Paper short abstract:

This paper incorporates theories of bricolage and the autoethnographic reflections of a writer-turned-folklorist to complicate the distinction often drawn between abstract and experiential forms of knowledge, especially as it relates to the production of creative and academic work.

Paper long abstract:

As folklorists and artists, we often explore how knowledge is acquired, challenged, and brought to bear across a variety of genres. How do everyday experiences shape our understanding of social action and creative power? How do learned conceptual systems inform our approaches to artistic expression? How do we interrogate questions of identity through creative and critical experimentation? My autoethnographic paper considers these questions from the perspective of a writer-turned-folklorist. I trace my path from a rural, agricultural region of the United States through my interdisciplinary work within academic institutions as a writer and scholar. I pay particular attention to my family's storytelling traditions even as I track my development as a creative writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Drawing on theories of bricolage introduced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, I seek to complicate the distinction between structured and unstructured approaches to knowledge using my work as a case study. I investigate four primary lines of inquiry: (1) the effects of bricolage-thinking on my creative methodology, (2) how the discipline of creative writing shapes my approach to folklore and ethnology, (3) the tension I explore between experiential and abstract knowledge, and (4) the ways in which knowledge systems overlap across my work. I analyze examples from my creative and academic writing to demonstrate how empirical and institutional forces have shaped my encounters with various forms of knowledge, from the abstract to the ethnographic. I invite further conversation from panelists regarding their own paths to knowledge in light of their varied artistic practices.