Yo' Mama, Mary Mack, and Boudreaux and Thibodeaux : Louisiana children's folklore and play / Jeanne Pitre Soileau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Soileau, Jeanne Pitre, author.

Series:

Folklore studies in a multicultural world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folklore--Louisiana--History and criticism.

Folklore.

African Americans--Folklore--History.

African Americans.

Children's literature, American--History and criticism.

Children's literature, American.

Folklore and history--Louisiana.

Folklore and history.

Race relations.

African Americans--Folklore.

History.

New Orleans (La.)--Race relations--History--20th century.

New Orleans (La.).

Louisiana.

Louisiana--New Orleans.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Folklore.

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 193 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2016]

Summary:

"Jeanne Soileau, through her role as a public school teacher in New Orleans for more than forty years, examines how children's folklore, especially African American folklore, has changed from the tumultuous trials of integration to the present. Her experience allows her the unique opportunity to observe children as they play and as their play changes. Starting with integration in New Orleans during the 1960s, Soileau notes, the children began to play with one another almost immediately. The children taught each other play routines, chants, jokes, jump-rope rhymes, cheers, taunts and teases--all the folk games that happen in normal play on street and playground. While the adults--the judges and attorneys, the parents, and the politicians--all haggled over which school had how many students of which race, the children began to hold hands in a circle, fall down together to "Ring around the Rosie," and tease each other in new and creative ways. Children's ability to adapt can be seen not only in their response to social change, but in how they adopt and utilize pop culture and technology. The vast technological changes of the last third of the twentieth century influenced the way children and their friends, sang, danced, played, and interacted. Louisiana Children's Folklore catalogs these changes across the decades, studying how games evolve and transform as much as they are preserved. The book includes several genres of study, oral narratives and songs, jokes and tales, and teasing formulae gleaned from mostly African American sources. Because much of the collection took place on public school playgrounds, this body of oral narratives could be of particular interest to teachers, folklorists, linguists, and parents"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

History and scope of this project

Boys' verbal play

Girls' verbal play

The African American child and the media

To infinity and beyond: children's play in the electronic age.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-189) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Soileau, Jeanne Pitre, author. Yo' Mama, Mary Mack, and Boudreaux and Thibodeaux

ISBN:

9781496810403

1496810406

OCLC:

966508446