In search of authenticity : the formation of folklore studies / Regina Bendix.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bendix, Regina.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folklore--United States--History.

Folklore.

Folklore--Philosophy.

Folklore--Germany--History.

Authenticity (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Authenticity is a notion much debated, among discussants as diverse as cultural theorists and art dealers, music critics and tour operators. The desire to find and somehow capture or protect the "authentic" narrative, art object, or ceremonial dance is hardly new. In this masterful examination of German and American folklore studies from the eighteenth century to the present, Regina Bendix demonstrates that the longing for authenticity remains deeply implicated in scholarly approaches to cultural analysis. Searches for authenticity, Bendix contends, have been a constant companion to the feelings of loss inherent in modernization, forever upholding a belief in a pristine yet endangered cultural essence and fueling cultural nationalism worldwide. Beginning with precursors of Herder and Emerson and the "discovery" of the authentic in expressive culture and literature, she traces the different, albeit intertwined, histories of German Volkskunde and American folklore studies. A Swiss native educated in American folklore programs, Bendix moves effortlessly between the two traditions, demonstrating how the notion of authenticity was used not only to foster national causes, but also to lay the foundations for categories of documentation and analysis within the nascent field of folklore studies. Bendix shows that, in an increasingly transcultural world, where Zulu singers back up Paul Simon and where indigenous artists seek copyright for their traditional crafts, the politics of authenticity mingles with the forces of the market. Arguing against the dichotomies implied in the very idea of authenticity, she underscores the emptiness of efforts to distinguish between folklore and fakelore, between echt and ersatz.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1: The Instrumentalization of Authenticity

1. Poetry, History, and Democracy: Locating Authenticity

2. From Experience to Representation: The Onset of a Scientific Search for Authenticity

3. American Romanticism and the Emergence of Folklore Studies

Part 2: The Role of Authenticity in Shaping Folkloristic Theory, Application, and Institutionalization

4. Latent Authenticity Quests in Folklore Definitions and Theories in Turn-of-the-Century Germany

5. Defining a Field, Defining America

Part 3: Questioning the Canon

6. Departures and Revisions: Toward a Volkskunde Without Canon

7. From Fakelore to the Politics of Culture: The Changing Contours of American Folkloristics

8. Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-294) and index.

ISBN:

9786612424113

9781282424111

1282424114

9780299155438

0299155439

OCLC:

44960993