Introduction: Earlier Experience of Collecting and Researching School Lore in Estonia and Slovenia

Abstract

The current issue of the journal Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore was created as a collaboration between Estonian and Slovenian folklorists and ethnologists within the joint bilateral project, “Slovenian and Estonian Contemporary School Lore”. The main objective of the project was to analyse and compare the contemporary school lore, its collecting, use, and dynamics in two European countries with different geographical positions and characteristics, with a similar history, and no direct contact. The project focused on tradition and transformations of the folklore material, playfulness, and creativity in (new) formats, and on how they reflect the social reality that produces them. The project aimed to apply a new dynamic comparative approach from an intercultural as well as diachronic and synchronic point of view, which offers a unique and innovative perspective in folklore studies of Slovenia and Estonia.