Cemetery Folk Expressions

I don't think it matters whether you find them tasteful or not, but I beleive that decoration of gravesites in cemeteries is one of the most natural exhibitions of folk expression. However, some people get riled up by this, as evidenced by this (fairly) recent article from the Boston Globe.

I plead guilty to doing this myself; I left a picture of my father holding my daughter at his burial site, along with the requisite flowers.

Veal Cheeks Blog

It is no secret that Gary Alan Fine is one of my favorite writers; I believe I have mentioned it on this and many other blogs. He has studied little league baseballers, high school debaters and kitchen workers. I have been all three - for a while there I thought he was stalking my life!

I have also used his book on role playing gamers and the creation of a shared narrative as the basis for a major chunk of my dissertation.

I was pleasantly surprised the other day to stumble upon his blog - thank you GoogleAlerts! You all should read it too.

Veal Cheeks

This is Why They Invented the Interne

Small hut for chickens.

The AMNH has posted a massive collection of photos from an expedition to the Congo made by Herbert Lang and James Chapin from 1909-1915. I found the above photo by searching for the word "chicken."

This expedition was thorough, to say the least. This site is filled with riches.

Congo Expedition, AMNH.

Koschei The Everliving

The blog "EnglishRussia" has a very interesting posting about the Russian mythological beast "Koschey" along with a collection of many excellent pictures.

English Russia: Russian Folklore, Koschey

The Passing of a Folklorist

Folklorist Sandy Ives passed away this week in Maine at age 89. He was a long-time professor of folklore and anthropology at the University of Maine specializing in folk songs and the folklore of lumbermen. He also served as director of the Maine Folklife Center.

His love of local folklore sealed his relationship to his adopted state of Maine, as described by current Maine Folklife Center director Pauleena MacDougall:

Because so many of the Maine songs had to do with river drives and woods work. . .he soon found himself searching for more information about the Maine woods. His excitement grew and he no longer considered leaving Maine.

A full obituary can be found here at the Bangor Daily News.

And a list of publications available from the folklorist can be found on this link from Amazon.

A preview of the book he contributed to - along with Henry Glassie and John Szwed - can be found on this link from Googlebooks.

New August Folklore Arrivals

I present to you my monthly list of folklore titles. If only I was blessed with unlimited time, energy and moolah, then I would read them all! This time with reviews freshly cut-and-pasted from Amazon!

• Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction - Benjamin W. Fortson. "This is an excellent introduction to Proto-Indo-European and its study. Both the chapters on various aspects of PIE grammar and those describing the various Indo-European branches are masterly précis of their subjects. As a Tocharianist I’m pleased to see that all branches of Indo-European are given the same thoughtful, substantial treatment. Both novices and the experienced Indo-Europeanists will read this book with profit; more than one of the latter group will wish he had written himself."
  –Douglas Q. Adams, University of Idaho
• Music in Motion: Diversity and Dialogue in Europe. Study in the Frame of the EXtra! Exchange Traditions Project - Bernd Clausen, Ursula Hemetek, Eva Saether (eds). Diverse musical cultures of migrant communities have existed in Europe for centuries. This volume will focus on different musical traditions and practices, but also raises questions such as: How are musical traditions of migrants integrated into education and public music? Can music facilitate transcultural dialogue? And to what extent does the practice and performance of music reassert cultural traditions in a foreign environment? Answers to those questions as well as a review on what can be observed in twenty-first century Europe are gathered in various thematic sections; model projects will provide a practical insight into the life and work with music of migrant and minority cultures in Europe. This volume results from a project of the European Music Council, a non-governmental network of music organizations.
• History and Folklore in a Medieval Jewish Chronicle: The Family Chronicle of Ahima'az Ben Paltiel - Robert Bonfil. Part of the Series "Studies in Jewish History and Culture" and could be yours for only $185. As Alfred E. Neumann would say: Cheap!
• Tales of the Yukaghir (Adventures in New Lands) - Waldemar Bogaras. Originally published in 1918; I just read this book a few weeks ago for free on Googlebooks. Go ahead and search for "Folklore" on googlebooks, you will be richly awarded.
• Hammer & Tickle: The Story of Communism, A Political System Almost Laughed Out of Existence - Ben Lewis. Wow, Publisher's Weekly was harsh about this: "This often enjoyable but flat-footed compilation and study of jokes from the Soviet bloc has a hard time justifying its existence." This book seems unnecessary to me, I've read other books that have ably dealt with this subject matter.
• Tales from a Finnish Tupa - James Claude Bowman & Margery Bianco. Another reprint.
• Tamil Oratory and the Dravidian Aesthetic: Democratic Practice in South India - Professor Bernard Bate. Oooo, I like how he put Professor before his name. Actually sounds kind of interesting: an ethnographic study of Tamil political speech. Part of the series "Cultures of History."
• Tales From Brookgreen: Folklore, Ghost Stories and Gullah Folktales in the South Carolina Lowcountry - Lynn Michelsohn.
• Historism and Cultural Identity in the Rhine- Meuse Region - Wolfgang Kortjaens, Jan De Maeyer and Tom Verschaffel (eds).
• Selected Tales - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Oxford World Classics edition translated by Joyce Crick.
• On the Sacred in African Literature: Old Gods and New Worlds - Mark Mathuray. No customer reviews on this one yet, but the publisher asserts that "This innovative book provides an original approach to the analysis of the representation of myth, ritual, and ‘magic’ in African literature."
• Sacred Wells: A Study in the History, Meaning and Mythology of Holy Wells and Waters - Gary V. Varner.
• Folklore of Sussex - Jacqueline Simpson. I have a vague recollection of listing this last month. Meh.
• Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna - Betty De Shong Meador.
• Folklore of Northumbria - Fran & Geoff Doel. Now I am seriously getting a case of deja vu.

I am still confused as to why so many academic books are so damn expensive. Some of these books average in the Fifty to Seventy-Five dollar range, which is kind of ridiculous. I understand the whole concept of them having limited marketability and audience and what not; but my basic understanding of Adam Smith is that decreased demand should decrease the prices.

It may be a generational tic of mine, but I believe that knowledge and information should be cheap and readily available to all. That is why I am a big fan of googlebooks and libraries. A lay reader would be more than willing to buy a more 'academic' book if it was priced in a comparatively normal range. Then they will just be disgusted by the sheer unreadability of it. I shall flesh out these half-arsed thoughts at a later date.