Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions

by Martha C. Sims, Martine Stephens

Living Folklore is a comprehensive, straightforward introduction to folklore as it is lived, shared and practiced in contemporary settings. Drawing on examples from diverse American groups and experiences, this text gives the student a strong foundation—from the field's history and major terms to theories and interpretive approaches.



Living Folklore moves beyond genres and classifications, and encourages students who are new to the field to see the study of folklore as a unique approach to understanding people, communities, and day-to-day artistic communication.

This revised edition incorporates new examples, research, and theory along with added discussion of digital and online folklore.

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2005

Reviews

[Hana Jabr]

3.5 stars

[Crystal]

This book was nothing very spectacular, but the spelling and grammatical errors present? What was the editor on?

[çiğdem]

Keşke bu kitabı lisanstaki temel halkbilim dersi için okutsalardı. Halkbiliminin temellerini basit ve yalın bir dille anlatıyor. Tahtayı hevesli bir şekilde kullanan hocayı dinler gibiydim.

[B. Jean]

I should make a textbook shelf with all the textbooks I read. Anyway, this was definitely academic reading - a bit dry, but had a bunch of useful information. I feel like I have a good grasp of what folklore is now.

I've also found myself noting the folklore I see in every day life, and have been considering folklore in my upbringing. We'll see where I go with this in the future.

[Juli Anna]

Wordy and repetitive.

[Dilara Inam]

textbook

[Staci Miller]

This book was a textbook for Special Topics: Folklore at University of Arkansas Fort Smith.

While the information in this book is presented clearly and efficiently, it is a dry read that I had to struggle through. Thankfully, the book does take some even DRIER reading articles and condense them down to main points. I did appreciate the information the book provided on ways to collect folklore and I thought the student essays about folklore included with the book were the most interesting part.

[Chérie]

Not bad for a textbook. Reads a lot like a Master's thesis with a lot of references to other people's studies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I was extremely happy to find it for the Kindle because it was a lot cheaper than print, and one less textbook for me to carry around.