Paper short abstract:

In the light of a corpus of folktales and legends narrated by children, the present paper seeks to represent the children’s point of view concerning the notions of home(s) and inclusion and examines how children’s imageries are framed by specific folk narrative genres.

Paper long abstract:

The home, as a primary context of folklore, belongs to children's material world as well as to their mythic thought. In the light of a corpus of folktales and legends narrated by children, the present paper seeks to represent the children's point of view concerning the notions of home(s) and inclusion and examines how children's imageries are framed by specific folk narrative genres. Questions addressed are how different forms of discourse can nourish children's narration and how the constraints of each genre are met by children's creative responses and personal involvement. The paper also studies the role of children in the transmission of folktales and legends in relation with an oral tradition of storytelling and tries to associate this lore with concepts of home and belonging in specific situational contexts of use. The paper focuses on the ways children not only narrate but also appropriate their narratives in specific play and communications practices in order to transform places into homes. These efforts of turning places into homes form part of a tradition usually not recognized by adults.

The paper is based on archival material and also on micro-data produced in particular groups of children in rural as well as urban milieus in Greece. It thus leads to concrete fieldwork situations of living systems of folklore stressing the diversity of children's culture.