This semester, I am part of a seminar through the Honors program titled World Folklore and Traditions. The facilitator, Prof. Kevin Grace (whom I traveled to Edinburgh previously) provided the following definition of folklore:
Folklore is the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example.
When most of us consider the term "folklore," we probably think of antiquity, the past, and primitive cultures. I don't think many of us consider that folklore is a term endowed in the present, a modern, living, and breathing component of our daily lives. Folklore is a term that applies, very much, to the here and now.
As a pre-medical student, my first thoughts were of medicine in relation to folklore. I've studied how medicine and what we (Westernized societies) call "traditional medicine" or "folk medicine" clash. That very term, "folk medicine," implies that other medical systems and practices are inferior to ours, primitive compared to our bright, shiny, stainless-steel, antiseptic-ridden system.
I'm not going to argue about how that approach, how that very label, is a disservice to Western medicine and an insult to humanity. However, I am arguing here that even our new, shiny, Westernized medicine is, in fact, just folklore. In class, we performed a "preflection" exercise and made a list of common themes. Among the themes, we listed cross-generational, sharing (knowledge, information, lessons), some sort of factual basis or need to explain, communal/social, and cross-cultural.
Consider these items. Do they not apply to medicine (from here on, I will use "medicine" to mean "Westernized medicine")? Of course they do! Medicine is shared across generations, especially its past triumphs and failures and how they influence the present. Knowledge is, of course, shared, both in the process of medical education and in treating patients. The factual basis or need to explain is, quite honestly, one of the foundations of medicine. Medicine is very much a team effort and a large part of society, and therefore can be called social. And it is, of course, cross-cultural, in that a variety of medical practices from different cultures can interact in positive ways if handled carefully.
I don't plan on making this a long post, so I'll wrap up with this. Folklore is very much a modern, living presence, not just rooted in the past but constantly evolving. It is rooted in human agency and will, and grows and adapts just as we do.
So, the next time you read about folklore or traditional practices, don't think of them as antiquated or outdated...think of them as modern, living extensions of past ideologies.
Folklore is the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example.
When most of us consider the term "folklore," we probably think of antiquity, the past, and primitive cultures. I don't think many of us consider that folklore is a term endowed in the present, a modern, living, and breathing component of our daily lives. Folklore is a term that applies, very much, to the here and now.
As a pre-medical student, my first thoughts were of medicine in relation to folklore. I've studied how medicine and what we (Westernized societies) call "traditional medicine" or "folk medicine" clash. That very term, "folk medicine," implies that other medical systems and practices are inferior to ours, primitive compared to our bright, shiny, stainless-steel, antiseptic-ridden system.
I'm not going to argue about how that approach, how that very label, is a disservice to Western medicine and an insult to humanity. However, I am arguing here that even our new, shiny, Westernized medicine is, in fact, just folklore. In class, we performed a "preflection" exercise and made a list of common themes. Among the themes, we listed cross-generational, sharing (knowledge, information, lessons), some sort of factual basis or need to explain, communal/social, and cross-cultural.
Consider these items. Do they not apply to medicine (from here on, I will use "medicine" to mean "Westernized medicine")? Of course they do! Medicine is shared across generations, especially its past triumphs and failures and how they influence the present. Knowledge is, of course, shared, both in the process of medical education and in treating patients. The factual basis or need to explain is, quite honestly, one of the foundations of medicine. Medicine is very much a team effort and a large part of society, and therefore can be called social. And it is, of course, cross-cultural, in that a variety of medical practices from different cultures can interact in positive ways if handled carefully.
I don't plan on making this a long post, so I'll wrap up with this. Folklore is very much a modern, living presence, not just rooted in the past but constantly evolving. It is rooted in human agency and will, and grows and adapts just as we do.
So, the next time you read about folklore or traditional practices, don't think of them as antiquated or outdated...think of them as modern, living extensions of past ideologies.