A Companion to Folklore

A Companion to Folklore. Edited by Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem. (Malden, M.A.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2012. Pp. xv +660, introduction, photographs, notes, index. $207.95 cloth.)A Companion to Folklore is a collection of thirty-one essays, contributed by an impressive group of international folklore scholars, that "seeks to represent the state of the art for readers intrigued with the field's theoretical potential and international scope" (2). In an effort to present organizing principles for bodies of knowledge comprising the field of folklore studies and concentrate on overarching concepts that problematize the field rather than describe it (3), editors Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem bring together articles that examine the development of folkloristics. They explore central disciplinary concepts such as tradition and social base, trace its history in countries around the world, investigate its interconnections to fields like film, cultural heritage and law, and reflect on folklorists' work in both public and academic contexts.The editors organize essays into four sections: Concepts and Phenomena, Location, Reflection, and Practice. The first section contains nine articles: Dorothy Noyes on the social base of folklore, Francisco Vaz da Silva on tradition, Amy Shuman and Galit Hasan-Rokem on the poetics of folklore, Peter Seitel on oral textuality, Richard Bauman on performance, Hagar Salamon and Harvey E. Goldberg on myth-ritual-symbol, Sabina Magliocco on religion, Gertraud Koch on work and professions, and Orvar Lofgren on material culture. Each article traces the development of a concept in a way that contextualizes contemporary approaches and several, such as Bauman's discussion of performance, provide masterful overviews of topics central to the discipline. Importantly, even as they tackle the large development of theoretical concepts, authors consistently root their discussions in concrete cultural examples. Peter Seitel actually includes directions so that readers can listen to his field recordings online.Whereas the first section situates key concepts in a timeframe, the editors see the second section as one that "pays full tribute to the weight of local specificity and 'local knowledge' in the field of folklore studies" (3). The book's truly international character takes shape through thirteen articles that trace the histories of folklore studies in locations around the world: China (Lydia H. Liu), Japan (Akiko Mori), India (Sadhana Naithani), Oceania (Phillip H. McArthur), Latin America (Femando Fischman), United States (Lee Haring and Regina F. Bendix), Turkey (Arzu Ozturkmen), Israel (Dani Schrire and Galit HasanRokem), the Sudan-Sahel region (Ursula Baumgardt), German-speaking Europe (Regina F. Bendix), Finland (Lauri Harvilahti), Ireland (Diarmud O'Giollain) and Russia (Alexander Panchenko). It is hard not to read this list, let alone the essays, without raising questions about selection. Although as a Canadian I am admittedly biased, I wondered why Canada didn't warrant its own historical treatment when Oceania, a place that has not attracted much folkloristic attention, is included. …