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Media and Marginal Communities- Folklore II

© Hemant Joshi

Folklore is defined as "oral, customary, and/or material tradition" by Jan Brunvand in his work The Study of American Folklore. The folklore studies are not new, but has gained a lot of significance in last two decades. However, when I started working on this theme. I could not come across many web sites where relevant information could be found. However there are a few sites which I would recommend our readers to visit and find material for their understanding of the subject.

http://www.treeleaves.com/ is a web site where one can find a lot of definitions and a whole lot of material that helps us to understand what the term "folk", "lore" and "folklore" stand for. It also discusses some of the theories of folklore.

The second site that I propose our readers is an Australian site which gives us information on history and present day status of Australian Folklore. It can be a good site to get acquainted with the folklore of a nation that has a rich population of aboriginal which are mainly tribes. The Australian folklore could be seen at http://haldjas.folklore.ee/folklore/ where John S. Ryan has placed a lot of information.

The third site, for the moment the last one in my scheme of things is an Indian site launched by a non governmental organization in India, National Folklore Support Center. This Organization also publishes a quarterly newsletter Indian Folklife. One could visit this site at http://www.indianfolklore.org/.

In my opinion, a lot of readings in cultural anthropology and linguistics is required to gain a useful insight into the folklore of various people. I emphasize the role of linguistics because the innate orality of folklore as was discussed in my earlier write up. The site http://haldjas.folklore.ee/folklore/vol8... and the one at http://haldjas.folklore.ee/folklore/vol8... are good examples of the kind of background readings required for such a study.

I hope to get back to this topic soon with a lot more of original thinking and newer information. However, for next few weeks I would like to talk about other relevant themes on mass communication.

(to be continued)