong unity
and oneness in many aspects. Folklore is a precursor of literature in any tradition; accordingly,
it is the base and resource for the later; it paves ways for its development and prosperity. The
later is the imitation of the former in many ways. It is second generation to the former.
Literature can be both creative/imaginative and ethnographic/historical studies in the sense it’s
everything in print as usually defined. In both cases, folklore guides literature; orality is
convertible to literary forms whether the work is confined to pure creativity or generality
(including ethnographic and ethnohistoric features [in the sense of everything in print]). Our
department connotes the general type of literature in its naming and is devoted to the
development of both.
Ethnographic studies enrich the development of writing about the culture and history of societies.
Scientific studies about these issues are currently scarce and scanty. Social and cultural issues are
resourceful to enrich literature. Social organizations and relations, religion and ideology,
performance events and occasions, skills, abilities, and techniques, wisdom and knowledge
system need to be investigated and discovered to identify original innovations by the society.
Social, political, cultural, economic, philosophical, religious and other content areas add to
publications through rich information on culture and tradition. These emanate from fieldwork
and research studies from collections of data from members. It demands long time interaction
with and strong involvement of community members in cultural construction. This helps to
excavate the truth underneath peoples’ identities and values, and documenting living culture and
past histories.
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The creativities and creative imaginations can come to the fore through such methods and
efforts.
This part focuses on creativity. Orality has rich resources of it accumulated over centuries. They
are rich with varied forms and meanings which would have taken longer time to develop modern
literature. These resources provide a number of opportunities and potentials for national
literature. It gives the later a flavor of nationality, indigenousness and easy maturity within
limited time. Various forms of written literature have their precedents in oral literature; they can
be adjusted and used for various media forms; they carry rich elements and aspects for analysis
and presentations as contents, styles, structures, settings, conflicts, themes, etc. films, music,
dance, fictions, poetry, drama, and others can depend on them to develop.
FILM
Oral narratives, performances, music, dances have significant contributions for the development
of film industry. They depict lives that create suspense to be attended. Coordinated and
organized plot, characters, setting, conflicts, lifestyles (costume, manners, customs, etc.) and
themes can make unified and structured films to represent cultures and traditions.
FICTION
Stories can also furnish national fictions with flavours and dynamics of local colours. They have
plot structures to construct narrative lines to provide alternative pathways and options to allow
choosing from in creative works to create meanings. They have grown and variable characters to
lead, to hinder, to supports to heroes and villains. Characters of fictions can be constructed from
fictional and actual oral narratives. Conflicts and their essences become visible due to the
struggle between the two; they possessing natural settings, local colour, symbolic and expressive
behaviours; they are full of stylistic features like the way to arrange the plot structure; the dialect
to outshine the language; the point of view to narrate the story from; the arrangement of the
language structure itself, dialects and idiolects, national features exhibited by irony, symbolism,
personifications, simile, metaphor, allusions, etc. Stories can address various thematic areas and
ways of presentations. Myths, legends, fables, historical narratives, and much more address
variable topics.
POETRY
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Oral poetry hugely boosts the development of national modern poetry. Oromoo has incredibly
rich and multiple genres of oral poetry. It brings a number of characteristics and styles to lead
national Oromoo Literature or poetry. Different reasons are there to their productions; variable
feelings enforce them; varied issues are addressed in them both individual and communal. Issues
of history, nationality, identity, locality, individuality and culture are addressed in various styles
and on various social and national scenes. They carry diverse elements and features of poem.
They have powerful rhythms with which they unite and bring the people together to sing and
dance. They are full of melodies that lull the people and tune to one song and dance. They
provoke them for actions and activities; for ideas and generativity; they lead them to success
through determinations. Such kinds of features are difficult to achieve within short period in
written national literature. They provide tremendous significance and strongly advised to be
exploited.
The various genres have different styles and purposes of poeticizing. The variability is observed
from the poems and their ways of deliberations. These are addressed by the genres and subgenres
of oral poetry. Geerarsa has variable subgenres with distinctive styles of poetic performance.
Weedduu is extremely rich in content, style, and performance; and so is faaruu. Eebba,
gumgummii, and tabaallii are meant for different purposes and are presented in different styles.

PROVERBS, SAYINGS, RIDDLES, AND OTHER EXPRESSIONS

Proverbs, sayings, riddles and similar expression also possess the features aforementioned and
other forms and styles. They are short, sharp and precise in their styles and allow the
achievement of intended messages within short times. They are interpolated in known forms of
literature as they are usually too short to stand by themselves. They are used to reinforce
meanings, they provide topics, and they determine the ways of thinking in writing and creating,
as well in reading and deciphering. They put on challenges to test our mind to construct and
interpret meanings. They are rich with elements of culture and values. They puzzle, tempt,
entice, and lead us through the work. They provoke our calibre to work well and effectively
through a certain course of action. They teach us how we can be ourselves, learn ourselves, our
identities and our cultures and long survived meanings. They equip and enrich our minds and
works.
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Folklore and oral tradition benefits the four different genres and presentations of literature. We
can imitate them in creative writings. The themes, the language forms, imagery and symbolism,
allusive elements and features, and much more can contribute to the development of national
literature as firsthand resources.
Folklore and oral tradition can help the enrichment of the written forms of traditions within short
period of time; building strong and successful national literature with the help of oral traditions
and folklore provides strong base to this kind of literature. It actualizes the writing of true
ethnography and history.
Our effort is to spring resources from personal, local, and daily lives in developing writings
about people and society.
Our programme is dedicated to the advancement of the study of folklore and literature. We strive
to promote the interrelationship of the two to boost each other in this field of scholarly work and
encourage the participation of our members.
To encourage exploration of folklore and literature theory, the Folklore and Literature Section
sponsors annual paper panel and forum sessions at the annual American Folklore Society
meeting. At the section meeting and during these panel and forum sessions, we discuss
developments in folklore and literature and further investigate the relationship between the two
fields. Our meetings provide an opportunity for the discussion of our work as folklorists and
literary scholars. We are continually working to build a community of American Folklore
Society members actively engaged in folklore and literature method and theory. Our joint
meeting with the AFS@MLA section works to that end and fosters the exchange of ideas and
resources among scholars working in both fields.
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Course Title: APPLIED FOLKLORE

Course Code: OLOR 422
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisite: Introduction to Folklore (OLOR 211)
Course Description:
The course mainly focuses on three major areas: research and fieldworks, teaching, and cultural
conservations. How to exploit these for the betterment of life are discriminated and ways of
applying them to meaningful situations will be analysed. It is also meant to introduce the
emergence of public and applied folklore, the activities of applied folklorists, and topics like:
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roles of folklore in education, health care, tourism, entertainment, development, eco-system

management, child-rearing, teenage handling, and enhancing self-worth among children, the
youth and the aging. Its roles in different social groups in societies and how it portrays them are
also touched on.

The course intends to enrich the students’ skills and cognitions to exploit folklore to enrich the
studies of history, literature, culture, and entertainment. It paves ways to help students think back
the various roles folklore genres serve for different social groups and integrate into present day
life and living.

Course Objectives:
Major Objective:

Mainly aimed at acquainting students with areas of interests and fields where folklore is likely to
be applicable and expose to various working experiences of other worlds to learn from.
Minor Objectives:
1. Give students insights and exposures to the international practices of folklore
scholarship and applications particularly research, fieldwork, teaching, and cultural conservation.
At the same time, it encourages the identification of differences in needs of nations.
2. Locates the roles of each and every other course taken in the program to the
applying personnel in the world of job.
3. Develop the students’ confidences on the program and the field of specialization.
4. Help students prepare proposals, plan future works and devise means of implementing them.
5. Explicate truth about the real life of the society.

Course Contents

1. FOLKLORE AND ENHANCING IDENTITY AND SENSE OF COMMUNITY

1.1. Teaching Folklore
1.2. Museology
1.3. Parking and Recreational Programs
1. 4. Self-Worth
1.5. Survival
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2. FOLKLORE AND CULTURAL RESEARCH STUDIES

2.1. Health Care Practices
2.2. Creativity
2.3. Social Interactions
2.4. Organization Development
2.5. Responsible Tourism

3. FOLKLORE AND LEARNING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.

3. 1. Students’ Skills Development
3.2. Museum and Folklore Programming
3.3. Role of Narrations in policy making, Seeking Solutions
3.4. Environmental Protections/enhancing Eco-Systems
3.5. Development
3.6. Indigenous Technology
3.7. Folklore and Enhancing Self-Worth among Children and Other Age-Group (6 Hours)
3.8. Folklore and Gender, (6 Hours) Etc.

4. FOLKLORE AND PROFESSIONALISM

MODE OF DELIVERY:
Students are expected to be actively involved and develop their study skills. Mainly read
intensively and extensively to identify, study and apply their knowledge and understanding of
Folklore to the contexts of Oromo life. For this, prior orientations and lecturing on some issues
help understanding and identifying the nature and elements of the genre and the knowledge and
skills in it. Exposure to live cultural centers and occasions help students to do project works
individually and in-groups; reading assignments, observations, presentations, group discussions,
fieldworks, proposal development and others are ways in which students involve.

EVALUATION
Attendance, participation, and class activities ………………………………………………...
20%
Assignments (group, individual, and project works) …………………………………..….30-
40%
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Mid term and/or final examinations………………………………………………………..40 -

50%

REFERENCES
MAJOR
Dorson, Richard (1972). (Ed.). FOLKLORE AND FOLKLIFE: AN INTRODUCTION.
Chicago: University of Chicago.
Dundes, Alan. (1965). THE STUDY OF FOLKLORE. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Englewood Cliffs
Jones, Michael Owen. (1994). (Ed.). PUTTING FOLKLORE TO USE. Lexington: The
University Press of Kentucky.
Oring, Elliott. (1986?). FOLK GROUPS AND FOLKLORE GENRES. Logan Utah: Utah
State University

N.B.: Books on folklore and a number of others on Oromo ethnography are worth reading to help
thinking of folkloric applications.