Short Abstract:

In this panel and roundtable, we attempt to unwrite the disciplinary hesitation to engage with the affective dimensions of folklore, vernacular tradition and creativity, a hesitation that leaves a gap in the reflective praxes of folkloristics, ethnology, and the broader humanities.

Long Abstract:

Affectivity, pleasure, joy: palpable human reactions both consequent of--and motivations for ongoingly engaging with--vernacular practices. Yet our scholarly vocabulary to discuss them is thin as, arguably, the pursuit within the ethnographic sciences to be 'taken seriously' has shown preference to the lenses of functionalism, the lodestones of tradition, and the dowsing of nationalism. To answer "Why this practice?" with "Because we like it; because it is fun" thus seems anemic and insufficient in our manuscripts and exam booklets, despite knowing how essentially human it is. The living folk performance is both a text that can be interpreted and an experience that can be felt: the former is only available to us through the latter, but in our rush to determine what it means we elide how it feels. How would folklore and ethnology be different were we to take an epistemological pause and give due consideration to the affective?

In this panel and roundtable, we attempt to unwrite the disciplinary hesitation to engage with the affective dimensions of folklore, vernacular tradition and creativity. Drawing from the insights that Ian Brodie presented in "Oh Joy: A (Personal) Essay on Folk Aesthetics and Motivation” at the American Folklore Society meeting in 2023 and pivoting from a follow-up roundtable in 2024, the papers and roundtable will pivot around the consequences of integrating the concept of joy into our analytical frameworks and teaching methodologies, examining how this integration can enrich our understanding of folk practices and cultural expressions.

This Panel+Roundtable has so far received 4 contribution proposal(s).
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