Contribution long abstract:

Perhaps the central paradox confronting UK folklorists today is that the subject has never been more popular, yet its study remains as marginalised as ever and the existing bodies that represent the discipline have proved unable to respond to this renewed interest. It is less a dialogue of the deaf than an absence of dialogue altogether. The result is an entrenchment of retrograde folkloristics on both sides. I discuss the historical problems and legacies encoded in this and how to unpick them so as to preserve what is valuable, ditch what is not, and use this to reestablish folkloristics on a more inclusive and equable basis.