International Studies in Folklore and Ethnology

ISSN: 1662-0615

This series seeks to contribute to the current vibrant multidisciplinary academic debate regarding folklore and ethnology. The definition of both folklore and ethnology is a constant challenge, and the history of the development of the disciplines differs from one country to another. Folklore is at once dynamic process, shared communication and performance, and ethnology embraces context and folklife. So while these research areas continue to experience dramatic transformation, in terms of methodology, theoretical approaches as well as practical engagement with people and cultures, this series focuses on the evolving study of traditional and popular cultures, in all contexts and across all geographies of time and space. As folklore and ethnology reach across boundaries and become manifest in (new) cultural contexts through the enabling power of global communications and re-imaginings, this series therefore provides an international forum for continuing debate. Through a mixture of edited collections and single-author monographs, this series aims to re-evaluate contemporary critical thought as well as exploring new directions and theories, thus making a significant contribution to these disciplines which are fundamental to our understanding of contemporary culture and identity.

1 publications

Beiträge zur europäischen Ethnologie und Folklore

ISSN: 0930-2336

Band 9 schließt diese Reihe ab.

7 publications

International Folkloristics

This series includes theoretical studies of any genre or aspect of folklore. The series welcomes individually authored and collaboratively authored books, monographs, collections of data, bibliographies, and Festschriften. The emphasis will be on analytic and methodological innovations in the consideration of myth, folktale, legend, superstition, proverb, riddle, folksong, festival, game or any other form of folklore as well as any of the interpretative approaches to folklore topics. Inquiries or manuscripts in English should be submitted to Professor Wolfgang Mieder, Department of German and Russian, 422 Waterman Building, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0160.

20 publications

Thought, Society, Culture

ISSN: 2195-2191

The series "Thought, Society, Culture: Slovenian and South Eastern European Perspectives" explores languages, cultures, and societies of Central and South Eastern Europe, with a special focus on Slovenia. Its titles and topics present significant works of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) whose multidisciplinary structure brings together philosophy, social anthropology, archaeology, general and cultural history, art history, musicology, linguistics, literary studies, sociology, ethnology, folklore, and geography. The aim of the series is to publish in-depth studies in the humanities and social sciences produced not only by ZRC SAZU but also by other scholars from Slovenia and elsewhere.

6 publications

Higher Ed

What are the purposes of higher education? When undergraduates 'declare their majors,' they agree to enter into a world defined by the parameters of a particular academic discourse, a discipline. But who decides those parameters? How do they come about? What are the discussions and proposed outcomes of disciplined inquiry? What should an undergraduate know to be considered educated in a discipline? How does the disciplinary knowledge base inform its pedagogy? Why are there different disciplines? When has a discipline 'run its course'? Where do new disciplines come from? Where do old ones go? How does a discipline produce its knowledge? What are the meanings and purposes of disciplinary research and teaching? What are the key questions of disciplined inquiry? What questions are taboo within a discipline? What can the disciplines learn from one another? What might they not want to learn and why? Once we begin asking these kinds of questions, positionality becomes a key issue. One reason why there aren't many books on the meaning and purpose of higher education is that once such questions are opened for discussion, one's subjectivity becomes an issue with respect to the presumed objective stances of Western higher education. Academics don't have positions because positions are 'biased,' 'subjective,' 'slanted,' and therefore somehow invalid. So the first thing to do is to provide a sense, however broad and general, of what dinds of positionalities will inform the books and chapters on the above questions. Certainly the questions themselves, and any others we might ask, are already suggesting a particular 'bent,' but as the series takes shape, the authors we engage will no doubt have positions on these questions. From the stance of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, or transdisciplinary practitioners, will the chapters and books we solicit solidify disciplinary discourses, or liquefy them? Depending on who is asked, interdisciplinary inquiry is either a polite collaboration among scholars firmly situated in their own particular discourses, or it is a blurring of the restrictive parameters that define the very notion of disciplinary discourse. So will the series have a stance on the meaning and purpose of interdisciplinary inquiry and teaching? This can possibly be finessed by attracted thinkers from disciplines that are already multicisciplinary, e.g., the various knids of 'studies' programs (Women's, Islamic, American, Cultural, etc.), or the hybrid disciplines like Ethnomusicology (Musicology, Folklore, Anthropology). But by including people from these fields (areas? disciplines?) in our series, we are already taking a stand on disciplined inquiry. A question on the comprehensive exam for the Columbia University Ethnomusicology Program was to defend Ethnomusicology as a 'field' or a 'discipline.' One's answer determined one's future, at least to the extent that the gatekeepers had a say in such matters. So, in the end, what we are proposing will no doubt involve political struggles.

31 publications