SCHOOL OF SCIENCE

AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF
ENGLISH

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course objectives:
To enable students to understand and appreciate folklore through songs and riddles
To introduce students relevant theories of world folklore.
To enable students to understand the link between culture and language.
To expose to students folk forms
UNIT – 1 General Folklore 9 Hrs

Definition of Folk Literature – Concepts of Folklore –Folklore Genres – Nature and

Function of Folk

Idioms, Sayings, Vocabulary, etc.

UNIT - 2 Folklore Theories 9 Hrs

Mythological Theories – Performance Theory –Functional Theory –Psychoanalytic Theory

UNIT - 3 Oral Folklore 9 Hrs

Beliefs, Customs, Festivals, Medicine, etc. – Folk Culture – Folk Religion –Folklore and
electronic Technology

UNIT – 4 Folk forms from the world 9 Hrs

Folk Tales – Folk Songs (Translated Texts) – Folk riddle – Folk Proverbs

UNIT - 5 Current Trends in Folk Literature 9Hrs

Post Colonialism and Post Modernism Concepts - Feminism Gender Concepts - Gender and
Society

Course outcomes:
On completion of the course, student will be able to

● Identify the knowledge of “lores” through cultural contexts.

●Articulate theories and concepts of folk world

●Ascertain the philosophies of different traditions, cultural aspects and texts

● Classify various folk tales for an overall understanding

● Interpret critical and reflective thinking through written and oral texts.

●Summarize folk forms and trends in Folklore

Prescribed Text:

Tribal Language, Literature And Folklore, Rawat Publications (Jan 2019)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608 – UNIT I
 SATHYABAMA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course Materials

Definition of Folk Literature – Concepts of Folklore – Folklore Genres – Nature and Function of
Folk Idioms, Sayings,Vocabulary etc.

Definition of Folklore:

Folklore is a collection of fictional stories about animals and people, of cultural myths, jokes,
songs, tales, and even quotes. It is a description of culture, which has been passed down verbally
from generation to generation, though many are now in written form. Folklore is also known as
“folk literature,” or “oral traditions.”

Folklore depicts the way main characters manage their everyday life events, including conflicts
or crises. Simply, folk literature is about individual experiences from a particular society. The
study of folk tradition and knowledge is called folkloristics. Although some folklores depict
universal truths, unfounded beliefs and superstitions are also basic elements of folklore tradition.

Concept of Folklore:

The concept of folklore emerged in Europe midway in the nineteenth century. Originally it
connoted tradition, ancient customs and surviving festivals, old ditties and dateless ballads, archaic
myths, legends and fables, and timeless tales, and proverbs. As these narratives rarely stood the
tests of common sense and experience, folklore also implied irrationality: beliefs in ghosts and
demons, fairies and goblins and spirits. From the perspective of the urbane literati, who conceived
the idea of folklore, these two attributes of traditionality and irrationality could pertain only to
peasant or primitive societies. Hence they attributed to folklore a third quality: rurality. The
countryside and the open space of wilderness was folklore’s proper breeding ground.Man’s close
contact with nature in villages and hunting bands was considered the ultimate source
of his myth and poetry. As an outgrowth of the human experience with nature, folklore itself was
thought to be a natural expression of man before city, commerce, civilization, and culture
contaminated the purity of his life.

The triumvirate of attributes — traditionality, irrationality and rurality — was to dominate the
concept of folklore for many years to come; often it still does. It provided standards for inclusion
or exclusion of stories, songs, and sayings within the domain of folklore proper. Those which
possessed at least one-of these qualities were christened “folkstories, folksongs, riddles and folk-
sayings”; those which did not were reprovingly rejected.

In their turn, these terms of meaning generated additional attributes, which together comprised
the- sense of the concept of folklore in common use, in print, and in speech. The cloak of tradition
concealed the identity of those who authored folktales, ballads, and proverbs, and transmission
from generation to generation obscured their origins.

Types of folklore:

Folk Tales: (The stories originating in popular culture typically passed on by word of mouth) The
oral fictional tale, from whatever ultimate origin, is practically universal both in time and place.
Certain peoples tell very simple stories and others tales of great complexity, but the basic pattern
of tale-teller and audience is found everywhere and as far back as can be learned. Differing from
legend or tradition, which is usually believed, the oral fictional tale gives the storyteller absolute
freedom as to credibility so long as he stays within the limits of local taboos and tells tales that
please.

A folktale travels with great ease from one storyteller to another. Since a particular story is
characterized by its basic pattern and by narrative motifs rather than by its verbal form, it passes
language boundaries without difficulty.

Tall Tales : A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual.
Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away")
such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it
in!" Events are often told in a way that makes the narrator seem to have been a part of the story;
the tone is generally good-natured.
Fables: Fables are simple stories that incorporate characters (typically animals) whose actions
teach a moral lesson or universal truth. Eg: The Tortoise and the Hare. Often the moral is stated
at the end of the story.Fables have appealed to both adults and children, yet many fables demand
abstract thinking and their points are often lost on children.The use of animals as symbols for
human behavior often has made fables safe, yet effective, political tools.The first known
collection of fables in the Western world is “Aesop’s fables”.

Myths: (Greek word – “mythos” which means thought, story or speech) Myths include the
legendary or traditional stories, with an event or hero, with or without facts. A myth is a traditional
story that may answer life's overarching questions, such as the origins of the world (the creation
myth) or of a people. A myth can also be an attempt to explain mysteries, supernatural events, and
cultural traditions. Sometimes sacred in nature, a myth can involve gods or other creatures. It
presents reality in dramatic ways.Eg: King Midas

Epics: The word epic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective, “epikos”, which means a poetic
story. In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem, which is usually related to heroic deeds of a
person of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In order to depict this bravery and courage,
the epic uses grandiose style.

The hero is usually the representative of the values of a certain culture, race, nation or a religious
group on whose victor of failure the destiny of the whole nation or group depends. Therefore,
certain supernatural forces, deus ex machina, help the hero, who comes out victor at the end. An
epic usually starts with an invocation to muse, but then picks up the threads of the story from the
middle and moves on to the end. Eg: “Paradise Lost” by John Milton

Ballads: A special tradition of tales told in song has arisen in Europe since the Middle Ages and
has been carried to wherever Europeans have settled. These ballads, in characteristic local metrical
forms and frequently with archaic musical modes, are usually concerned with domestic or warlike
conflict, with disasters by land or sea, with crime and punishment, with heroes and outlaws, and
sometimes, though rarely, with humour. Despite a folk culture fast being overwhelmed by the
modern world, these ballads are still sung and enjoyed
Legends: Legend, traditional story or group of stories told about a particular person or place.
Formerly the term legend meant a tale about a saint. Legends resemble folktales in content; they
may include supernatural beings, elements of mythology, or explanations of natural phenomena,
but they are associated with a particular locality or person and are told as a matter of history. Some
legends are the unique property of the place or person that they depict, such as the story of young
George Washington, the future first president of the United States, who confesses to chopping
down the cherry tree. But many local legends are actually well-known folktales that have become
attached to some particular person or place. For example, a widely distributed folktale of an
excellent marksman who is forced to shoot an apple, hazelnut, or some other objectfrom his son’s
head has become associated with the Swiss hero William Tell.

Religious Stories: In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion,
or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from
the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk religion
varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional
religious customs under the umbrella of a religion, but outside official doctrine and practices.[1]

The term "folk religion" is generally held to encompass two related but separate subjects. The first
is the religious dimension of folk culture, or the folk-cultural dimensions of religion. The second
refers to the study of syncretisms between two cultures with different stages of formal expression,
such as the melange of African folk beliefs and Roman Catholicism that led to the development of
Vodun and Santería, and similar mixtures of formal religions with folk cultures.

Chinese folk religion, folk Christianity, folk Hinduism, and folk Islam are examples of folk
religion associated with major religions. The term is also used, especially by the clergy of the faiths
involved, to describe the desire of people who otherwise infrequently attend religious
worship, do not belong to a church or similar religious society, and who have not made a formal
profession of faith in a particular creed, to have religious weddings or funerals, or (among
Christians) to have their children baptised.[1]
Examples of Folklore in Literature:

Example #1: Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was keenly interested in folklore, as he has written many English works based
on folklore such as, Rewards and Fairies and Puck of Pook’s Hill. His experiences in Indian
environment have led him to create several works about Indian themes and tradition. Since Kipling
has lived a great deal of life in Indian regions, he was much familiar with the Indian languages.

Kipling’s popular work, The Jungle Book, consists of plenty of stories about traditional folktales.
He also has Indian themes in his work, Just So Stories, in which he has given many characters
recognizable names related to Indian languages. Helen Bannerman has also penned an Indian
themed folktale, Little Black Sambo, during the same period.

Example #2: Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was a politician, attorney and planter, who gained popularity as an orator when
Americans were struggling for independence. He is well known for his speech in the House of
Burgesses in 1775 in the church of Saint Joseph. The House was undecided about whether they
need to mobilize and take military action against encroaching military forces of England. Henry
gave his arguments in favor of American forces’ mobilization. After forty-two years, William Wirt,
Henry’s first biographer, working from different oral histories and stories, reconstructed the
sayings of Henry, outlining the folk traditions he inherited and passed on.

Example #3: A. K. Ramanujan

A. K. Ramanujan has written a lot about context sensitivity as a theme in many cultural essays,
classical poetry, and Indian folklore. For example, in his works Three Hundred Ramayanas, and
Where Mirrors are Windows, he talks about intertextual quality of written and oral Indian literature.
His popular essay, Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections, and
commentaries done on Indian folktales, including Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages, and
The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology, present perfect examples
of Indian folk literature studies.
Example #4: Alan Garner

Alan Garner is a renowned English novelist popular for writing fantasy tales and retellings of
traditional English folk tales. His works are mainly rooted in history, landscape, and folklore of
his native country Cheshire. One of such children’s novels is, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A
Tale of Alderley, which took a local legend from The Wizard of the Edge, and described
landscapes and folklore of neighboring Alderley Edge, where Alan had grown up. The novel is set
in Alderley Edge in Cheshire and Macclesfield. This is a very good example of the use of folktales
in literature.

Function of Folklore:

The main purpose of folklore is to convey a moral lesson and present useful information and
everyday life lessons in an easy way for the common people to understand. Folk tales sugarcoat
the lessons of hard life in order to give the audience pointers about how they should behave. It is
one of the best mediums to pass on living culture or traditions to future generations.

Currently, many forms of folk literature have been transformed into books and manuscripts, which
we see in the forms of novels, histories, dramas, stories, lyric poems, and sermons. Folk literature
is, however, not merely a carrier of cultural values; rather, it is also an expression of self-reflection.
It serves as a platform to hold high moral ground without any relevance to present day reality.
Instead, writers use it as a commentary or satire on current political and social reality. In the modern
academic world, folklores and folktales are studied to understand ancient literature and
civilizations.

Folklore Genres:

Folklorists -- those who study folklore -- classify the subject according to various genres, or
categories. The broadest categories are oral, material and belief.

Oral: One of the most popular folklore genres, oral folklore encompasses song, dance and all
forms of "verbal art," including poetry, jokes, riddles, proverbs, fairy tales, myths and legends. Of
course, many of these "verbal" art forms now exist in written form (e.g., fairy tales). But in the
beginning, they were passed on orally. That's why many of them contain devices to help people
remember them. One such device is repetition. Think of the story of the "Three Little
Pigs," where the pigs keep building houses, which the wolf keeps saying, "I'll huff and I'll puff and
I'll blow your house down." Folk tales also contain formulaic expressions to aid memory, such as
"Once upon a time" and "They lived happily ever after."

Material: Objects you can touch are included in the material folklore classification. So this means
personal items such as home decorations, special clothing and jewelry. But it also encompasses
traditional family recipes, foods and musical instruments -- e.g., the Sioux's chegah-skah-hdah, a
type of rattle, and the bodhrán, an Irish frame drum. Vernacular artwork, textiles and architecture
(using local materials and serving local needs) are also included in material folklore. Examples
include the 1920s shotgun houses popular in the American South and the raised horreros, or
granaries, found in Galicia, Spain.

Belief: While this points to religion, belief also covers rituals such as tossing rice at a bride and
groom to wish them good luck, and the Jewish tradition of giving bread, sugar and salt as a
housewarming gift. Some folklorists classify this genre as behavioral or cogitative, and include the
way folklore beliefs affect your thought process and behavior. Here's an example: A young driver
rear-ends you, and you're about to tell her off. Then you remember the golden rule – "Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you" -- and instead you calmly accept her apology. That's
behavioral folklore in action.

Folk Idioms, Sayings, Proverbs and Vocabulary:

Common sayings seem to be the grass roots of our American culture. If your parents had nothing
to say, they always seemed to resort to some previously spoken phrase their parents said to them,
didn't they? But, to claim that these are really "American" sayings is false. Our nation is a melting
pot of many cultures, so the sayings listed below represent years of generations handing them down
one to another (mostly orally) with their own cultural spin. Many were told to help educate and
pass wisdom down from young to old. Their motive was to teach you a message of behavior or to
give you philosophical wisdom. Some come from the bible, although are not actually word for
word. Why? Because many people did not read or write. But their preacher came around and told
them the bible. So they remembered the bible "as they interpreted the message" and passed it down
that way.
Proverbs and sayings are usually short and sweet or short and tangy. They have been defined as
the wisdom of many and the wit of one.

Although proverbs, sayings and maxim may be highly believed, they ironically often contradict
each other. I found this true pertaining to marriage and wives as I read through them. Another
example is about being to hasty. One says "He who hesitates is lost" and yet another advises,
"Look before you leap." The first one says to wisely NOT stop and wait before you venture forth
while the other one tells us the opposite and warns us to stop and wait before we start a venture.

List of proverbs and sayings:

A clean conscience makes a soft pillow.

A good deed is never lost.

A smile is worth a thousand words

A clock will run without watching it.

A man is judged by the company he keeps.

A good neighbor, a found treasure!

A friend to everyone is a friend to nobody.

https://www.brownielocks.com/folksayings.html

British Sayings/idioms:

An idiom is an expression, word,or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in
regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition
of the words of which it is made.

Examples:
'Bob's your uncle'
It is added to the end of sentences to mean that something will be successful.
Origin of Bob's your Uncle

"Bob's your Uncle" is a way of saying "you're all set" or "you've got it made." It's a catch phrase
dating back to 1887, when British Prime Minister Robert Cecil (a.k.a. Lord Salisbury) decided to
appoint a certain Arthur Balfour to the prestigious and sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland.

Not lost on the British public was the fact that Lord Salisbury just happened to be better known
to Arthur Balfour as "Uncle Bob." In the resulting furor over what was seen as an act of blatant
nepotism, "Bob's your uncle" became a popular sarcastic comment applied to any situation where
the outcome was preordained by favoritism. As the scandal faded in public memory, the phrase
lost its edge and became just a synonym for "no problem."
By James Harris

'Keep your pecker up'

Remain cheerful - keep your head held high.
'Big girl's blouse'
A weakling; an ineffectual person.

'Burning the Candle at Both Ends'

Working for many hours without getting enough rest

'Eyes are bigger than your belly'

Think you can eat more than you can
'My eyes were bigger than my belly, I couldn't eat every thing I had put on my plate'

'Sleep Tight'
Have a good nights sleep
'Gordon Bennett'
An exclamation of surprise

'Stone the crows'

An exclamation of annoyance.
'Tie the Knot'
Get Married

'Talk the hind legs off a donkey'

A person who is excessively or extremely talkative can talk the hind legs off a donkey.
'I'll put the Kettle on'
Let me make you a cup of tea
'Do you want a brew?'
Do you want some tea?

'Leg it'
Run extremely fast

'Popped his/her clogs'

He/she has passed away (died)

http://www.projectbritain.com/sayings.html#Sayings

Folklore Vocabulary Word List (379):

A) Accident, Account, Adventure, Adventurer, Ages, Alone, Angels, Appealing, Artistic,

Aspiration, Associate, Attitudes, Augury, Authority, Awareness
B) Banshee, Barrier, Baskets, Beauty, Behavior, Beliefs, Betrayal, Beyond, Blessing, Bliss,
Blood, Bode, Books, Bracelets, Brawl, Bright, Bucolic
C) Camelot, Camps, Candles, Caravan, Carefree, Caretaker, Carnival, Carriage, Caution,
Celebrations, Challenges, Chance, Character, Characteristic, Characters, Charisma, Charm,
Charmed, Circus, Cities, Coaxing, Cobbler, Color, Colorful, Complex, Compulsion, Congregate,
Connection, Consequences, Cosmic, Cottage, Country, Countryside, Creativity, Cult, Culture,
Curse
D) Dance, Dangerous, Death, Deceit, Deception, Decoration, Defiance, Demon, Descent,
Devil, Devotion, Different, Discover, Discovery, Distinctive, Divine, Dream, Dreaming, Driving,
Duels, Duty, Dwelling
E) Egypt, Elders, Elders, Elf, Embellishment, Emotion, Emotional, Encampment,
Enchantment, Energy, Enigma, Enslaved, Envy, Epic, Epoch, Era, Erstwhile, Ethics, Ethnic,
Events, Evil, Exaggeration, Excitement, Experience
F) Fable, Fairy, False, Fame, Fanciful, Fantasy, Fate, Fay, Fealty, Fear, Feelings, Fertility,
Fervor, Festival, Festive, Fiddle, Fields, Figure, Flog, Flowers, Folk, Folklorist, Forbidden, Forest,
Foretell, Foretell, Fortune, Furor
G) Gather, Generations, Geography, Giant, Glen, Goals, Goblin, Gods, Goodness, Grace,
Greed, Greeting, Gremlin, Groups, Guilt, Guitar, Gypsies
H) Hallucinate, Happy, Harbinger, Harbor, Hardship, Harmonious, Harp, Hearth, Heaven,
Heaven on Earth, Heritage, Hermit, Hero, Heroine, Hidden, Hills, History, Hobbit, Holiday,
Honesty, Hope, Horror, Horse-and-Buggy, Horses, Hunting
I) Idyll, Imagination, Imaginative, Impossibility, India, Informative, Insular, Intelligence,
Interaction, Interest, Interior, Ireland, Irish
J) Jaunt, Joking, Journey, Joy, Justice
K) Keen, Kidnapping, Killing, Kingdom, Kings
L) Laughter, Learning, Legend, Leprechaun, Lessons, Lineage, Listening, Literature, Logical,
Longing, Lore, Love
M) Magic, Magical, Maiden, Mastery, Meander, Memories, Mesmerize, Miracle, Mischief,
Mood, Moon, Music, Mysterious, Mystical, Myth, Mythology
N) Narrative, Natural, Nature, Normal, Nostalgia
O) Observations, Obsess, Ocean, Odds, Old, Omen, Oracle, Oral, Origin, Ostracize,
Overcome
P) Painting, Pattern, Performance, Persecution, Personalities, Pixie, Poetry, Poverty, Power,
Practices, Prayer, Pride, Primitive, Princess, Prisoner, Privacy, Prophesy, Protection
Q) Qualm, Quantity, Queen, Query, Quest, Question
R) Rage, Ranching, Realm, Recount, Refuge, Relation, Relationships, Religion,
Remembering, Rendition, Reputation, Respect, Revelation, Revere, Ribbons, Riding, Ritual,
Romantic, Romany, Roots
S) Sacrifice, Safety, Saga, Sandman, Scourge, Secrets, Serious, Settle, Singing, Smarts,
Society, Solstice, Songs, Sorrow, Space, Spell, Spirit, Spirits, Spiritual, Spying, Squalor, Stars,
Status, Stereotype, Stories, Storytelling, Subjects, Superstitious, Suspicion, Suspicious, Swarthy,
Systems
T) Tale, Telling, Thievery, Time, Tooth fairy, Topics, Trade, Traders, Traditional, Traditions,
Train, Travel, Travel, Treasure, Trial, Tribulation, Trickster, Triumph, Troll, Truth
U) Underworld, Unfamiliar, Unique, Unreal, Unscrupulous, Unusual, Utopia
V) Vampire, Vapors, Variety, Village, Vows
W) Wand, Wander, Wealth, Weather, Weave, Weaver, Wind, Wisdom, Wonderland, Woods,
World, Worship, Wrongdoings, Wrongs
X)
Y) Yearning, Youth
Z) Zeal, Zone

https://myvocabulary.com/word-list/folklore-vocabulary/
FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608 – UNIT II
 SATHYABAMA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course Materials
UNIT II – Folklore Theories:

Mythological Theories – Performance Theory – Functional Theory – Psychoanalytic Theory

INTRODUCTION:
Folktale is one of the popular sources of entertainment. From time immemorial it has been
considered as an important asset of our society. They are the literary creations of a society
which may be taken as the common property shared by all. Theory is a tool by which one can
interpret the meaning of folktale. Such kind of analysis is essential to understand the society
and its people. Tales told for amusement has become a subject of serious study in the 19th
century. It reflects the fantasies of people metaphorically. The analysis and interpretation of
metaphors provide insights into the social problems and behaviour of people everywhere.

MYTHOLOGICAL THEORY:

Description:

Theories of Mythology provide students with both a history of theories of myth and a practical
‘how-to’ guide to interpreting myth, the most elementary form of narrative.
Four Theories of Myth:
There are four basic theories of myth. Those theories are: the rational myth theory,
functional myth theory, structural myth theory, and the phsycological myth theory. The
rational myth theory states that myths were created to explain natural events and forces.
Functional myths are what you call the kinds of myths that were created as a type of
social control. The third myth theory is the structural myth theory. This theory says thatmyths
were patterned after human mind and human nature. The phsycological myth theory is the
fourth myth theory which states that myths are based on human emotion.
 The rational myth theory states that myths were made to better understand natural
events and forces that occurred in the everyday lives of people. This theory also
explains that the gods and goddesses controlled all of these happenings of nature.
 Examples of this type of myth are creation myths from different cultures.

 The functional myth theory talks about how myths were used to teach morality
and social behavior. It states that myths told about what types of things should and
shouldn’t be done, and the consequences for those wrong doings. The functional myth
theory also states that myths were created for social control and served the function of
insuring stability in a society. A story about a tribe who rebelled against the great
serpent, Degei, is a good example of a functional myth. This story is about a tribe who
learned many skills from their great serpent god, Degei, and then became Degei’s
workers and servants. Two chiefs of this tribe were sick of working for him and tried
to defeat him; they were too weak for Degei. Instead of winning their freedom, they
were killed in a great flood caused by Degei. This myth is trying to say that you should
not be lazy because if you are, then you will regret it.
 Structural myths are said to be myths based on human emotion. These types of myths
show the two sides of the human mind; the good side and the bad side. They show the
divided self and the duality of human nature. Myths about Hercules show howthe human
mind can be both good and bad. Hercules did both good and bad things. Oneof the bad
things he did was (in “Jason and the Argonauts”) he stole a broach pin fromthe treasure
chamber of the god Talos. This sin caused his friend to be killed. Hercules knew that
his friend was killed because of his sin, so to make up for it, he vowed to stayon the
island until his friend was found.
 The phsycological myth theory states how myths are based on human emotion
and that they come from the human subconscious mind. Cultures all around the world
had similar fears, questions, and wishes which, to them, were unexplainable. That is the
reason that phsycological myths were made; and that is why there are archetypes
shared between cultures. Archetypes are general forms and characters used by all
cultures. Some archetypes found between cultures are having a sky god (Zeus and
Oleron),a sea god (Poseidon and Olokun), and an agricultural god (Orisha-Oko and
Demeter). These archetypes are examples of how people think alike when it comes to
things that are to them mysteries and fears.
In conclusion, it appears that man created myths for quite a few reasons. These reasons
include explaining the unknown, natural events and forces, to show the duality and pureness of
human nature and the human mind, and to help societies maintain order and remainstable.

PERFORMANCE THEORY:

Performance Theory- It suggests that everyone of us puts on a performance in our society.

Whether through the clothes we wear, the conversations we hold or the food we eat, all are a
performance designed as a signal system to ourselves and to others of our place within our
social group.

The influence of Richard Schechner (b. 1934) on both theatre production and academic theory
has been profound and, in some ways, revolutionary. Schechner has consistently challenged
traditional practices and perspectives of theatre, performance and ritual for almost half a
century. His principle contention is that drama is not merely a province of the stage, but of
everyday life, and is a cross-cultural phenomenon. ‘It is important to develop and articulate
theories concerning how performances a regenerated, transmitted, received and evaluated in
pursuit of these goals, performance studies is insistently intercultural, inter-generic and inter-
disciplinary’.

As with all academic studies, performance theory is founded on certain key principles, which
include such terms as ‘presentation of self’, ‘restored behaviour’ and ‘expressive culture’, and
incorporates social drama and ritual. His concept of performance, which contrasts sharply with
previous, principally modernist, approaches to the arts, asserts the importance of different
‘systems of transformations’, which vary enormously from culture to culture, and throughout
historical periods and movements.

The radical nature of performance theory is demonstrated by its all-encompassing, even

holistic, approach to theatre and performance, with popular culture, folklore, and ethnic
diversity incorporated into the cross-disciplinary mix. In examining the ways in which the
theory can be useful to theatre practitioners, it is important to examine in more detail the main
strategies it deploys, including the concept of ‘performativity’.

Performativity is a complex concept that can be thought of as a language which functions as

a form of social action and has the effect of change. The concept has multiple applications in
diverse fields such as anthropology, social and cultural geography, economics, genderstudies
(social construction of gender), law, linguistics, performance studies, and history,
philosophy.

The concept is first described by philosopher of language John L. Austin when he referred to a
specific capacity: the capacity of speech and communication to act or to consummate an action.
Austin differentiated this from constative language, which he defined as descriptive language
that can be "evaluated as true or false". Common examples of performative language are
making promises, betting, performing a wedding ceremony, an umpire calling a strike, or a
judge pronouncing a verdict.[1]

Influenced by Austin, philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler argued that gender is
socially constructed through commonplace speech acts and nonverbal communication that are
performative, in that they serve to define and maintain identities. This view of performativity
reverses the idea that a person's identity is the source of their secondary actions (speech,
gestures). Instead, it views actions, behaviors, and gestures as both the result of an individual's
identity as well as a source that contributes to the formation of one's identity which is
continuously being redefined through speech acts and symbolic communication. This view was
also influenced by philosophers such as Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser.

‘Performativity’ as a concept is closely related to postmodernism. The postmodern view does

not see the idea of ‘performance’ as intrinsically artistic or theatrical, but as something that
pervades the fabric of the social, political and material world. It is an inalienable part of what
constitutes power and knowledge. Teaching and lecturing, political speech-making and
religious sermonising illustrates this characteristic of performativity.

The postmodern view of things posits a standpoint that culture has become a commodity in
itself, rather than a critique of commodity. It is inseparable from the context of post-World War
II Western society, where new goods and technology, and corresponding cultural
developments, emerged from the rubble of post-war austerity. This shift from modernist to
postmodernist thinking in the arts can be located in the 1950s, with movements such as abstract
expressionism, modernist poetry and existentialism in literature and philosophy representing a
high flowering of the modernist impulse. The postmodern world, originating in the 1960s,
represented a blurring of distinction between high art and popular, mass-communicated
mediums, formerly derided as ‘low art’.
‘Recognising, analysing, and theorising the convergence and collapse of clearly demarcated
realities, hierarchies, and categories is at the heart of postmodernism. Such a convergence or
collapse is a profound departure from traditional Western performance theory’.

In the Schechner universe, the previously solid foundation of modernism, with clearly defined
borders of reality and representation in performance, has been wrenched away, and many of
the assumptions in the western artistic tradition, from Plato and Aristotle on, such as the notion
that theatre reflects, imitates or represents reality, in both individual and social life.
‘Representational art of all kinds is based on the assumption that ‘art’ and ‘life’ are not only
separate but of different orders of reality. Life is primary, art secondary’.

In Performance Studies, Schechner asserts that ‘performing onstage, performing in special

social situations (public ceremonies, for example), and performing in everyday life are a
continuum’. His contention that each and every one of us is in some sense a ‘performer’ is
difficult to dispute. Engaging in ‘real life’ is often indistinguishable from ‘role play’, and in
today’s ‘surveillance societies’ of Western culture, with CCTV cameras seemingly
everywhere, the scope for performance as an extension of simply being has never been wider.
The evident logical development of this is the ubiquitous ‘reality TV’ show, as well as the do-
it-yourself webcam and personal websites on the internet, both of which have contributed a
new dimension to ‘the style of being’.

At first glance, Schechner’s hypotheses appears to fulfil both Warhol’s philosophy and
Shakespeare’s oft-quoted ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’
as an approach to performance. The key concern of the drama ordnance practitioner is to place
this into the context of performing in a way beyond simply ‘being in itself’ to the portrayal of
a self-contained ‘thing in itself’- an abstract presentation of a text or idea, for the purposes of
entertain mentor education. (E.g. Theatre-in-education)

The actor or ‘player’ is not alone in presenting self-contained performances, with a beginning,
middle and end. As Schechner observes, various figures in the public arena adopt strategies of
performance and role play, such as politicians, religious leaders, and businessmen and women,
conducting presentations at meetings: ‘Paid performers all seeking attention, adulation, re-
election, and money’. (Schechner, 2002, P. 146) They all have their own strategies and
scenarios to achieve effects, towards a specific goal, and, like the theatre/performing arts
practitioner, their performances are predicated on self-consciousness.
‘ Across this very wide spectrum of performing are varying degrees of self-consciousness and
consciousness of the others with whom and for whom we play. The more self-conscious a
person is the more one constructs behaviour for those watching and/or listening, the more such
behaviour is performing.’

The application of role playing in many contexts, from psychotherapy sessions to teacher
training exercises, follows similar approaches as drama improvisation classes, albeit with
different objectives, but no less in addressing the self-conscious and unconscious impulses
which lie at the basis of performance. It reflects the in-built routines, rituals and conventions
of everyday life, instilled from birth, and through childhood experience. The Jungian theories
of archetypes and the collective unconscious would suggest that the individual’s mind is not a
tabularasa (blank page) at the time of birth – the implications of which are potent with creative
possibilities for the practitioner/performing artist.

The concept of ‘performing in everyday life’ is a central aspect of performativity, as envisaged

by Schechner. ‘Performativity is everywhere – in daily behaviour, in the professions, on the
internet and media, in the arts and in the language’. It is a natural progenitor of role play and
improvisation. The expression ‘showing off’ is heard frequently throughout childhood, but is
equally applicable to adult behaviour. Certain jobs and professions have evolved traditional
codes of conduct, some of which have emerged as specific character traits, behaviour patterns
and tones of voice. These have in turn been stylised into stereotypical representations: the roles
of dignified clergyman, ardent reporter, solemn court judge, et al. They usually adhere to
custom, but have evolved into modes of performance.

The implication is that many individuals, going about their ‘everyday business’ are not being
themselves all of the time. They are acting out roles, predetermined to the point of being
programmed in some cases. ‘Performing in everyday life involves people in a wide range of
activities from solo or intimate performances behind closed doors to small group activities to
interacting as part of a crowd.’

Schechner observes that the social codes of our daily lives are adapted to greater or lesser
degrees by everyone. The unconventional or rebellious resist the rules, but only revolutionaries
seek to break them to achieve permanent change – a principal equally applicable to artists. The
arts, and particularly the theatre, have always made use of stereotypes and archetypes, often
parodying or subverting them. Those practitioners who set out to achieve truthful
performances, to ‘get under the skin’ of a character, can identify with these typical
representations, as role play exercises reveal, but the underlying personality lies a layer or two
deeper.

‘In the theatre the actor and the audience both know that the actor is not who she is playing.
But in real life a person is simultaneously performing herself and being herself. The matter is,
of course, nicely complicated because in some methods of realistic acting, actors are taught
how to use their own selves to construct theatrical roles’.

In approaching the role of , for example, a science teacher, and avoid a one-dimensional
portrayal, an actor must discover the character as not simply a teacher, carrying out a teacher’s
role, but as an individual when ‘off duty’ during times, as Schechner puts it, when ‘the
performance aspect of ordinary behaviour is less obvious, but not absent’.

The actor can draw on his/her own experience, be it of a personal kind (i.e. they may have
previously been a teacher) or from memories and observations based on an actual person, or
persons. (E.g. a teacher who had taught them) Naturally, this approach places more demands
on the actor, enabling him/her to enact a performance of a person who is also a science teacher,
rather than simply a science teacher with no identity beyond his/her teaching duties.

A-Gender, produced in 2004 by Joey Hately, artistic director of Transaction Theatre Company,
was a postmodern theatre piece that adopted many of the elements of new theatre and
performance theory very effectively. Ostensibly a presentation of gender politics portrayed as
a personal case history, A-Gender presented the issue of transsexualism in a powerfully
theatrical manner, deploying methods of performance outside the restrictions of conventional
theatre.

The use of the ‘one man (or one woman) show’ format (a prototypical popular cultural form)
and the ‘stand up ‘routine, interwoven with visual media (video sequences) and other
performance modes, enabled the artist/performer to convey the confusion, pain and anger of
person whose gender identity causes them to believe that they have been born in the wrong
body, the wrong gender.

There are essential differences. Street theatre is usually played out for the benefit of an
audience, albeit one of a generally random nature, some of whom may become participants,
but not in the same way as in Happenings – with everyone performing and no audience. One
element they do share is the idea of the ‘found space’, which is crucial to ‘environmental
theatre’. Kaprow stated, ‘it doesn’t make any difference how large the space is. It’s still a
stage’. (Kaprow quoted in Schechner,1977) Schechner elaborated on this principle with his
axiom that ‘the theatrical event can take place in a totally transformed space, or found space’.

Whereas traditional theatre restricts the ‘special place’ to an area (the stage) marked clearly as
the space for performance, new theatre creates a space that is ‘organically defined by the
action’. As in the Happening, and street theatre, space is transformed by the participants, who
discover their own sets and scenery, using their surroundings, the various elements ‘found in
the environment of the space, including décor, textures and acoustics.

Outdoor stage performances have adopted this principle, with many touring theatre companies
using castle ruins, woodland clearings and riversides to stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice. This use of transformed space is
perhaps a more conservative application of Schechner’s theory, as it retains many of the
conventions of traditional theatre. The theatrical stage is simply substituted for its outdoor
counterpart. Much of street theatre approaches adopt a radical use of space in the environment.

There are innumerable ways in which performance theory and new theatre are a useful
alternative to traditional theatre. The application of other (visual) media has already been noted,
as in the example of A-Gender. Schechner proposes others:

‘I suggest other tools, other approaches. Mathematical and transactional game analysis, model
building, comparisons between theatre and related performance activities – all will prove
fruitful.’ This demands a high level of intense physical and mental rigour from the practitioner,
as Schechner sees theatre as alive, experiential, organic, rather than something that merely
replicates or reconstructs reality. His theory offers many practical methods for both student and
practitioner to follow, in the form of both things to think about and things to do.

Folklore and ethnography shifted perspective in the 1960's from collecting and categorizing to
synthesizing and understanding peoples and their creations in their own terms. Such re-
imaginings gave birth to performance theory. Dell Hymes and Dennis Tedlock, both working
with Native American texts, sought to represent those texts more appropriately, from a better,
insider’s perspective, to reflect the way the stories were appreciated and understood by
members of the cultures from which they came.

In oral cultures the genres are not simply categories in a library catalog but are part of an
ensemble of actions that constitute the setting, often the ritual, and sometimes the music and
dance of the performers; these actions also guide the voice and gestures and the intentions of
the performers, as well as the audience and its expectations. Each genre has its characteristic
context of performance, its own place, its own time, its own performers, and its own aims.
Folktales may be told by adults who have built up a reputation for doing so, but theyare more
likely to make the rounds within families or among groups of children.
Given the variety of genres of oral literature, it is difficult to generalize about their content as
a whole, but it is (perhaps misleadingly) easy to generalize within each genre. Mythology deals
with gods, deities, and supernatural agencies in their relationship—whether distant or close—
with humankind. Epics often deal with human as well as half-divine heroes and monsters.
Folktales show a nearly universal concern with animals, and they introduce as actors humans,
gods, and sometimes monsters. The widespread inclusion of animals, in turn, may indicate a
recognition of a continuity between living things; animals often reenact the lives of humans,
not only by speaking but in their roles and actions. A continuity between living things is also
expressed in tales of humans born of animals, being cared for by them or being looked after by
them in a more mystical sense.

The insights and methods of previous generations of scholars inevitably change based on new
or fine-tuned theories that better fit contemporary methods, goals, or insights. Performance
theory remains extremely useful and valid for contemporary folklorists, especially those
working with field-collected narratives.

One insight of performance theory focuses on rendering texts so that the artfulness of a given
performative event may be manifested on the page. Performance theory also recognizes that
not all performances are equal. "Full performance" involves a level of competence that
produces artistry, though measures of competency are to be discovered in each fieldwork
situation and with awareness of local measures of artistry.

At the same time that performance theory calls for greater awareness of and attention to formal
elements of textual representation (structural concerns), it also calls for greater focus on
context. Performance theory situates stories to a particular event and credits a narrator who
assumes responsibility for the performance. Each performance is keyed, and relies on a
performer’s assumption of responsibility for the emergent event. Folklore is not to be
conceived any longer as disembodied "text" but rather a rich convergence of performer,
situation, setting, audience, and society.

Without context, it is argued, texts are disembodied from the reality of their performance event,
and are thus incomplete and less meaningful. A text, like a textile (etymologically related) is
woven together from the situation of a given performance, the audience, details of an individual
performer, and knowledge and understanding of the social group and culture of the performer
and the audience.

Applying Performance Theory

Most folklorists working with performance theory attend primarily to structural, textual
elements of the theory (rendering oral performances more artfully on the page), though all
argue for attention to context. Obviously, the amount of contextual information necessary for
a full performance-informed discussion of a text is overwhelming.

The goals and impulses gave rise to performance theory. Performances theorist advocates aim
to avoid the dominating influences of theory, while employing it judiciously to understand
discourse and practices, and to draw out "underlying uniformity of pattern" (Hymes 1975, 351).
Michael Jackson suggests we should be aware of the "mutual dependency" of science and
literature, letting each inform the other without elevating either to emerge as "truth" (1989).

Richard Bauman suggests we need an approach based upon a similar emergent and fluid notion
of "truth," and also an awareness of the connection between the "stuff" we collect and the
community and people from which it comes:

If we are to understand what folklore is, we must go beyond a conception of it as disembodied

superorganic stuff and view it contextually, in terms of the individual, social, and cultural
factors that give it shape, meaning, existence. This reorientation in turn requires us to broaden
the scope of our fieldwork: a contextual perspective on folklore makes the enterprise much
more ramified and complex than the simple butterfly-collecting approach – the collecting of
anachronistic antiquities – that often passes for fieldwork in folklore.
Performance theory helps us to continue to discuss and appreciate what it means to be human
and to give expression to our lives.

FUNCTIONAL THEORY:

Functionalism in general:
Functionalism is the theory that states all aspects of a society serve a function and are necessary
for the survival of that society. The approach used in functionalism is that all elements of the
society are interdependent and they serve a function for the overall stability of the society.
Thus, they are necessary for the survival of that society. According to the functionalist
perspective, each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society’s stability and
functioning as a whole. Furthermore, functionalism is a perspective created by Emile
Durkheim.

For example, the government provides chemicals and manure for farmers and they can succeed
in agriculture and can contribute to the overall economic development of the society, by
providing people with healthy food and also by paying tax to the government to continue this
procedure. Similarly, farmers can support their families from the income they get. Hence, the
farmers are dependent on the government for manure and other agricultural support; the
government is also dependent on the farmers for the healthy food they provide

Thus, functionalism highlights that it is the inter-dependency among these varied functions or
the elements that eventually lead to the maintenance of the society in a more successful manner.

An Introduction to Functionalism:

The early days of psychology in the 19th century focused on the nature of the mind apart from
metaphysical explanations. Two views developed early that attempted to expand the
understanding of how the brain works. Structuralism focused on the “structure” of the brain
and assumed cognitions and the other functions of the mind such as creativity, moral reasoning,
etc. were product of naturalistic functions within the brain. The understanding of the structure
of the brain was simplistic and many of the explanations offered were conjecture based on self-
reports (introspection) of experimental subjects.
A second school of thought emerged in the late 19th century that disagreed with the focus of
Structuralism. William James and associates argued that focusing on the structure of the brain
was too limited to understand the nature of the brain’s function. Rather, they proposed the focus
should be on the functions of the brain, which fell more in line with metaphysical use of the
term “mind.” A difference with the metaphysical assumptions of the mind was that
Functionalism as it came to be known perceived the functions of the brain as a product of the
evolutionary struggle of organisms to adapt to their environments.

Definition:

Functionalism is the study of mental activity such as perception, decision-making, and

cognitions. The focus on the mind is not the origins of cognitive activity as in Structuralism,
but the purpose of cognitive activity or how the mind serves the organism in its evolutionary
struggle to adapt to the environment.

The term “Functionalism” can be used in two ways. Functionalism can describe how the mind
processes information. Functionalism can also describe how mental processes have changed in
the evolution of organisms and why certain processes were selected while others were not.

William James

He was a famous psychologist, known for his contribution in functionalism approach. He was
the first American psychologist. “Principles of psychology” is one of his greatest works which
is still considered very informative and fresh. It was the first general text book written on
psychology. He was famous as spokesperson for the functionalism approach.
He was against structural approach of psychology; he argued that the conscious part can be
divided into different parts. He coined the phrase “stream of consciousness”. According to
James, mental life is a unity that changes with time and flows.

In his book he presented enlightening ideas regarding memory, attention, habits, emotions,
imaginations, learning and many other things. His advanced studies took him in more
mysterious direction.

William James wrote the first textbook on psychology, “Principles of Psychology.” The text
included functionalist’s conclusions such as the nature of consciousness, emotions, and
memory. The phrase “stream of consciousness” was introduced in the book and described the
functionalist’s belief that the mind responds to multiple “streams” of information. The function
of the mind is to determine the best course of action that is likely to improve the state of the
organism..

William James - Theory Of Functionalism

Functionalism is the second paradigm of psychology. As the name suggests the main focus of
functionalism is in the functions of mental processes that includes consciousness. This
approach was not the work of one individual. However, William James plays a vital role in
defining functionalism. The main aim of functionalists was to find out why humans feel, think
and behave the way they do.

THE PARADIGM OF FUNCTIONALISM

 The Crux Of Psychology

Basically, psychology is an in-depth study of mental activities that include memory,

perception, imagination, learning, feelings, emotions, judgement and many other
functions that are carried out by brain. It is also assessed in terms of the process of
adaptation to its environment.

 Methods Used In Psychology

Mental activities can be studied through several kinds of methods some of them are
introspection, objective manifestations of mind, use of instruments in order to measure
and record behaviours and functions through in-depth study of its products and
 creations and also through study and observation of physiology and anatomy of the
brain.

The functionalists inclined to use the word 'function' rather lightly. The word “function”
is used in two different ways at least. It can include the operation of mental process.
The term 'function' can also mean the process that plays an important part in the
evolution of species, the adaptive characteristics that result in selection through
evolution.

Functionalism never became obsolete; instead it became a part of conventional

psychological approach. Now modern psychology focuses on process rather than the
structure, focusing on process is a common characteristic of modern psychology.
According to critics, factionalism lacked clear design and had similar problems to
structural approach, as both relied on introspection.

PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY:

Sigmund Freud (6th May 1856 – 23rd Sep 1939)

Psychoanalysis: The term 'psychoanalysis' has two accepted meanings. Firstly, it means a
method of treating mentally disordered people. Secondly, it also goes to mean the theories on
human mind and its various complexities. This psychoanalytical school is also known as depth
psychology on the ground that it goes into the deep region of the unconscious mind.
Psychoanalytical theory was propounded by Sigmund Freud. Freud was originally a medical
man who was engaged in the study and treatment of nervious patients in his own clinic. Out of
his long devotion to medical practice he came to realise that many of the abnormal behaviour
and mental disease of his patients were owing to the nervious abnormalities. Gradually he was
more interested in the study of psychology and more particularly psychology of the
unconscious mind.
The role of id, ego and super ego in formation of personality: One of the valuable concepts
of psychoanalysis is the threefold system in the organisation and building up of a man's
personality. They are id, ego and super ego - constituting the psychic world of man. These may
be known as the New Testament of Freudian scripture. The psycho- social build up of a man's
personality is nothing but the result of these three systems. In the year 1923, Freud proposed to
divide the mental activity into id, ego and super ego instead of unconscious, preconscious and
conscious. In the new theory, it is recognised that the three systems merge into one anotherand
form a co-operative whole, except when there is conflict. Freud conceived the id to be whathe
called the vital layer of the mind. He describes id as chaotic and a cauldron of seething
excitement. It contains everything that is inherited, that is fixed in the constitution and is
completely unconscious. Id is full of excitement and directly associated with somatic or bodily
processes. Cut off from the external world, everything which goes on in the id is unconscious
and remains so, having no correspondence to space or time. In the year 1933, Freud noted that
the id contains sexual and aggressive energies, their discharge taking place with the help of the
ego. The study of the id derivatives indicates that there are many contradictory impulses present
in the id and the ego is required to put them in order. This "kingdom of the illogical" as Freud
(1940) called it, is completely unconscious containing various instinctual impulses. The id is
only interested in the discharge of instinctual tension and is always guided by 'hedonism' or the
pleasure principle. The activity of the id is governed by the so called primary process, in which
there is no recognition of good and bad, or yes or no. The principal feature of the primary
process is a tendency to the complete discharge of mental energies - without delay. The id has
no connection with the external world, but opens towards the ego. It is separated from the ego
by its censor, which controls the flow of id derivatives. In addition to communicating with the
ego, the id also communicates with the super ego. The id supplies both ego and super ego with
the energies with which they operate. Id is inherited and fixed part of the personality which
contains the instinctual, elemental or emotional drives that provide the psychic energy for
human behaviour. These forces are modified and transformed by other parts of the personality
which develop out of the id, notably the ego and super ego. The ego represents the self and is
concerned with external reality and decision making. The ego is in constant contact with time,
space and with physical reality. It has organizational and critical capacity. Its function is to
establish relationship between the individual organism and the outer world. The contact with
reality compels the ego to adopt the reality principle and to abandon the pleasure principle
which dominates the id. The ego is an adjuster between the wishes of the id on the one hand
and the demands of external reality on the other. At the same time, it has to obey the demands
of the super ego. So the ego has to serve three harsh masters at a time. Due to this reason, there
is always conflict among these three systems. The ego cannot fulfil the demands of the id, it
takes help of some indirect method called defence mechanism. Defence mechanisms are the
mode of behaviour to relief the ego from tension. The third system, the super ego may be
defined "as the group of mental functions having to do with ideal aspirations and with moral
commands and prohibitions". The super ego provides moral conscience and ideal model which
the person may seek to emulate. It is primarily sociologically and culturally conditioned and
strives for perfection rather than pleasure.

Folktale and Psychoanalysis: It has been stated earlier that in the study of folktale and other
items of folklore, psychoanalytical theory can play a major role. Folktale is an important genre
of folklore. Tales are told for amusement which reflects the fantasies of a people
metaphorically. The analysis and interpretation of metaphors provide unrivalled insights into
the social problems and behaviour of people everywhere. It is not enough to say that folklore
is a mirror of a culture. We must try to see what it is that folklore reflects. For that we have to
depend on psychoanalytical theory which helps in interpretation of any folklore item.
Interpreting means here finding a hidden sense in something. From Freud's study of dreams,
psychological theories relating to the folktale have received new incentive. Dreams can reflect
the personal mental life and especially the anxieties of an individual. During sleep the defences
of the ego are lowered allowing repressed materials to reach the conscious. For this reason
dreams to some extent, may taken as royal road to the unconscious. The contents of the dream
are usually symbolic and a proper interpretation of the symbols by an expert psychoanalyst
may provide valuable clues to repressed desires and conflicts of the people. The people obtain
fulfilment in imagination of those unconscious wishes which it cannot obtain in reality. Like
dreams, myths and other folklore items also reveal psychic repressions of the community. Due
to this reason, psychoanalysts consider folklore as the projection of human mind. Karl
Abraham, a renowned member of Freudian school opined that the dream is the myth of the
individual. Projection is an act of externalizing the conflicts and other internal conditions that
give rise to pain and anxiety in person. It provides an opportunity to evoke responses from the
unconscious mind which reveal the person's wishes. The repressed hopes and desires of a
society are expressed in various folklore items. Folklore is a medium through which a folk
community reveal their repressed feelings. From that point we can define folklore as a defence
mechanism of the society, through which a society maintain its well being by releasing pent up
tensions. Because we know that repressed desires and hopes are the root of all evils. From the
above discussion it is evident that there is a close relationship between folklore and
psychoanalysis. Earnest Jones (1879 _ 1959) the close friend and biographer of Freud,
delivered a lecture on "psychoanalysis and folklore" addressing the English Folklore Society
at their fiftieth anniversary congress in 1928. Folktale is very popular among the various items
of folklore. Like any other items of folklore, folktale also reflects the unconscious needs and
demands of the members of a society. Folktales are the products of human mind. What
instigates a tale is a wish and the fulfilment of that wish is the content of the tale. Due to this
reason, folktale is the most popular amongst all the narratives. People find pleasure in it since
it satisfies a wish. Generally all tales have a happy ending and the child identifies itself to a
varying extent with the young hero of the story. The child obtains a fulfilment of those
unconscious wishes which it cannot yet obtain in reality. Folktale is a medium through which
people project their emotional life into a safe, externalized, socially sanctioned form. All
folktales reflect the need and hopes of a society symbolically. In order to decipher latent
meanings of folktale, folklorists learned heavily on the theory of psychoanalysis. Various types
of folktales have been interpreted by many scholars following Freudian line. In this regard, two
renowned folklorist of India, J. Handoo and A. K. Ramanujan's name may be mentioned here
who have done analytical works in terms of psychoanalytical interpretation.

For proper understanding of a society, psychoanalytical study of folktale may be considered

essential. Through various characters of the folktale a society reduces its anxiety and tension
resulting from unrealised needs and hopes. Each and every society has their own norms and
values which are necessary for its members to follow. Because of social control the people
cannot fulfil their hopes and desires. The repressed materials find place in the dreams, myths
and other folklore materials. Folktale is a medium through which a folk community reveal their
repressed feelings. From that point of view we can define folktale as a defence mechanism of
the society, through which a society maintain its well being by releasing pent up tensions.
Because we know that repressed desires and hopes are the root of all evils. Folktale reflects the
unconscious needs and demands of the members of a society metaphorically. These are the
products of human mind. What instigates a tale is a wish and fulfilment of that wish is the
content of the tale. And people find pleasure in it since it satisfies a wish. Study of folktale in
the light of psychoanalytical theory proves to be useful in understanding human behaviour and
social problem. At the same time some other psychological or sociological approaches may
also be used in the analysis of folktale.
Psychoanalytic theory, founded by Sigmund Freud during the twentieth century as a means to
evaluate and cure mentally disturbed patients, lurks beneath the surface of traditional Fairy
Tales, barely hidden. When these stories are read in Freudian terms of latent and manifest
content, (as described in ‘The Interpretation of Dreams‘), it’s possible to read familiar
narratives as psychological tales of sexual development, personal growth and female
suppression.

Disturbing Dream Sequences

Psychoanalysis can be applied to literature in the same way it is applied to dreams. Dream-like,
shifting in nature and purpose, Fairy Tales are often an arbitrary collection of images more than
a clear and linear narrative. As in dreams, the content of these images is much more important
that the precise wording of the story.
In the original Sleeping Beauty story, for example, the thirteenth fairy who curses Sleeping
Beauty becomes a threat only because she has been wilfully isolated, a psychoanalytic
mechanism called ‘the return of the repressed.’ This proves true again in the story when the
princess pricks her finger on the first spindle she sees, only because spindles have been banned,
leaving her inexperienced and, so, curious. The virginal Sleeping Beauty is literally ‘pricked’
before slipping into a coma. The metaphorical phallic imagery here – the castle turrets, thorns,
spindles, and repressed desires, are more telling than the tale itself.
Dwarves and The Death Drive

The traditional story of Snow White isn’t a far cry from the Disney interpretation. At the end of
the tale, a Prince purchases Snow White’s body from the seven dwarves, having fallen for the
Princess when he first lays eyes on her – despite the fact that she is, infact, dead. This
marginalised aspect of the Fairy Tale demonstrates necrophilial desire and the theory of the
death drive. Elizabeth Bronfen argues that in ‘Snow White,’ the prince desires the dead princess
because through her corpse, he is able to validate his own life:
‘By embalming a beautiful woman she is idealised in a way that obscures the possibility of
decay and the possibility of the survivor’s death.’
The male identity must define itself through the female. In gazing at Snow White’s corpse, the
Prince’s lifeforce grows stronger. Even more unusual, the Prince actually buys the corpse from
the seven dwarves, encased in its casket. It is pertinent that he wants the body to remain in its
transparent coffin, preserved like a centre-piece or an ornament.
In The Little Mermaid, Arial must lose her voice in order to become human and obtain the man
she desires. To walk on land, the young mermaid has to surrender her speech, her words and
the only thing which the man she is searching for recognises her by – her song. In giving herself
to him, she loses the ability to express her opinions, and simultaneously her identity.

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608 – UNIT III

 SATHYABAMA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course Materials

UNIT III – Oral Folklore

Beliefs, Customs, Festivals, Medicine, etc – Folk Religion – Folklore and electronic
Technology

Folk Beliefs:

One of a variety of compounds extending from the coinage of the term folklore in 1846
(previously popular antiquities), the term folk-belief is first evidenced in use by British
folklorist Laurence Gomme in 1892.

Common parlance employs the word superstition for what folklorists generally refer to as folk
belief. A proponent of this conceptualization includes Alan Dundes, theAmerican
folklorist who proposed that the term as superstition denote traditional expressions that have
conditions and results, signs and causes. There are also those who include in the term's coverage
the belief narratives such as legends, which are differentiated from folktales inthe sense that they
are believable for telling stories about human beings who lived in the recentpast

In folkloristics, folk belief or folk-belief is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in
narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes. It also includes a wide variety of
behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples of concepts included in this genre are
magic, popular belief, folk religion, planting signs, hoodoo, conjuration, charms, root work,
taboos, old wives' tales, omens, portents, the supernatural and folk medicine.

Folk belief and associated behaviors are strongly evidenced among all elements of society,
regardless of education level or income. In turn, folk belief is found in an agricultural,
suburban, and urban environments alike.

People often use "folk belief" to refer to superstitions, old wives' tales, and unorthodox religious
and medical practices. This view of folk belief reinforces a perception of already marginalized
people as more exotic and backward than previously imagined. Folk beliefs are better seen as
providing insights into how people live their lives and what they think of as
important. Understood in this way, folk beliefs and practices provide valuable clues into how
people construct their worlds and bring meaning to their experiences.

The folk beliefs of the Great Plains reflect the many groups contained within its vast
boundaries. Indigenous peoples, European pioneer settlers, and more recent arrivals such as the
Hmong (Laotians) all contribute to the rich cultural heritage of folklife in the Plains. Along
with traditional beliefs and practices, each group creates new forms of folk belief through
exposure to unfamiliar terrain, conditions, and other groups. Folk beliefs thus reflect a dynamic
process of tradition making, with plenty of room for individual variations and stylistic
differences along with crosscultural sharing within the region.

Folk belief takes on a regional flavor through the response of people to their immediate natural
world. For instance, weather signs and omens form a vital part of folk belief within the Plains.
Examples include "Rain follows the plow," "Heavy fur on animals means a severe winter," and
"A tornado never hits the junction of two rivers." Sometimes weather signs are put in the form
of rhymes: "Sunset red and morning gray sends the traveler on his way / Sunset gray and
morning red keeps the traveler to his bed."

The world encountered by early settlers in the Great Plains was filled with wondrous and
formidable creatures, many of which figure prominently in folk belief. One of the more
unpleasant aspects of Plains life was the abundance of snakes. Snakes slithered by the hundreds
in massive dens, crawled easily through the sod walls of Plains homes, and startled unwary
humans and horses alike. A few examples of snake lore include stories about fabled "hoop
snakes" and "joint snakes" and beliefs such as "Black snakes will suck cows."

Because of its deadly bite, rattlesnakes hold a special place in Plains snake lore. Kill a garter
snake, and you'll get rain. But kill a rattler and get a BIG rain. Watch out for its mate, however,
because "everyone knows a rattler's mate will come lookin' for it." A rattler's fangs naturally
have special powers: "Be careful about killing a rattler with a lariat. Its fangs might get caught
in the rope and bite you when you coil it." If this happens, be sure to apply plenty of "fresh,
warm cow dung" to cure it. Ironically, rattlers also serve a medicinal function among Plains
folk. To cure a headache, just place a rattlesnake's rattle in your hatband.

Of course, if that doesn't cure your headache, you might try a red bandana, wearing earrings,
or finding a person born in October to rub your temples. Folk remedies and charms for good
health are abundant throughout the Plains. "Unlucky enough to get a sty? Rub a wedding ring
on your eye." Or say this helpful charm: "Sty, sty, come off my eye, and go to the next
passerby." Of course, if that passerby gives you a black eye, a silver knife is sure to draw the
soreness out! Transference also works well with warts. Should you get warts from playing with
a toad, simply sell them to another person or rub them with a penny and give the penny away.

Many folk beliefs and practices deal with luck. Find a "four-leaf clover" or a "red ear of corn"
for good. Spill salt and throw some over your left shoulder to avoid bad. Bad luck at cards?
"Get up and walk around your chair three times or sit on a handkerchief." Animals bring luck–
crickets and rabbit's feet for good and crows bad. Some animals bring both kinds of luck: "If a
black cat crosses your path, it's bad," but "If a black cat comes to stay at your house, it's good."
Just don't kill it, whatever you do–that's bad. Death, the ultimate bad luck, comes by many
signs: birds flying into the house, dogs howling at night, rain in an open grave, and pictures
falling from the wall.

Folk beliefs and practices reveal the challenges faced daily by Plains folk. They underscore
such things as the importance of good weather for survival, provide ways of dealing with the
unexpected, and help cope with the often-precarious conditions of life in the Great Plains.

Folk Custom:

The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral
communication.

Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people; it

encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral
traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from
traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes
customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk
dances and initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considereda
folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of
these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not
something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead,
these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through
verbal instruction or demonstration.
Folk Festivals:

India is a land of varied culture. Each and every state of India represents a different culture and has
its own identity. Due to this, the festivals also differs from one state to other states. Thus, every
state has its own festival. And the way of celebrating these festivals is also unique.

Being a highly spiritual country, festivals are at the heart of people’s lives in India. The
numerous and varied festivals that are held throughout the year offer a unique way of seeing
Indian culture at its best.

Holi - Holi, often referred to as the "Festival of Colors", is one of the best known festivals
outside of India. The festival is centered around the burning and destruction of the demoness
Holika, which was made possible through unwavering devotion to Lord Vishnu. However, the
really fun part involves people throwing colored powder on each other and squirting each other
with water guns. This is associated with Lord Krishna, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, who
liked to play pranks on the village girls by drenching them in water and colors. Bhang (a paste
made from cannabis plants) is also traditionally consumed during the celebrations. Holi is a
very carefree festival that's great fun to participate in if you don’t mind getting wet and dirty.

Diwali - Diwali honors the victory of good over evil and brightness over darkness. It celebrates
Lord Ram and his wife Sita returning to their kingdom of Ayodhya, following the defeat of
Ravan and rescue of Sita on Dussehra. It's known as the "Festival of Lights" for all the
fireworks, small clay lamps, and candles that are lit. For most Indian families, Diwali is the
most anticipated festival of the year.

Onam - Onam is the biggest festival of the year in the south Indian state of Kerala. This lengthy
harvest festival marks the homecoming of mythical King Mahabali, and it showcases the state's
culture and heritage. People decorate the ground in front of their houses with flowers arranged
in beautiful patterns to welcome the king. The festival is also celebrated with new clothes,
feasts served on banana leaves, dancing, sports, games, and snake boat races.

Folk Medicine:

Traditional medicine as practiced nonprofessionally especially by people isolated from modern

medical services and usually involving the use of plant-derived remedies on an empirical basis.
Folk medicine has existed for as long as human beings have existed. In an effort to cope with
an environment that was often dangerous, humans, and their ancestors, began to develop ways
of lessening pain and treating physical and mental problems. At first, many of the ways of
treating these problems undoubtedly came through trial and error, using various plants and
other methods derived from observation of how animals reacted to and treated illnesses and
injuries. Over time, individuals within family and tribal groups became more skilled at helping
the sick and injured, and some of these became responsible for carrying out healing ceremonies,
religious rituals, and other rites designed to ensure the safety and health of their communities.

CULTURE:

A group of belief systems, norms and values by people.

Acculturation: Cultural modification or change that results when one cultural group adopts
traits of a dominant society, cultural development or change through borrowing.

Assimilation: The minority population reduces or loses completely its identifying cultural
characteristics and blends into the host society.

Two types of culture:

Material culture:

Artifacts:

 The built environment

 A human- made object which gives information about the culture of its creator
(contents of house and shops) and users.
 Physically visible things (musical instruments, furniture, tools, buildings)

Non- material culture:

Mentifacts and sociofacts:

 Oral traditions, folk songs, stories, philosophies

 Include beliefs, practices, aesthetics and values of group of people.

Mentifacts: Ideas and beliefs of a culture. Eg: religion, language or law.

Sociofacts: The social structures of a culture, such as tribes or families.

FOLK CULTURE
Cultural traits such as dress modes, dwellings, traditions and institutions of usually small,
homogeneous, traditional communities.

Local culture:

A group of people in a particular place

 See themselves as a collective or community

 Shares experiences, customs and traits
 In order to claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others

They are sustained through customs

 Simon Harrison - 2 goals

a. keep other cultures out
b. keep their culture in
 Must avoid cultural appropriation (the process by which other cultures adapt
and use them for their own benefits).

Example: Hasidic jews

1. Ethnic neighbourhoods
2. Pious
3. Distinctive clothes
4. Speak Yiddish
5. Do not watch TV but will listen to radio
6. Other urban local culture. Eg: Italian neighbourhoods, China towns, Mexican,
Russian, Polish.

Influence of physical environment on culture:

 Customs are influenced by climate, soil and vegetation.

 Particularly responsive to environment because low level of technology and
agricultural economy.

Two necessities of life:

  Food and shelter
 Shows the influence of cultural values and the environment on the development
of unique folk culture.

Food preferences:

 Derived from the environment

 Adapt food preferences to environmental conditions
 Role of terrior (effects of the environment on a particular food item)

Music:

American folk music began as transplants of old world songs

Northern song:

 Featured unaccompanied solo singing in clear hard tones

 Featured fiddle or fife - and - drum
 Southern, backwoods and appalachian song
 Featured unaccompanied high pitch and nasal solo singing
 Marked by moral and emotional conflict
 Roots of country music

Western song:

 Factual, narrative songs

 Themes of natural beauty, personal valour and feminine purity
 Some songs reworked as lumber jack ballads.

Folk religion:

Folk religion is any ethnic or cultural religious practice that falls outside the doctrine of
organized religion. Grounded on popular beliefs and sometimes called popular or vernacular
religion, the term refers to the way in which people experience and practice religion in their
daily lives.

Key Takeaways
1. Folk religion includes religious practices and beliefs shared by an ethnic or cultural group.
2. Although its practice can be influenced by organized religious doctrines, it does not follow
externally prescribed axioms. Folk religion also lacks the organizational structure of
mainstream religions and its practice is often limited geographically.

3. Folk religion has no sacred text or theological doctrine. It is concerned with the everyday
understanding of spirituality rather than with rites and rituals.

4. Folklore, as opposed to folk religion, is a collection of cultural beliefs passed down through
generations.

5. Folk religion is usually followed by those who do not claim any religious doctrine via
baptism, confession, daily prayer, reverence, or church attendance. Folk religions can absorb
elements of liturgically prescribed religions, as is the case for folk Christianity, folk Islam, and
folk Hindu, but they can also exist entirely independently, like Vietnamese Dao Mau and many
indigenous faiths.

Origins and Key Characteristics:

The term “folk religion” is relatively new, dating back only to 1901, when a Lutheran
theologian and pastor, Paul Drews, penned the German Religiöse Volkskunde, or folk religion.
Drew sought to define the experience of the common “folk” or peasantry in order to educate
pastors about the kinds of Christian faith they would experience when they left the seminary.

The concept of folk religion, however, predates Drew’s definition. During the 18th century,
Christian missionaries encountered people in rural areas engaged in Christianity laced with
superstition, including sermons given by members of the clergy. This discovery sparked
outrage within the clerical community, which was expressed through the written record that
now illustrates the history of folk religion.

This body of literature culminated in the early 20th century, outlining anomalous religious
practices and especially noting the prevalence of folk religion within Catholic communities.
There was a fine line, for example, between the veneration and the worship of saints. The
ethnically Yoruba people, brought to Cuba from West Africa as slaves, shielded traditional
deities, called Orichás, by renaming them as Roman Catholic saints. Over time, the worship of
Orichás and saints combined into the folk religion Santería.

The rise of Pentecostal church during the 20th century intertwined traditional religious
practices, like prayer and church attendance, with religious folk traditions, such as spiritual
healing through prayer. Pentecostalism is now the fastest growing religion in the United States.

Folk religion is the collection of religious practices that fall outside the doctrine of organized
religion, and these practices can be culturally or ethnically based. For example, over 30 percent
of Han Chinese people follow Shenism, or Chinese folk religion. Shenism is most closely
related to Taoism, but it also features blended elements of Confucianism, Chinese mythological
deities, and Buddhist beliefs about karma.

Unlike prescribed liturgical practice, folk religion has no sacred text or theological doctrine. It
is concerned more with the everyday understanding of spirituality than with rites and rituals.
However, determining exactly what constitutes organized religious practice as opposed to folk
religion is difficult, if not impossible. Some, for example, including the Vatican as of 2017,
would claim that the sacred nature of saintly body parts is a result of folk religion, while others
would define it as a closer relationship to God.

Folklore and Electronic Technology:

Folklore, both oral and written, has served a social psychological function throughout much
of man's history, and it clearly continues to predominate today with the number of urban myths
still circulating through the public. Some folklorists have argued that technology tends to
eliminate certain types of folklore, but computers and the Internet in general have also proved
to be a fertile ground for the spread and development of folklore. Computer mediated channels,
such as Web pages and electronic mail have aided in the rapid transmission of specific types
of folklore, especially urban myths (also called urban legends or contemporary legends by some
folklorists) and chain letters. In some cases, the computer and Internet itself have themselves
provided the stuff of which folklore is made.

To begin our exploration of folklore on the Internet, we should first define the specific types
of folklore with which we are dealing. Folklore in a broad, academic sense is a "traditional"
shared story which possesses two qualities: it has been repeated by individuals and has
undergone variations over time (Dundes, Pagter, 1987). Other characteristics such as the
manner of transmission with some scholars leaning towards folklore as a primarily orally
transmitted phenomenon (Dundes, Pagter, 1992) and the changing definition of who exactly
the "folk" are, limit the likelihood of a universally accepted definition of folklore among
academics. For our purposes, folklore will be defined as a shared story which has been repeated
and has undergone variations through its existence. The "folk" who compose and share these
stories will be defined in the same manner Dundes and Pagter identify "folk," that is, "any
group whatsoever that shares at least one common factor" (1992).

There are three generally accepted ways to approach and analyze a piece of folklore among
scholars and teachers, according to Danzer and Newman (1992). The first manner takes a
literary perspective and deals mainly with the content and structure of the story. The second
has an anthropological approach where the socioeconomic, historical, geographical and/or
societal contexts in which the stories lay are taken into consideration. The third approach, the
behavioral or group psychological approach, concentrates on the purpose of the source in
creating or spreading folklore while looking at the group and individual's behavior in relation
to that purpose (Danzer and Newman, 1992).
FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608 – UNIT IV
 SATHYABAMA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course Materials
UNIT IV – Folk forms from the world
Folk Tales – Folk Songs (Translated Texts) – Folk Riddle – Folk Proverbs
Folk Tales

Asia is the world's largest continent. A place with unique cultural heritage, Asia is home to
more than 3.8 billion people, making it the most populous continent on Earth. Eventoday
people around Asia hold festivals celebrating the deeds of heroes and animals from ancient
folklore.
The collection of folktales from Asia consists of fourteen books with 353 stories: 55 Arabic
folktales, 104 Chinese folktales, 69 Indian folktales, 69 Japanese folktales and 61 Filipino
folktales.
The folklores and folktales have been an eternal part of every culture since ages. When it comes
to Indian folk tales, the country of diverse religions, languages and cultures has a complete
range of tales and short stories. Indian folklore has a wide range of stories and mythological
legends, which emerge from all walks of life. The interesting stories range fromthe remarkable
‘Panchatantra’ to ‘Hitopadesha’, from ‘Jataka’ to ‘Akbar-Birbal’.
Not only this, the great Indian epics like ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Bhagvad Gita’ are
full of didactic stories inspired from the lives of great souls. Being full of moralistic values,
Indian folklore makes perfect stories for children, who are required to be, instilled with right
values. All these ancient stories have been passed from generation to generation, creating
bondage of traditional values with present- day generation.
Hitopadesha Tales

The Hitopadesha is a remarkable compilation of short stories. Composed by Narayana Pandit,

Hitopadesha had its origin around a thousand years ago. In Indian Literature, the Hitopadeshais
regarded more or less similar to the Panchatantra. In the vein of Panchatantra, the Hitopadesa
was also written in Sanskrit and following the pattern of prose and verse. Hitopadesh tales are
written in reader-friendly way, which also contributed to the success of this best seller after
‘Bhagwad Gita’ in India. Since its origin, Hitopadesa has been translated into numerous
languages to benefit the readers all over the world.
Jataka Tales

In 300 B.C, the Jataka Tales were written for the mankind to gain knowledge and
morality. Eversince, Jataka tales have become storybooksthat are both enjoyable aswellas
knowledgeable. Originally written in Pali language, Jataka Buddhist tales have been
translated in different languages around the world. The luminous fables of ‘Jataka’ are
intended to impart values of self-sacrifice, morality, honesty and other informative values
topeople.
Panchatantra Tales

The Panchatantra is a legendary collection of short stories from India. Originally composed in
the 2nd century B.C, Panchatantra is believed to be written by Vishnu Sharma along withmany
other scholars. The purpose behind the composition was to implant moral values and governing
skills in the young sons of the king. The ancient Sanskrit text boasts of various animal stories
in verse and prose. During all these centuries, many authors and publishers worked hard to
make these fables accessible and readable by a layman. The grand assortmenthas extraordinary
tales that are liked, perhaps even loved by people of every age group.
FAMOUS FOLK TALES OF INDIA

Baital Pachisi

Baital Pachisi is believed to be one of the oldest vampire stories from India. King Vikram
once promised a tantric sorcerer that he’d capture a baital (a spirit with vampire like
qualities) and bring it to him. But every time Vikram caught the baital, the spirit would
escape by posing a riddle. The deal between the two was that if at the end of every puzzle,
Vikram was unable to answer the question correctly, the spirit would willingly be taken
prisoner. If Vikram knew the answer but still stayed silent, his head would explode into a
thousand pieces, and if the king answered correctly, the baital was free to get away.
This cycle continued 24 times as Vikram, being a wise man, could solve every riddle, which
mostly concerned philosophical questions about life. Finally, Vikram was unable to answer
the 25th question and the baital kept his promise of being taken captive.
On the way to the tantric’s, the spirit revealed that he was actually a prince. He also said thatit
was the sorcerer’s plan all along to sacrifice the baital’s soul so that he could attain immortality,
and that Vikram too would be killed in the process. The spirit advised the king on how to outwit
the tantric and save both their lives. After Vikram assassinated the evil sorcerer, the baital
cleansed him of all his sins, and he also vowed to come to his aid wheneverneeded.
 The Wedding of the Mouse
Once a sage was bathing in a river when a hawk dropped a mouse it was holding in its claws
right onto his hands. Afraid that the hawk would pounce on the mouse if he left it alone, the sage
transformed the small animal into a beautiful baby girl and took her home to his wife. Since the
couple did not have a child of their own, they adopted the baby, thinking her to be a blessing
from god.When the girl reached a marriageable age, the sage and his wife decided to find the
best husband for their daughter. So the proud father took his daughter to the Sun God.However,
the girl refused to marry him. Similarly, the sage met with the King of Cloud, the Lord of Winds
and the Lord of Mountains. But the daughter dismissed all of them, despite theirmighty powers.
Finally the Lord of Mountains suggested that the King of Mice was far superiorto him, since the
latter could bore hills all over him. When the sage’s daughter met the King of Mice, she
immediately agreed to the union. Then the father transformed his daughter back to a female
mouse and the happy couple got married.This story is from Panchatantra, collection of fables
from ancient India written in Sanskrit. The moral of the story is that our innate nature can never
change, despite external appearances.
Sulasa and Sattuka
Thestory of Sulasaand Sattukais fromthe famous Jatakatales, alengthywork of literature that
talks about Gautama Buddha’s previous births.
Once there lived a beautiful prostitute named Sulasa. One day, she saw a group of soldiers
dragging a man towards the place of execution, and instantly fell in love with him. That man
was the feared robber Sattuka. Sulasa hurriedly sent a thousand gold pieces to the chief
constable in exchange for Sattuka’s freedom. She then married him and promised to give up
her old life. After a blissful few months of marriage, Sattuka realised that he wasn’t the typeto
be tied down to a single place or person.
He decided to kill his wife, steal all her ornaments and flee town.

The next day he lied to Sulasa, saying that he had promised a deity on top of a mountain that
he’d make offerings if he managed to escape execution. He then made Sulasa put on all her
ornaments out of respect to the deity, and took her to the mountain top. When they reached the
summit, he revealed his evil plan. Salusa was shocked but she was quick to think on her feet as
well. She told Sattuka that she wanted to pay obeisance to her husband from all four sides for
the very last time.
She knelt in front of him, then on the left and right sides, but when she stepped behind him
she took hold of Sattuka and threw him over a cliff. Seeing this, the deity who lived on the
mountain said:
‘Wisdom at times is not confined to men / A woman can chew wisdom now and then.

/Wisdomattimesisnotconfinedtomen/Womenarequickincounselnowand then.’
Between Two Wives
A middle-aged man had two wives, one about the same age as him and the other much younger.
Since the wives quarreled a lot, the man built two houses for each of them in different parts of
town. They came to a mutual agreement that the man would stay with each of them on alternate
days. Whenever he stayed with the younger wife, she plucked out his grey hair, as she wanted
her husband to look younger. When he stayed with his first wife, she plucked out all his dark
hair, as she didn’t want him to look any younger than herself. As a result, the poor man ended
up without a single hair on his head.
The Mongoose and the Farmer’s Wife
One day a farmer and his wife were blessed with a son. They decided to get a mongoose asa
companion for him. A few months later, the couple had to go out, leavingtheir son at home.
While the wife was worried about leaving the baby alone, the farmer assured her that the
mongoose would look after him while they were away.The farmer’s wife returned earlier
than her husband and found that the mongoose’s mouth was stained with blood. She
immediately accused the animal of killing her child, and in a fit of rage threw a heavy box at
the mongoose. She then rushed in to check on her son, but what she found was a dead snake
lyinginthe roomwhileherbabywassafeandsound. Seeingthis, thefarmer’swiferealisedthat
themongoosehadactuallysavedherson’slife. Realisinghermistake, shewentout to see if the
animal was all right, but it was too late and the mongoose had breathed its last. She was
absolutely heartbroken and reproached herself for her actions.

This is another Panchatantra tale, and the story is often told to children to teach them howacting
in haste can have dire consequences.
https://fairytalez.com/region/indian/

FOLK SONGS

Bihugeet – Assam
They have the sweetest melodies and heart touching lyrics of the daily life. They songs talk
about life in the farmland, the picturesque rural Assam, their dreams, aspirations and of course,
love. Bihugeet is generally associated with the Bihu dance, performed by group of young girls
and boys, dressed in their traditional attire, holding each other and swaying in unison. Bihu beats
are generally very groovy but in a very tranquil, unwinding manner. Makes you move your body
even before you know it.
Lavani – Maharashtra

The folk music from the western parts of the country essentially dance music played general to
the foot tapping beats of the dholki. The songs are generally sung by women, and although
the style is folk, there are a lot of classical elements which makes it all the more interesting.
Lavani songs are often used in theatrical performances with erotic or socio- politically
chargedlyrics. Overtheyears, themusichasalsohaditsinfluenceover Indian pop music.
Baul – Bengal

Baul is a word that is derived from the Sanskrit word, Batul that means divine inspired
insanity. The lyrics are mostly full of philosophical metaphors while the melodiesresonate
through the open fields of rural Bengal, ebbing into the horizon. With instruments such as
Khamak, Ektara and Dotara, the Bauls, inspired by Hinduism as well as Sufism, sing their
songs as they travel for a philosophical enlightenment.
Naatupura Paatu – Tamil Nadu

A very interesting style of folk music, originating in Tamil Nadu, Naatapura Paatu is also
played in parts of Rajasthan. The music consists of Gamathisai, which is the folk music of
the village and Gana, the city folk music.
The songs are generally accompanied by traditional drums and Shehnai and they’re often
accompanied by traditional dance performance.
Various traditional folk of Punjab

The most popular folk music of India that has taken Bollywood by storm, and has evenmadeit
international. As you look past the commercial aspects, Punjabi is one of the most lively
styles with effervescent, contagious energy that travels fast and blind but there’s a lot moreto
it than just Bhangra.
Folk romances of Punjab simply stirs your heart, especially the ones with the
narrative of Jugni, theinnocentfemalebutterflywhoobservesvariousaspectsoflife. Zeliang –
Nagaland
An in incredible primitive style of music, that talks about the history of Nagaland as well as
romanceinthelives of Zeliangtribe, themusichas aprimalessencethatyou instinctively relate to.
Their lyrics range from, romance, stories of their ancestors to songs of harvest. The music is
generally performed in groups and dance and dialogues in between.
Koli – Maharahtra

This is the song of the fishermen. The songs talk about their life at sea, fishing. Koli music is
dance based and hence, the music is essentially associated with their distinctive dance form.
They’re mostly loud, lively and fast paced.
As the music is generally accompanied by dance, the moves often include the sway of hands as
if rowing with an oar, signifying their life as fishermen.
Bhatiali – Bengal

As Koli is for the fishermen of Maharashtra, Bhatiali is for the boatmen of Bengal.
However, the lyrics and style of music is different and so is the philosophy. The subject
matter of the music deals with Prakti-tatva or the matters of nature and the music is often
restrained with flowing melodies.
The songs often leave you melancholic as they describe deep realizations of life by the
boatmen during their lonely journeys, away from home.
Maand – Rajasthan

Although a traditional folk singing style in Rajasthan, Maand is also recognized in the classical
cycle. Quite interestingly, the soulful music with its expressive scales of the Sarangee, and the
lyrics talking about the life in Rajasthan in their very own nuances, is neither regarded fully
classical norfolk.
However, the music is a blessing for any lover of art and is one of the most enriched folk styles
of the country.
Kajari – Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

Another style of folk music with classical influences, Kajari is believed to have originated in
Mirzapur. The music is known to be moony, melancholic, sung by women during long, lonely
days of monsoon when their husbands have been away for too long.Legend has it that young
woman, Kajal, missed her husband so much during the monsoons that she cried at thefeet of
God and her cries, eventually formed into Kajari.
Dulpod Goa

Among various folk genres of Goa, Dulpod is probably the genre that expresses the true
Goanese essence. The music carries the perfect sense of congruence between Indian and
western culture and it is rhythmic, mostly anonymous and talks about the day to day lives of
the Goanese people.
Generally, the Dulpodsongsarecomposed on asix by eightcount of thebeatwhich makes the
cadence refreshinglyuplifting.

Introduction to Proverb, Riddle and Charm:

Three of the shorter forms of folk literature—proverbs, riddles, and charms—are not confined
to oral expression but have appeared in written literature for a very long time. The proverb that
expresses in terse form a statement embodying observations about the nature of life or about
wise or unwise conduct may be so much an oral tradition as to serve in some preliterate societies
as a sanction for decisions and may even be employed as lawyers employ court precedents. In
literature it dominates certain books of the Old Testament and is found even earlier in Sumerian
writings. There has been a continual give and take between oral and writtenproverbs so that the
history of each item demands a special investigation.
While the proverb makes a clear and distinct statement, the purpose of the riddle is usually to
deceive the listener about its meaning. A description is given and then the answer is demanded
as to what has been meant. Among examples in literature are the riddle of the sphinx in
Sophocles and the Anglo-Saxon riddles, based on earlier Latin forms. In oral literature the
riddle may be part of a contest of wits. But even if the answer is known, the listeners enjoy
hearing them over and over. In Western culture the riddle is especially cultivated by children.
Charms, whether for producing magic effects or for divining the future, also exist in folk
literature as well as in the well-known Anglo-Saxon written form. The study of these extends
over all parts of the world and back to the earliest records.

Riddle:
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as
a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally
expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking
for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in
either the question or the answer.
Folk Riddles:

Every culture and group of people have their own folklore. Folklore is stories that are passed
on from generation to generation through spoken language. For this reason folklore is the oldest
form of history we have. It was also very useful before the invention of written language,
allowing parents and grandparents to pass their knowledge on to their children in a memorable
way. One common feature in folklore that exists in almost every society is the presence of
riddles; many popular folktales contain riddles that are important to the story, and in turn,
important to the societies that told them.

Folklore uses riddles for a variety of reasons such as helping characters learn a lesson and for
purely entertainment value. One great example of folk tales using riddles comes from the story
entitle "The Riddle", tale number 22 of the Brothers Grimm collection. This is the story of a
prince who goes on a journey with his servant and ends
up at a witch's house.

While there, his horse is accidentally poisoned. His horse

in turn poisons the bird who eats it. The prince plans to
later eat the bird but it ends up getting eaten by thieves
who would have otherwise robbed them. Finally he
arrives at a princess who he tells he will marry as long as
she can answer his riddle:

What slew none, and yet slew twelve?

Of course the princess can't answer this so she sends her

maid to spy on the prince in his sleep two nights in a row. But both times it is his servant as a
decoy who rips her robes off. The third night the princess comes herself and the prince is in his
bed. He reveals to her the answer but he also takes her robe. The next day she knows the riddle,
but she has cheated so she must marry him. In this particular folklore, riddles are used to
promote the moral of the story: You must account for your wrongdoings.

Another great example of folklore and riddles comes from the bible. In the bible the Queen of
Sheba visits King Solomon and wants to test his wisdom, so she asks him some 'hard questions.'
There is some legend and folklore that describes what she asks him:
Whenever there is a strong gale, this thing is always at the forefront. It makes a great and bitter
shout, and bows down its head as a bulrush. It is a thing lauded by the rich and wealthy, yet
deplored by the poor; a thing of praise to the dead, yet strongly detested by the living. It is the
happiness of birds, yet the grief of all fishes. What is it?

The king answers correctly with "Flax linen!" In this folklore riddles are used to prove one's
intelligence, namely, King Solomon.

The number of riddles that can be found in folklore is numerous, riddles themselves are even
considered riddles by themselves. They are a great way to create metaphors, convey a message,
and prove intelligence.

Folk Proverb:

Proverb, succinct and pithy saying in general use, expressing commonly held ideas and beliefs.
Proverbs are part of every spoken language and are related to such other forms of folkliterature
as riddles and fables that have originated in oral tradition. Comparisons of proverbs found in
various parts of the world show that the same kernel of wisdom may be gleaned underdifferent
cultural conditions and languages. The biblical proverb “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,”
for example, has an equivalent among the Nandi of East Africa: “A goat’s hide buys a goat’s
hide, and a gourd, a gourd.” Both form part of codes of behaviour and exemplifythe proverb’s
use for the transmission of tribal wisdom and rules of conduct. Often, the same proverb may be
found in many variants. In Europe this may result from the international currency of Latin
proverbs in the Middle Ages. The proverb known in English as “A bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush” originated in medieval Latin, and variants of it are found inRomanian, Italian,
Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Icelandic. Many biblical proverbs have parallels in ancient
Greece. “A soft answer turneth away wrath” was known to Aeschylus as well as to Solomon,
and “Physician, heal thyself” (Luke 4:23) was also known to the Greeks.

Certain stylistic similarities have been found in proverbs from the same part of the world.
Middle Eastern proverbs, for instance, make frequent use of hyperbole and colourful pictorial
forms of expression. Typical is the proverbial Egyptian description of a lucky man: “Fling him
in the Nile and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.” Classical Latin proverbs are typically
pithy and terse (e.g., Praemonitus, praemunitis; “forewarned is forearmed”). Many languages
use rhyme, alliteration, and wordplay in their proverbs, as in the Scots “Many a mickle makes
a muckle” (“Many small things make one big thing”). Folk proverbs are commonly illustrated
with homely imagery—household objects, farm animals and pets, and the events of daily life.
Proverbs come from many sources, most of them anonymous and all of them difficult to trace.
Their first appearance in literary form is often an adaptation of an oral saying. Abraham Lincoln
is said to have invented the saying about not swapping horses in the middle of the river,but he
may only have used a proverb already current. Popular usage sometimes creates new proverbs
from old ones; e.g., the biblical proverb, “The love of money is the root of all evil” has become
“Money is the root of all evil.” Many still-current proverbs refer to obsolete customs. The
common “If the cap fits, wear it,” for instance, refers to the medieval fool’s cap. Proverbs
sometimes embody superstitions (“Marry in May, repent alway”), weather lore (“Rain before
seven, fine before eleven”), or medical advice (“Early to bed, early to rise,/ Makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and wise”).

Most literate societies have valued their proverbs and collected them for posterity. There are
ancient Egyptian collections dating from as early as 2500 BC. Sumerian inscriptions give
grammatical rules in proverbial form. Proverbs were used in ancient China for
ethical instruction, and the Vedic writings of India used them to expound philosophical ideas.
The biblical book of Proverbs, traditionally associated with Solomon, actually includes sayings
from earlier compilations.

One of the earliest English proverb collections is the so-called Proverbs of Alfred (c. 1150–
80), containing religious and moral precepts. The use of proverbs in monasteries to teach
novices Latin, in schools of rhetoric, and in sermons, homilies, and didactic works made them
widely known and led to their preservation in manuscripts.

The use of proverbs in literature and oratory was at its height in England in the 16th and 17th
centuries. John Heywood wrote a dialogue in proverbs (1546; later enlarged) and Michael
Drayton a sonnet; and in the 16th century a speech in proverbs was made in the House of
Commons.

In North America the best-known use of proverbs is probably in Poor Richard’s, an almanac
published annually between 1732 and 1757 by Benjamin Franklin. Many of Poor Richard’s
sayings were traditional European proverbs reworked by Franklin and given an American
context when appropriate. The study of folklore in the 20th century brought renewed interest in
the proverb as a reflectionof folk culture.
FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608 – UNIT V
 SATHYABAMA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

FOLK LITERATURE – SHS1608

Course Materials

UNIT - 5 Current Trends in Folk Literature

Post Colonialism and Post Modernism Concepts - Feminism Gender Concepts - Gender
and Society

CURRENT TRENDS IN FOLK LITERATURE

Folk literature is a part and parcel of the language and culture of any society. Folk
literature, also called folklore or oral tradition, is the lore (traditional knowledge and
beliefs) of cultures having no written language. It is transmitted by word ofmollth and
consists, as does written literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs,
myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and the like. Nearly all known peoples, now or
in the past, have produced it.

Folk literature is studied for its intrinsic merit and for enjoyment, more as an independent
literary genre, but using these materials as an integral part of our educational and
socialization process is conspicuous by its absence. The stories that are included in
elementary school textbooks years ago continue to be repeated, even with newer
discoveries of folklore materials. These may be used to imbibe values, style of language,
and many other important lemming items in the minds of learners. India is a country with
a tremendous cultural diversity. Each culture has its own knowledge system. Since
Independence, collection, preservation, analysis, and study of folk literature have received
a lot of attention in all the major languages of India.

However, use of materials from folk literature for purposes of instruction at various levels
of education is rather minimal. The three models of education, non-formal, formal, and
informal that go from teaching literacy to literature and other subjects, can make use of
folk literature as a powerful educational tool. This paper focuses on the system of
knowledge construction embedded into its socio-cultural context. Here is an attempt to
recognize the pedagogical potential folk literature offers for creative language curriculum,
rhetoric, history, socialization, civics, and related subjects. As per the Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Of the origins of folk literature, as of the origins of human language, there is
no way of knowing. None of the literature available today is primitive in any sense, and
only the present-day results can be observed of practices extending over many thousands
of years. Speculations therefore can only concern such human needs as may give rise to
oral literature, not to its ultimate origin." Need and Relevance.

Folk literature includes all the myths, legends, epics, fables, and folktales passed down by
word of mouth through the generations. The authors of traditional literature are usually
unknown or unidentifiable. . These stories have endured because they are entertaining,
they embody the culture's belief system, and they contain fundamental human truths by
which people have lived for centuries. Knowing the characters and situations of folk
literature is part of being culturally literate. . Folk literature, regardless of its place of
origin, seems clearly to have arisen to meet a variety of human needs: 1. The need to
explain the mysteries of the natural world 2. The need to articulate oul fears and dreams
3. The need to impose order on the apparent random, even chaotic, nature of life.

4.The need to entertain ourselves and each other . Their brevity, action, easily
understandable characters, recurring features, fantastic elements, and happy endings
particularly appeal to children between the ages of three and eight. Folk literature can help
children begin to develop a sense of morality. It helps children to sort out good and evil
in the world arid to identify with the good. The beginnings of written literature in Sumer
and Egypt 5,000 or 6,000 years ago took. place in a world that knew only folk literature.
During the millennia, written literature has been surrounded and sometimes all but
overwhelmed by the humbler activity of the unlettered. All societies have produced some
men and women of great natural endowmentsshamans, priests, rulers, and warriors--and
from then1 bave come the greatest stinlulus toward producing and listening to myths,
tales. and songs. To these the common man has listened to'such effect that sometimes he
himself has become a bard. Not everywhere has the oral literature impinged so directly on
the written as in the works of Hdmer, which almost presents a transition from the
prelitet'ate to the literate world. But many folktales have found their place in literature.
The medieval romances, especially the Breton lays, drew freely on these folk sources,
sometimes directly.

As the Middle Ages lead into the Renaissance, the influence of folk literature on the work
of writers increases in importance, so that it is sometimes difficult to draw a sharp line of
distinction between them. In literary forms such as the fabliau, many anecdotes may have
come ultimately from tales current among unlettered storytellers, but these have usually
been reworked by writers, some of them belonging in the main stream of literature, like
Boccaccio or Chaucer. Only later, in the 16th and 1 7th centuries, in such works as those
of Gianfrancesco - Straparola and Giambattista - Basile, did writers go directly to folk
literature itself for much of their material. Indian Context: India occupies a specific place
in the history of World Folk lore. 'The rharvelous tales from the Indian sub-cuntinent have
contributed in shaping the theoretical growth of folkloristic itself. For example, Max
Muller's works on Indian Myths and

Theodore Re~lfL's translation of the world famous 'Pnchtantra' gave rise to the theory of
Indian origin of the fairy tale. 'The vast narrative material existing it$ the sub continent
has the unique fortune of possessing the oldest narrative traditions in the world. Besides
the 'Rigveda', the Rarnayana, the Mahabharat, the Puranas and the Upnishads, have all
claims on being called an encyclopedia of Indian religion and mythology. Narayan
pandit'd ' I-Iitopadesha', Gunadhya's 'Brihatkatha', Somdeva's 'Kathasaritsagar', Sihdasa's
'Vetal Pnchavimashti', and other works such as 'Sukhasaptadi', 'Jatakas' are the best
examples. Historical Perspectives: From the linguistic point of view, the Indian
subcontinent has a very rich cultural diversity. All the four major languages (Indo-
European, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and AustroAsiatic) are spoken here.

This linguistic diversity is reflected in cultural diversity of equal magnitude. Alexander's

(327 B.C.) invasion resulted in the establishment of the first Indian Empire under great
kings like Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka. In medieval Indian literature the earliest
works in many of the languages were sectarian, designed to advance or to celebrate some
unorthodox regional belief. Examples are the Caryapadas in Bengali, Tantric verses of the
12th century, and theLilacaritra (circa 1280), in Marathi. li~ Kannada (Kanarese) from the
10th century, and later in Gujarati from the 13th century, the first truly indigenous works
are Jain romances; ostensibly the lives of Jain saints, these are actually popular tales based
on Sanskrit and Pali themes. Another example is from Rajasthan, which addresses the
bardic tales of chivalry and heroic resistance to the first Muslim invasions - such as the
12th-century epic poem Prithiraja-raso by Chand Bardai of Lahore. Most important of all,
for later Indian literature, were the first traces in the vernacular languages of the northern
Indian cults of Krishna and of Knma. Included are the 12th-century poems by Jaydev,
called the Gitugovinda (The Cowherd's Song); and about 1400, a group of religious love
poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar) by the poet Vidyapati were a seminal
influence on the cult of Radha-Krishna in Bengal. The Bhakti Tradition The full flowering
of the Radha-Krishna cult, under the Hindu mystics Chaitanya in Bengal and
Vallabhacharya at Mathura, involved bhakti (a personal devotion to a god).

The earlier traces of this attitude are found in the work of the Tamil Alvars (mystics who
wrote ecstatic hymns to Vishnu between the 7th and 10th centuries). At a later surge of
bhakti flooded every channel of Indian intellectual and religious life. Bhakti was also
addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in the Avadhi (eastern Hindi)
works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the Acts of Rarna, 1574-77; trans. 1952)
has become the adthoritative. The early gurus or founders of the Sikh religion, especially
Nanak and Arjun, composed bhakti hymns to their concepts of deity. These are the first
written doouments in Punjabi (Panjabi) and form part of the Adi Granth (First, or Original,
Book), the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, which was first compiled by Arjun in 1604. In
the 16th century, the Rajaasthani princess and poet Mira Bai addressed her bhakti lyric
verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati poet Narsimh Mehta. Heroes, Villains and in between:
Indian folk heroes in Sanskrit epics and history and also in freedom movement are well
known to every one. They have found a place in written literature. But in Indian cultural
sub-system, Indian folk heroes are most popular. The castes and tribes of India have
maintained their diversities of culture through their language and religion and customs.
So, in addition to national heroes, regional heroes and local folk and tribal heroes are alive
in the collective memory of the people. If, for example we consider the Santals or the
Gonds, we find that the Santals have their culture hero "Beer kherwal" and "Bidu
Chandan", Gonds have their folk hero "Chital Singh Chatri". Banjara folk hero is "Lakha
Banjara" or "Raja Isalu". But not only heroes, the heroines of Indian folklore have also
significant contribution in shaping the culture of India. Banjara epics are heroine-centric.
These epics reflect the "sati" cult. Oral epics with heroic actions of heroes and heroines
produce a "counter texts" as opposed to the written texts.

The younger brother killing his elder brother and becoming a hero is part of an in an oral
epic, which is forbidden in classical epics. Folk heroes are some times deified and are
worshipped in the village. There is a thin line of difference between a mythic hero and
romantic hero in Indian folklore. In Kalahandi, oral epics are available among the ethnic
singers performed in ritual context and social context. Dr Mahendra Mishra, a folklorist
has conducted research on oral epics in kalahandi taking seven ethnic groups. Dr.
Chitrasen Pasayat has made an extensive study of different folk and tribal forms of Yatra
like Dhanu yatra, Kandhen-budhi yatra, Chudakhai yatra, Sulia yatra, Patkhanda yatra,
Budha-dangar yatra, Khandabasa yatra, Chhatar yatra, Sital-sasthi yatra and examined the
'hero characters' of the local deities. Indian oral epics are found wherever there are caste
based culture. Prof. Lauri Honko from Turku, Finland with Prof. Vivek Rai and Dr K
Chinnapa Gawda have conducted extensive field work and research on Siri Epic and have
come out with three volumes on Siri Epic. Similarly Prof. Peter J Claus has done intensive
work on Tulu epics. Aditya Mallick on Devnarayan Epic, Pulikondq Subbachary on
jambupurana, Dr JD Smith on Pabuji epic are some of the commendable work that have
been drawn attention of the wider readership.. The scientific study of Indian folklore was
slow to begin: early collectors felt far freer tdcreatively re-interpret source material, and
collected their material with a view to the picturesque rather than the representative.

A. K. Ramanujan's theoretical and aesthetic contributions span several disciplinary areas.

Context-sensitivity is a theme that appears not only in Ramanujan's cultural essays, but
also appears in his writing about Indian folklore and classic poetry. In "Where Mirrors are
Windows," (1989) and in "Three Hundred Ramayanas" (1991), for example, he discusses
the "intertextual" nature of Indian literature, written and oral ... He says, "What is merely
suggested in one poem may become central in a 'repetition' or an 'imitation' of it. His essay
"Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections" (1989), and his
commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology
(1 967) and Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages (1 99 1) are
good examples of his work in Indian folklore studies. Rudyard Kipling was interested in
folklore, dealing with English folklore in works such as Puck of Pookk Hill and Rewards
and Fairies. His experiences in India led him to also create similar works with Indian
themes. Kipling spent a great deal of his life in India, and was familiar with the Hindi
language. His works such as the two JungZe Boob contain a great deal of stories that are
written after the manner of traditional folktales. Indian themes also appear in his Just So
Stories, and many of the characters bear recognisable names from Indian languages.
During the same period, Helen Bannerman penned the now notorious Indianthemed tale
ofLittle Black Sarnbo, which represented itself to be an Indian folktale. Post
Independence, disciplines and methods fiom anthropology began to be used in the creation
of more in- depth surveys of Indian folklore. Folklorists of India can be broadly divided
into three phases. Phase I were the British Administrators who collected the local
knowledge and folklore to understand the subjects they want to rule. Next (phase II),were
the missionaries who wanted to acquire the language of the people to recreate their
religious literature for evangelical purposes. The third phase was the post independent
period in the country where many universities, institutes and individuals started studying
folklore. Tho purpose was to search for a national identity through legends, myths, and
epics. In course of time; academic institutions and universities ih the country started
opening departments on folklore in their respective regions, more in south India to
maintain their cultural identity and also maintain language and culture. Scholars like Dr
Satyendra, Devendra Satyarthi, Krishnadev Upadhayaya, Jhaberchand Meghani, Prafilla
Dutta Goswami, Ashutosh Bhattacharya, Kunj a Bihari Dash, Chitrasen Pasayat, Sornnath
Dhar, Ramgarib Choube, Jagadish Chandra Trigunayan and many more were the pioneer
in working on folklore. Of course, the trend was more literary than analytical. It was
during 1980s that the central Institute of Indian Languages and the American Institute of
Indian Studies started their systemic study on Folklore any after that many western as well
as eastern scholars pursued their studies on folklore as a discipline.

The pioneer of the folklorists in contemporary Jndia are Jawaharlal Handoo, Chitr~sen
Pasay at, Sadhana Naithani,Ki shore Bhattacharj ee, Anjali Padhi, Kailash Patnaik, VA
Vivek Rai,lnte Komal Kothari, Raghavan Payanad, M Ramakrishnan, Nandini Sahu and
many more. A trend has emerged of new folklorists, who are committed to understand
folklore fiom an Indian point of view than to see the whole subjects from the western
model. Some of them prefer to understand folklore from the folklore provider and
consultants who are the creator and consumers of folklore. User of folklore, know what
folklore is, since their use folklore with purpose and meaning. But theoreticians see
folklore from their theoretical angle. From an ethical point of view, folklorist should learn
fiom the folk to be as practicable as possible and folk should give the hidden meaning of
folklore to the folklorists, so that both of their interpretations can help give a new meaning
to folklore and explore the possibility of use of folklore in new socio-cultural domain.
National Folklore Support Center, Chennai (since the last decade) has created a space for
the new scholars who are pursuing the study of folklore.. One important breakthrough in
the field of folklore is that it is no more confined to the study in the four wall of academic
domain; rather, it has again found its space within and among the folk to get their true
meaning.
POST COLONIALISM AND POST MODERNISM CONCEPTS

As Britain's dominion began to wane, the exploited colonies began to map out a new
identity for their own political futures and slowly began to seek their own voices. Two
such postcolonial voices appdear in Caryl Phillips's Crossing the River, and Michael
Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion.

Even though Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean, his parents soon
after transported him to England at the age of 3 months. Ondaatje, on the other hand, who
was born in Sri Lanka, at the age of nine moved to Britain, where, like Phillips, he received
his education. Today, both enjoy a reputation as postcolonial writers. Phillip's novel delves
into postcolonial themes, as does Ondaatje's. However, unlike earlier postcolonial writers,
both Ondaatje and Caryl Phillips employ postmopdernist ideas. So, in this essay, I
examine these two postcolonial novels with respect to their own postcolonial dilemmas,
simultaneously exploring to what extent the two novels reflect the theories of
postmodernism used in the cause of the postcolonialism.

First, why would a postcolonial novel reflect the ideas of postmodernism? Perhaps
because the two different movements are not so different in their aims. Roger Berger also
notices that a relationship exists between the two when he says:

Postmodernism is simultaneously (or variously) a textual practice (often oppositional,

sometimes not), a subcultural style or fashion, a definition of western, postindustrial
cultureŠand the emergent or always already dominant global culture. At the same time,
postcolonialism is simultaneously (or variously) a geographical site, an existential
condition, a political reality, a textual practice, and the emergent or dominant global
culture (or counter-culture).

In this passage, Berger mentions that postmodernism and postcolonialism converge in

some respective purposes. First, both are a "textual practice." Second, the two movements
examine an "emergent or dominant global culture." However, they do differ in that
postcolonial novels usually have a geographical nature to them, while expressing an
existential condition. Also, both explore the idea of authority or as Berger says, a
"dominant global culture," and perhaps this is why there is yet no definite "boundary"
drawn between the two movements. However, Richards does attempt to draw a clearer
line between the two with respect to the idea of authority. He says that postcolonial writers
attempt to "unmask European authority" while postmodernists attempt to unmask
authority in general. So it seems that both movements investigate the ideas of "control" in
different settings.

One theory of postmodernism stipulates that language is one vehicle by which authority
obtains control. And since postcolonial novels explore the implications of European
authority on "postcolonials," wasn"t it inevitable that postcolonial writers would have
been faced with the problem of how language can be manipulated for the purpose of
European control. Tiffin recognizes that colonizers use language to control the colonized.
She says that the "dialectic of self and other, indigene and exile, language and place, slave
and free, which is the matrix of post-European literatureŠis also an essential part of an
inherited understanding of the way in which language and power operate in the world"
(171). Perhaps Tiffin's idea that "language and power operate in the world" together also
implies that "power" remains in power by its ability to control public and private language.
If so, then an attempt for linguistic control might explain why one postcolonial writer,
Salman Rushdie, would write to "conquer English may be to complete the process of
making ourselves free" (17).
It is to no surprise that postcolonial writers would use language to deconstruct European
identity. This is in fact one method chosen by postcolonial writers to reestablish their own
unique identity. Tiffin has also noted that postcolonial writers attempt to deconstruct
European identity:

The dis/mantling, de/mystification and unmasking of European authority that has been an
essential political and cultural strategy towards decolonisation and the retrieval of creation
of an independent identity from the beginning persists as a prime impuse [sic] in all
postcolonial literatures. [171]

Tiffin also argues that one struggle the postcolonial writers face in particular is the struggle
over the "word." This not only includes non-fiction, but all written language. Her reason
is as follows: "the history of postcolonial territories, was, until recently, largely a narrative
constructed by the colonizers, its functions, and language(s) in which they are written,
operate as a means to cultural control" (173). When the two movements accept the idea
that a relationship exists between power and language, for the sake of control, a type of
symbiotic relationship develops simultaneously between them. However, one wishes to
deconstruct the "center" of authority in general while the other is concerned with the
European component.

Even Rushdie admits to the postcolonial writer's desire to reconstruct history through
language. He says, "What seems to me to be happening is that those peoples who were
once colonized by the language are now rapidly remaking itŠthey are carving out large
territories for themselves within its frontiers" (64). And by remaking the language, the
postcolonial writers have associated themselves to one particular theory of
postmodernism. That theory, expressed by postmodernism, is the reconstruction of
language, and because both non-fiction and fiction are constructed by language, an
attempt to reconstruct all literature is in the making too.

Tiffin argues that both postmodernism and postcolonialism share strategies but have
different motives:

A number of strategies, such as the move away from realist representation, the refusal of
closure, the exposure of the politics of metaphor, the interrogation of forms, the
rehabilitation of allegory and the attach on binary structuration of concept and language,
are characteristics of both the generally postcolonial and the European postmodern, but
they are energised by different theoretical assumptions and by vastly different political
motivations. [172]

Tiffin makes an excellent distinction here again between the theories of postcolonialism
and postmodernism when she says, "they are energised by different theoretical
assumptions (postmodernism) and by vastly different political (postcolonialism)
motivations." A postmodernists focuses on aesthetics, and perhaps authority in general,
but a postcolonial writer's explores the implications of European authority. If so, then this
might explain why postcolonialism is more of a political movement in contrast to a
cultural movement, i.e. postmodernism.

Another "intersection" happens between postcolonialism and postmodernism when they

both desire to bring the "marginal" to the "center." The "marginal" are those who have
been left out of literature in the past or history in general. In Post Modern Times Gene
Edward Veith claims that postmodernists bring the marginal into the center "by rewriting
history in favor of those who have been excluded from power -- women, homosexuals,
blacks, Native Americans, and other victims of oppression" (57). And Tiffin suggests the
same about postcolonial writers. She says, the postcolonial "writer adopts the positions of
those already written out of, or marginalised by, the western record of historical
materialism oppressed or annihilated peoples, [and] women" (176). Cameron Richards
recognizes this "intersection" when he says, "Put another way, postcolonialism like
postmodernism (and modernism) functions inŠterms of sexual, racial, class, economic and
even stylistic differences, [and are] reducible to the spatial metaphor of a centre-margins
opposition" (3). And if we consider Caryl Phillips" Crossing the River, the characters in
his novel are women, blacks, and are those who are oppressed and marginalised.
Furthermore, if we examine the stylistic devices Phillips uses to "bring the marginal to the
center" the postmodernist ideas discussed above become evident in his novel too. They
are there in fact to reinforce his ideas of postcolonialism, one of them is his attempt to
deconstruct the European "traditional" identity.

FEMINISM

Feminist theory encompasses a range of ideas, reflecting the diversity of women

worldwide. Feminism counters traditional philosophy with new ways of addressing issues
affecting humanity, calling for the replacement of the presiding patriarchal order with a
system that emphasizes equal rights, justice, and fairness. Liberal feminists cite women's
oppression as rooted in social, political, and legal constraints. Radical libertarian
feminists hold that the patriarchal system that oppresses women must be completely
eliminated and that women should be free to exercise total sexual and reproductive
freedom. Radical cultural feminists urge women to extricate themselves from the
institution of compulsory heterosexuality. Marxist–socialist feminists claim it is
impossible for anyone, especially women, to achieve true freedom in a class-based
society.
Multicultural feminists explain how the idea of ‘sameness’ could counterintuitively be
used as an instrument of oppression rather than liberation. Postmodern
feminists challenge Western dualistic thinking. Global feminists stress the universal
interests of women worldwide. Ecofeminists focus on the connection among humans to
the nonhuman world. Feminist theory has impacted virtually all structures, systems, and
disciplines, challenging traditional ontological and epistemological assumptions about
human nature as well as ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness.’ Modern feminism, which began
200 years ago, has evolved in three waves. The first wave dealt with suffrage; the second
centered on equal access; and the current wave is focusing on global equality.

FEMINISM - GENDER CONCEPTS

The term gender entered sociological discourse as a way of conceptualising male-female
differences at the end of the 1960s (Stoller 1968), a product of the rise of the women's
liberation movement - feminism's second wave. Since then the value and meaning of the
concept has been widely contested amongst feminists, sociologists and other academics.
Some feminists have, for instance, argued that attention to gender and gender relations
can lead to a denial of women's oppression and 'excludes and silences many women'
Gackson 1992: 31). The category of gender, they contend, is more neutral and
academically acceptable than that of woman, for which it often serves as a substitute (see
Scott 1986: l 056). Its use depoliticises the feminist project. In the mental health field,
therefore, the need is for studies of women and mental disorder, not of gender and mental
disorder.
Similarly the burgeoning work on men and masculinity during the last five to ten years
(Hearn 1987; Hearn and Morgan 1990; Segal 1990; Morgan 1992), might equally be taken
to require separate studies of men and mental disorder. Furthermore, even those who argue
that any adequate analysis must incorporate both women and men, do not agree that
gender is the most appropriate concept to employ, some preferring the older concept of
sex, rather than the more recent term gender. This chapter explores debates both about the
concept of gender and about how gender divisions and gender relations can best be 31 J.
Busfield, Men, Women and Madness © Joan Busfield 1996 32 Gender, Constructs and
Services theorised. 1 I argue that an analysis in terms of gender does offer the most fruitful
way of enhancing our understanding of mental disorder in women as well as men, and that
such an approach allows, indeed requires, an examination of women's oppression - an
examination that can be used to facilitate political action. Gender must be analysed at the
level of social structure and material relations as well as of the individual and individual
meanings. I begin by examining the concept of gender.
The Concept of Gender Gender, as an analytical category designed to refer to and aid the
understanding of the social and cultural origins of male-female differences in personal
characteristics and behaviour, was introduced as a challenge to biological determinism.
Biological sex was to be contrasted with social 'gender' - the former denoting bodily
differences between men and women in the reproductive organs, the latter differences in
male and female qualities and behaviour which were held to be a product of social factors
and could not be reduced to matters of biology. In British sociology, Ann Oakley's text
Sex, Gender and Society, first published in 1972, heralded the new linguistic and analytic
precision that allowed feminists not only to distinguish the social from the biological when
considering male and female behaviour, but also to avoid the old ambiguity in meaning
between sex as sexuality and sex as the broader corpus of male-female differences. As a
result, the old language of sex roles and sexual divisions was, by the middle of the 1970s,
being replaced by the language of gender roles and gender divisions. And instead of an
assumption of natural differences between men and women, there was a growing emphasis
on the way in which gender differences are socially constructed and vary across time and
place. The precise definition of the term gender varies. Stoller in Sex and Gender ( 1968),
the book said to have introduced the new terminological contrast, linked gender with
notions of masculinity and femininity - that is, the characteristics or qualities regarded as
appropriate to men and women

Gender terminology
In order to distinguish biological differences from social/psychological ones and to talk
about the latter, feminists appropriated the term ‘gender’. Psychologists writing on
transsexuality were the first to employ gender terminology in this sense. Until the 1960s,
‘gender’ was often used to refer to masculine and feminine words, like le and la in French.
However, in order to explain why some people felt that they were ‘trapped in the wrong
bodies’, the psychologist Robert Stoller (1968) began using the terms ‘sex’ to pick out
biological traits and ‘gender’ to pick out the amount of femininity and masculinity a
person exhibited. Although (by and large) a person's sex and gender complemented each
other, separating out these terms seemed to make theoretical sense allowing Stoller to
explain the phenomenon of transsexuality: transsexuals' sex and gender simply don't
match.
Along with psychologists like Stoller, feminists found it useful to distinguish sex and
gender. This enabled them to argue that many differences between women and men were
socially produced and, therefore, changeable. Gayle Rubin (for instance) uses the phrase
‘sex/gender system’ in order to describe “a set of arrangements by which the biological
raw material of human sex and procreation is shaped by human, social intervention”
(1975, 165). Rubin employed this system to articulate that “part of social life which is the
locus of the oppression of women” (1975, 159) describing gender as the “socially imposed
division of the sexes” (1975, 179). Rubin's thought was that although biological
differences are fixed, gender differences are the oppressive results of social interventions
that dictate how women and men should behave. Women are oppressed as women and
“by having to be women” (Rubin 1975, 204). However, since gender is social, it is thought
to be mutable and alterable by political and social reform that would ultimately bring an
end to women's subordination. Feminism should aim to create a “genderless (though not
sexless) society, in which one's sexual anatomy is irrelevant to who one is, what one does,
and with whom one makes love” (Rubin 1975, 204).
In some earlier interpretations, like Rubin's, sex and gender were thought to complement
one another. The slogan ‘Gender is the social interpretation of sex’ captures this view.
Nicholson calls this ‘the coat-rack view’ of gender: our sexed bodies are like coat racks
and “provide the site upon which gender [is] constructed” (1994, 81). Gender conceived
of as masculinity and femininity is superimposed upon the ‘coat-rack’ of sex as each
society imposes on sexed bodies their cultural conceptions of how males and females
should behave. This socially constructs gender differences – or the amount of
femininity/masculinity of a person – upon our sexed bodies. That is, according to this
interpretation, all humans are either male or female; their sex is fixed. But cultures
interpret sexed bodies differently and project different norms on those bodies thereby
creating feminine and masculine persons. Distinguishing sex and gender, however, also
enables the two to come apart: they are separable in that one can be sexed male and yet
be gendered a woman, or vice versa (Haslanger 2000b; Stoljar 1995).
So, this group of feminist arguments against biological determinism suggested that gender
differences result from cultural practices and social expectations. Nowadays it is more
common to denote this by saying that gender is socially constructed. This means that
genders (women and men) and gendered traits (like being nurturing or ambitious) are the
“intended or unintended product[s] of a social practice” (Haslanger 1995, 97). But which
social practices construct gender, what social construction is and what being of a certain
gender amounts to are major feminist controversies. There is no consensus on these issues.
(See the entry on intersections between analytic and continental feminism for more on
different ways to understand gender.)

GENDER AND SOCIETY

Gender socialisation
One way to interpret Beauvoir's claim that one is not born but rather becomes a woman is
to take it as a claim about gender socialisation: females become women through a process
whereby they acquire feminine traits and learn feminine behaviour. Masculinity and
femininity are thought to be products of nurture or how individuals are brought up. They
are causally constructed (Haslanger 1995, 98): social forces either have a causal role in
bringing gendered individuals into existence or (to some substantial sense) shape the way
we are qua women and men. And the mechanism of construction is social learning. For
instance, Kate Millett takes gender differences to have “essentially cultural, rather than
biological bases” that result from differential treatment (1971, 28–9). For her, gender is
“the sum total of the parents', the peers', and the culture's notions of what is appropriate to
each gender by way of temperament, character, interests, status, worth, gesture, and
expression” (Millett 1971, 31). Feminine and masculine gender-norms, however, are
problematic in that gendered behaviour conveniently fits with and reinforces women's
subordination so that women are socialised into subordinate social roles: they learn to be
passive, ignorant, docile, emotional helpmeets for men (Millett 1971, 26). However, since
these roles are simply learned, we can create more equal societies by ‘unlearning’ social
roles. That is, feminists should aim to diminish the influence of socialisation.
Social learning theorists hold that a huge array of different influences socialise us as
women and men. This being the case, it is extremely difficult to counter gender
socialisation. For instance, parents often unconsciously treat their female and male
children differently. When parents have been asked to describe their 24-hour old infants,
they have done so using gender-stereotypic language: boys are describes as strong, alert
and coordinated and girls as tiny, soft and delicate. Parents' treatment of their infants
further reflects these descriptions whether they are aware of this or not (Renzetti & Curran
1992, 32). Some socialisation is more overt: children are often dressed in gender
stereotypical clothes and colours (boys are dressed in blue, girls in pink) and parents tend
to buy their children gender stereotypical toys. They also (intentionally or not) tend to
reinforce certain ‘appropriate’ behaviours. While the precise form of gender socialization
has changed since the onset of second-wave feminism, even today girls are discouraged
from playing sports like football or from playing ‘rough and tumble’ games and are more
likely than boys to be given dolls or cooking toys to play with; boys are told not to ‘cry
like a baby’ and are more likely to be given masculine toys like trucks and guns (for more,
see Kimmel 2000, 122–126).[1]
According to social learning theorists, children are also influenced by what they observe
in the world around them. This, again, makes countering gender socialisation difficult.
For one, children's books have portrayed males and females in blatantly stereotypical
ways: for instance, males as adventurers and leaders, and females as helpers and followers.
One way to address gender stereotyping in children's books has been to portray females
in independent roles and males as non-aggressive and nurturing (Renzetti & Curran 1992,
35). Some publishers have attempted an alternative approach by making their characters,
for instance, gender-neutral animals or genderless imaginary creatures (like TV's
Teletubbies). However, parents reading books with gender-neutral or genderless
characters often undermine the publishers' efforts by reading them to their children in
ways that depict the characters as either feminine or masculine. According to Renzetti and
Curran, parents labelled the overwhelming majority of gender-neutral characters
masculine whereas those characters that fit feminine gender stereotypes (for instance, by
being helpful and caring) were labelled feminine (1992, 35). Socialising influences like
these are still thought to send implicit messages regarding how females and males should
act and are expected to act shaping us into feminine and masculine persons.
Gender as feminine and masculine personality
Nancy Chodorow (1978; 1995) has criticised social learning theory as too simplistic to
explain gender differences (see also Deaux & Major 1990; Gatens 1996). Instead, she
holds that gender is a matter of having feminine and masculine personalities that develop
in early infancy as responses to prevalent parenting practices. In particular, gendered
personalities develop because women tend to be the primary caretakers of small children.
Chodorow holds that because mothers (or other prominent females) tend to care for
infants, infant male and female psychic development differs. Crudely put: the mother-
daughter relationship differs from the mother-son relationship because mothers are more
likely to identify with their daughters than their sons. This unconsciously prompts the
mother to encourage her son to psychologically individuate himself from her thereby
prompting him to develop well defined and rigid ego boundaries. However, the mother
unconsciously discourages the daughter from individuating herself thereby prompting the
daughter to develop flexible and blurry ego boundaries. Childhood gender socialisation
further builds on and reinforces these unconsciously developed ego boundaries finally
producing feminine and masculine persons (1995, 202–206). This perspective has its roots
in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, although Chodorow's approach differs in many ways
from Freud's.
Gendered personalities are supposedly manifested in common gender stereotypical
behaviour. Take emotional dependency. Women are stereotypically more emotional and
emotionally dependent upon others around them, supposedly finding it difficult to
distinguish their own interests and wellbeing from the interests and wellbeing of their
children and partners. This is said to be because of their blurry and (somewhat) confused
ego boundaries: women find it hard to distinguish their own needs from the needs of those
around them because they cannot sufficiently individuate themselves from those close to
them. By contrast, men are stereotypically emotionally detached, preferring a career
where dispassionate and distanced thinking are virtues. These traits are said to result from
men's well-defined ego boundaries that enable them to prioritise their own needs and
interests sometimes at the expense of others' needs and interests.
Chodorow thinks that these gender differences should and can be changed. Feminine and
masculine personalities play a crucial role in women's oppression since they make females
overly attentive to the needs of others and males emotionally deficient. In order to correct
the situation, both male and female parents should be equally involved in parenting
(Chodorow 1995, 214). This would help in ensuring that children develop sufficiently
individuated senses of selves without becoming overly detached, which in turn helps to
eradicate common gender stereotypical behaviours.
Women as a group
The various critiques of the sex/gender distinction have called into question the viability
of the category women. Feminism is the movement to end the oppression women as a
group face. But, how should the category of women be understood if feminists accept the
above arguments that gender construction is not uniform, that a sharp distinction between
biological sex and social gender is false or (at least) not useful, and that various features
associated with women play a role in what it is to be a woman, none of which are
individually necessary and jointly sufficient (like a variety of social roles, positions,
behaviours, traits, bodily features and experiences)? Feminists must be able to address
cultural and social differences in gender construction if feminism is to be a genuinely
inclusive movement and be careful not to posit commonalities that mask important ways
in which women qua women differ. These concerns (among others) have generated a
situation where (as Linda Alcoff puts it) feminists aim to speak and make political
demands in the name of women, at the same time rejecting the idea that there is a unified
category of women (2006, 152). If feminist critiques of the category women are
successful, then what (if anything) binds women together, what is it to be a woman, and
what kinds of demands can feminists make on behalf of women?
Gender nominalism
Gendered social series
Iris Young argues that unless there is “some sense in which ‘woman’ is the name of a
social collective [that feminism represents], there is nothing specific to feminist politics”
(1997, 13). In order to make the category women intelligible, she argues that women make
up a series: a particular kind of social collective “whose members are unified passively by
the objects their actions are oriented around and/or by the objectified results of the material
effects of the actions of the other” (Young 1997, 23). A series is distinct from a group in
that, whereas members of groups are thought to self-consciously share certain goals,
projects, traits and/ or self-conceptions, members of series pursue their own individual
ends without necessarily having anything at all in common. Young holds that women are
not bound together by a shared feature or experience (or set of features and experiences)
since she takes Spelman's particularity argument to have established definitely that no
such feature exists (1997, 13; see also: Frye 1996; Heyes 2000). Instead, women's
category is unified by certain practico-inert realities or the ways in which women's lives
and their actions are oriented around certain objects and everyday realities (Young 1997,
23–4). For example, bus commuters make up a series unified through their individual
actions being organised around the same practico-inert objects of the bus and the practice
of public transport. Women make up a series unified through women's lives and actions
being organised around certain practico-inert objects and realities that position them as
women.
Young identifies two broad groups of such practico-inert objects and realities. First,
phenomena associated with female bodies (physical facts), biological processes that take
place in female bodies (menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth) and social rules associated
with these biological processes (social rules of menstruation, for instance). Second,
gender-coded objects and practices: pronouns, verbal and visual representations of gender,
gender-coded artefacts and social spaces, clothes, cosmetics, tools and furniture. So,
women make up a series since their lives and actions are organised around female bodies
and certain gender-coded objects. Their series is bound together passively and the unity is
“not one that arises from the individuals called women” (Young 1997, 32).
Although Young's proposal purports to be a response to Spelman's worries, Stone has
questioned whether it is, after all, susceptible to the particularity argument: ultimately, on
Young's view, something women as women share (their practico-inert realities) binds
them together (Stone 2004).
Gender as positionality
Linda Alcoff holds that feminism faces an identity crisis: the category of women is
feminism's starting point, but various critiques about gender have fragmented the category
and it is not clear how feminists should understand what it is to be a woman (2006, chapter
5). In response, Alcoff develops an account of gender as positionality whereby “gender
is, among other things, a position one occupies and from which one can act politically”
(2006, 148). In particular, she takes one's social position to foster the development of
specifically gendered identities (or self-conceptions): “The very subjectivity (or subjective
experience of being a woman) and the very identity of women are constituted by women's
position” (Alcoff 2006, 148). Alcoff holds that there is an objective basis for
distinguishing individuals on the grounds of (actual or expected) reproductive roles:
Women and men are differentiated by virtue of their different relationship of possibility to
biological reproduction, with biological reproduction referring to conceiving, giving
birth, and breast-feeding, involving one's body. (Alcoff 2006, 172, italics in original)
The thought is that those standardly classified as biologically female, although they may
not actually be able to reproduce, will encounter “a different set of practices, expectations,
and feelings in regard to reproduction” than those standardly classified as male (Alcoff
2006, 172). Further, this differential relation to the possibility of reproduction is used as
the basis for many cultural and social phenomena that position women and men: it can be
the basis of a variety of social segregations, it can engender the development of differential
forms of embodiment experienced throughout life, and it can generate a wide variety of
affective responses, from pride, delight, shame, guilt, regret, or great relief from having
successfully avoided reproduction. (Alcoff 2006, 172)
Reproduction, then, is an objective basis for distinguishing individuals that takes on a
cultural dimension in that it positions women and men differently: depending on the kind
of body one has, one's lived experience will differ. And this fosters the construction of
gendered social identities: one's role in reproduction helps configure how one is socially
positioned and this conditions the development of specifically gendered social identities.
Since women are socially positioned in various different contexts, “there is no gender
essence all women share” (Alcoff 2006, 147–8). Nonetheless, Alcoff acknowledges that
her account is akin to the original 1960s sex/gender distinction insofar as sex difference
(understood in terms of the objective division of reproductive labour) provides the
foundation for certain cultural arrangements (the development of a gendered social
identity). But, with the benefit of hindsight
we can see that maintaining a distinction between the objective category of sexed identity
and the varied and culturally contingent practices of gender does not presume an absolute
distinction of the old-fashioned sort between culture and a reified nature. (Alcoff 2006,
175)
That is, her view avoids the implausible claim that sex is exclusively to do with nature
and gender with culture. Rather, the distinction on the basis of reproductive possibilities
shapes and is shaped by the sorts of cultural and social phenomena (like varieties of social
segregation) these possibilities gives rise to. For instance, technological interventions can
alter sex differences illustrating that this is the case (Alcoff 2006, 175). Women's
specifically gendered social identities that are constituted by their context dependent
positions, then, provide the starting point for feminist politics.

References:

1. The Literature beyond Legends, Tales and Myths, Independently

published; Amazon (Sep 2017)

2. Comparative Study of Northeastern Folklore and Modern Literary

Works, Notion Press;(Aug 2020)

3. Indian Folk Literature in English Translation, Gullybaba Publishing

House Pvt. Ltd.; (Jan 2020)

4. Orality and Folk Literature in the Age of Print Culture, Scientific Book
Centre; (Jan 2015