Introduction: Difference and Dialogism in Family Narratives

As a primary generator and transmitter of expressive culture, the family is an important source for folklorists. Nevertheless, our dependence on family often has gone unrecognized and unproblematized in folklore scholarship. Enlarging the scope of family folklore beyond an identified, largely celebr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of American folklore 2017-10, Vol.130 (518), p.377-393
Main Authors: Borland, Katherine, Sawin, Patricia, Tye, Diane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American literature
AFS ETHNOGRAPHIC THESAURUS
Anthropology
Biographies
British & Irish literature
Cultural differences
Cultural identity
Cultural transmission
Culture
Dialogism
English literature
Epic literature
Ethnic Studies
Ethnography
Exegesis & hermeneutics
Families
Families & family life
Family folklore
family identity
Family members
Field study
Folk culture
Folklore
Folksongs
Folktales
Heroism & heroes
Identity
Ideology
Indian literature
Intersectionality
Literary canon
Literary devices
Morality
Narrative structure
Narratives
Narratology
Oral history
Personal experience narratives
Plot (Narrative)
Rushdie, Salman
Self concept
Storytelling
Traditions
Women
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:As a primary generator and transmitter of expressive culture, the family is an important source for folklorists. Nevertheless, our dependence on family often has gone unrecognized and unproblematized in folklore scholarship. Enlarging the scope of family folklore beyond an identified, largely celebratory core to include other considerations of family narrative, we complicate folkloristic concepts of group, genre, and performance. Like any other group, families are made, not given, and are performed in diverse and shifting ways. The articles in this special issue explore the inherently dialogic, multi-voiced, co-produced, and sometimes conflictive nature of narratives of identity shared within families. By taking family, rather than the individual, as the producer and primary audience for these stories, the introductory essay and the articles that follow highlight ways in which family storytelling invites imaginative identification even across difference and contributes to a folkloristic understanding of both family identity and personal narrative.
ISSN:0021-8715
1535-1882
DOI:10.5406/jamerfolk.130.518.0377