bauman r-diferential identity and the social base of folklore

8/12/2019 Bauman R-Diferential Identity and the Social Base of Folklore

1/12


2/12


3/12

32 RICHARD AUMAN

the group have a sense of group identity. Thus if the group were composed of lumberjacksor railroadmen, then the folklore would be lumberjack or railroadman folklore. If the groupwere composed of Jews or Negroes, then the folklorist could seek Jewish or Negro folklore.Even a military unit or a college community is a folk.3

Brunvand recommends the following strategy to students and collectors: "a ...concept that has grown out of recent collecting is that of the theory of recognizing'folk groups.' Rather than defining such groups in terms of social, political, or

geographic factors, they may be identified for folklore purposes first by their dis-tinctive folk speech and other traditions-the lingo and lore which set one groupapart from others." A little later, he writes, "The first test of a folk group is theexistence of shared folklore; then the background of this conformity can be

investigated." Brunvand suggests that the bearers of American folklore might beclassified into occupational

groups,age groups, regional groups, and ethnic or

nationality groups, though sometimes it is also possible to distinguish folk groupsthat are set apart by religion, education, hobbies, neighborhood, or even family.4

The basic premise which appears to underlie both these formulations is that

folklore is a function of shared identity. One may look first for the group, asDundes does-people who share at least one common factor-and be confidentthat it will have some traditions which it calls its own; or one may operate onBrunvand's premise that the first test of a folk group is the existence of sharedfolklore. Either way, the assumption is that the sharing of identity features withina group is what paves the way for the presence of a body of shared folklore.5

Closely related to the conceptualization of folklore-bearing groups in termsof shared identity is the conceptualization of folklore as a within-group phe-nomenon. The identity features that define folk groups cut the social universeinto various kinds of discrete segments, and it is within these segments that the

principal ordering of the folklore universe takes place as well. Even William

Hugh Jansen, whose "Esoteric-Exoteric Factor in Folklore" is one of the few

systematic considerations of the intergroup dimensions of folklore, is in fact con-cerned with developing the idea that folklore "has peculiar virtues arising fromits existence within a more or less peculiar group," the "general assumption that

the folklore of a group has certain inherent qualities (perhaps virtues) because itbelongs to or has been shaped by that group."6 In other words, Jansen's chief con-cern, like that of almost every other folklorist, is with the special qualities of folk-lore within groups as he conceives them, that is, with matters which are funda-

mentally esoteric. Folklore is understood as being shared within group boundariesand made distinctive by this esoteric sharing.

A number of reasons may be suggested for the overwhelming predominanceof this esoteric perspective among folklorists. From the very beginning of modernfolklore study, the ideology of romantic nationalism has emphasized the distinct-iveness of folklore within cultural units and directed the attention of folkloriststo the traditions of national cultures, regional subcultures, and linguistically de-

3 Alan Dundes, ed., The Study of Folklore (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965), 2.4 Jan Brunvand, The Study of American Folklore (New York, 1968), 21-22.5 On the concept of identity features, ee Ward H. Goodenough, Cooperation n Change (New

York, 1963), 179-186.6 William Hugh Jansen, "The Esoteric-Exoteric actor n Folklore," n Dundes, The Study of

Folklore, 45, 50o; mphasis added.

This content downloaded from 194. 167.156.15 on Thu, 16 May 20 13 08:17:09 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


4/12


5/12


6/12

DIFFERENTIAL IDENTITY AND THE SOCIAL BASE OF FOLKLORE 35

to the structuring f the situation and to their understanding f it. The folkloreis used as a mechanism of interaction cross ribal ines, and no image of homo-geneous folk with shared identity and a collective olklore can account adequately

for the realities of the situation on the ground. The only relevant sharing offolklore which takes place s a communicative sharing hrough performance.The objection may be raised, of course, hat t would be perfectly consistent with

group theory to view the Tahltan and Tlingit storytellers s jointly constitutinga group in their own right, by virtue of their interaction n face-to-face rading-storytelling relationships. t would then be technically rue that the exchange offolklore between hem occurs within the boundaries f the group. Not only wouldthis be valid in a sociological sense, but it is illuminating as well, for it drawsattention o the interactional imension of folklore performance which is centralto the issue of this

paper.This is not the sense, however, n which folklorists

(andI, at times, following their usage) have used the term "group," hat s, for a set ofpeople with shared identity. Such an aggregate s termed by sociologists a "socialcategory": "a plurality of persons who are not organized nto a system of inter-action (and therefore do not form a group) but who do have similar social char-acteristics r statuses."'3 The key factor, et it be stressed, which has been lackingfrom the conceptual ormulations of folklorists is interaction, he interactionwhich s a concomitant f the performance f folklore o others.

In order to establish and strengthen our case, it will be useful to demonstratefor those identity features which have been of most interest to folklorists thatdifference of identity, not necessarily haring, can be at the base of folklore per-formance. Allowing the Tahltan-Tlingit ase to serve as an example of the useof folklore between members of different tribal and linguistic groups, we mayconsider ethnicity, religion, region, occupation, ge, and kinship affiliation.

i. Ethnicity. A case involving the use of folklore between members of differ-ent ethnic groups s contained n Theodore Reik's provocative ook, Jewish Wit.Reik comments hat until a few years ago, Jewish humor "was restricted o theJewish group and could almost be called a kind of tribal communication. Jokeswere told by one Jew to another. Gentiles as listeners were not taken into con-

sideration." n recent years, however, owing partly to the prominence of Jewishcomedians but also to the ongoing acculturation f Jews in America, hese samejokes have begun to figure frequently in communication between Jews andgentiles.14 Here a formerly esoteric radition has become exoteric as far as per-formance s concerned, or an awareness f differential identity remains a factorin these performance ituations. The traditional, ext-oriented olklorist wouldstill identify these jokes as an in-group form because of their esoteric subjectmatter, but an awareness of the intergroup contexts in which the stories nowoccur brings one much closer to productive nsights into the social matrix of theform. The jokes

emergeas a

significanteature of the mutual

adjustmentf

Jewsand gentiles in America, ignaling perhaps greater olerance on the part of gen-tiles, less felt vulnerability n the part of Jews, and greater mutual familiarity.

13 George A. Theodorson and Achilles G. Theodorson, Modern Dictionary of Sociology (NewYork, 1969), 384. For analysis of a case in which folklore is employed to make an aggregate ofpreviously unrelated individuals into a corporate group, see Richard Bauman, "The Turtles: AnAmerican Riddling Institution," Western Folklore, 29 (1970), 21-24.

14 Theodore Reik, Jewish Wit (New York, 1962), 31.



7/12

36 RICHARD BAUMAN

2. Religion. Hostile, rather han benevolent, elations between religious groupsare expressed n the taunts recorded by Iona and Peter Opie in the section of theirLore and Language of Schoolchildren ntitled "Sectarian Rhymes." The follow-

ing, for instance, s shouted at Episcopalians yPresbyterians:Pisky, Pisky, say "Amen,"Doon on yer knees and up again,

to which the retort of the Episcopalians s,

Presby, Presby, canna bend,Sit ye doon on man's chief end.15

To be sure, the fact that all the participants n the exchange are children may beused as a basis for calling it all a part of children's ore, as the Opies, in effect,have done; but it is not common age which underlies he performance f theserhymes, but religious difference.

3. Region. An example of folklore which has its locus in the confrontationbetween inhabitants of different regions is to be found in Mody Boatright'sanalysis of western regional humor, Folk Laughter on the American Frontier.In trying o come to terms with the essence of American rontier humor, Boatrightsuggests hat many of its special forms and characteristics ay be explained as areaction of the frontiersmen o the exaggerated nd distorted view of the frontierand its people held by easterners nd other "civilized" outsiders. The westerners

took over the stereotypes nd built them into extravagant urlesques o be turnedback on the credulous and opinionated outsiders. Writing about the exuberantand outrageous rontier boast, or example, Boatright uggests,Now the men who poled keelboats up the Mississippi, the squatters and trappers whohunted and fought the Indians together, the cowboys who rode and stopped stampedes onthe cattle trails-these men saw one another perform. They soon knew what the other couldand would do in a crisis. They did not show off before one another. Their theatrics were forthe benefit of outsiders.

There can, I think, be little doubt of the ripsnorter's exuberance of spirit born of free-dom and self-confidence. But tall talk is more than an expression of exuberant self-confi-

dence. It is a notification of the repudiation of the values of the outsider, that is, of gentility.But the repudiation of a set of values does not necessarily imply an inferiority complex.The frontier braggart assumed the role expected of him; but in exaggerating it to comic

proportions, he satirized it.16

Here again, then, and elsewhere n Boatright's ook,17 we find a folklore formwhich derives its fundamental meaning from its direction towards outsiders,people of different dentity, though also, on occasion, performed and enjoyedamong he frontiersmen hemselves.

4. Occupation. We should expect to find instances of folklore performancebetween

peoplein an

occupational apacitynd others of different dentity n con-

nection with trade, service, and professional occupations, which involve identitydifferences almost by definition. The entire genre of street cries, for instance,involves the performance of folklore by vendors in their occupational capacity to

15 Iona Opie and Peter Opie, Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Oxford, 1959), 345.16 Mody C. Boatright, Folk Laughter on the American Frontier (New York, 1961), 41.17 Ibid., 31, 75.



8/12


9/12

38 RICHARD BAUMAN

individual behavior. In their respective tudies of myth and legend among theKachin and the Tikopia, hey became aware hat traditional ales n these societies,formerly conceptualized as the communal expression of unitary social groups

(tribes), were in fact pressure nstruments employed by various kinship groupsin contending or status. That is, the identity eature underlying he exchange ofthese tales is the differential kinship affiliation of the performer and a key seg-ment of his audience. The tales are directed at members f other groups, althoughthey are also attended o by the teller's own kinsmen and serve certain esotericfunctions as well.

In a paper such as the present one, exploring the implications f a perspectivewhich runs directly counter o conventional modes of analysis, he selection of

examples must be more heuristic han systematic. Still, the foregoing examplesshould be sufficient o

suggestthe need for a new

conceptualand

empiricalstrategy n the study of the social base of folklore. As long as folklore is con-

ceptualized as a self-contained realm of cultural products abstractly onnectedwith some homogeneous body of people identified as a folk and participating nit collectively, the use of folklore in situations involving differential dentitywill be obscured rom view. A true understanding f the social base of folkloremust be based upon investigations which focus upon those social dentities whichare relevant o the performance f folklore within the context of particular itu-ations and events for it is only here that we will find the true locus of the inter-

relationship etween he folklore and ts bearers.Once the necessary eorientation s made, it becomes apparent hat folklore

may be found in both symmetrical nd asymmetrical elationships; members of

particular roups or social categories may exchange olklore with each other, onthe basis of shared dentity, or with others, on the basis of differential dentity.The point is that folklore performance oes not require hat the lore be a collective

representation f the participants, ertaining nd belonging equally o all of them.It may be so, but it may also be differentially istributed, ifferentially erformed,differentially erceived, and differentially nderstood. As folk groups are gener-ally conceptualized, ll the members have an equal stake n their common olklore

and are equally eligible to perform it, whereas n all of our examples he linesbetween performer and audience are clearly drawn, based on differences of

identity.Nor are texts alone sufficient o differentiate he exoteric rom the esoteric per-

formance of folklore in every case. The probability hat a nursery hyme will beused in situations nvolving differential dentity s certainly high, but some of theother examples nvolve lore which is equally appropriate o an esoteric setting.The identities of the participants must be investigated n their own right, as partof an overall communication ystem, whose character s defined by the interrela-

tionships amongts

componentsnd not

by any singleone.23

Another factor which is brought nto relief by the perspective being advancedhere s that folklore may be as much an instrument f conflict as a mechanism on-tributing o social solidarity. The literature on the functions of folklore is per-meated with phrases ike "maintaining he stability of culture" and "integrating

23 Dell Hymes, "Models of the Interaction of Language and Social Setting," Journal of Social

Issues, 23:2 (1967), 8-28.



10/12


11/12

40 RICHARD BAUMAN

As a form of social behavior, artistic verbal performance s subject o the samekind of implicit and explicit cultural ules which govern all human behavior, andthe relevant questions become where, when, for what purposes, nd to whom does

a person with a particular et of attributes, r identity features, employ (or notemploy) a particular orm of verbal art? To cite a negative example of the kindsof rules pertinent to such investigation, the seventeenth-century uakers feltthemselves bound by the admonition of the apostles and saints, who "bid all'Redeem heir time to avoid folish talking, vain jesting, profane babblings, andfabulous stories,' " which rendered he telling of a wide range of folk narrativeforms inappropriate n any context.2""

The analysis of artistic verbal performance may be approached rom anotherdirection, by asking what is the performer's view of the situation n which hefinds himself,

includingthe

physicaland

temporal etting,his own

identityand

goals with reference o the situation, he people with whom he is interacting, ndhis competence n the rules of his culture concerning rtistic verbal performance?As indicated, one of the contributing actors will be the actor's view of the otherparticipants n the situation, and his actual or potential relationship with them-what persons may constitute n audience or his performance? ll of these factorsmust be determined empirically nd delineated n terms of their contextual nter-relationships nstead of assuming a priori that a performer only acts as such withpeople ike himself.

By contrast o artistic verbal performance, we may distinguish another phe-nomenon which we will call artistic verbal communication. Consistent with itsuse in communication heory, we take communication o involve the transmissionof information rom one person to another. Analysis of artistic verbal communi-cation thus takes in both the performer and the auditor, centering upon theircommunicative nteraction. n artistic verbal communication, art of the infor-mation resides n the very exercise of those elements of verbal performance whichare part of the structured sthetic of spoken anguage upon which the performerhas drawn and which distinguish he utterance s artistic. For artistic ommunica-tion to occur hen-for the artistic nformation o be transmitted-requires ome

shared understanding n the part of sender and receiver of the esthetic conven-tions of the expressive ystem being employed. The auditor must be able to per-ceive the utterance s involving artistic elaboration n order to decode the artisticinformation built into it by the sender. And, of course, the performer s morelikely to employ folklore if he anticipates hat his auditor will perceive andunderstand ts use. Discussing signifying in the Oakland, California, black com-munity as verbal art, for example, and emphasizing he quality of indirectionwhich characterizes his speech act, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan rites:It [indirection] must be employed, first of all, by the participants in a speech act in the

recognitionthat

signifyingis

occurringand that the

dictionary-syntactical meaningof the

utterance is to be ignored. Secondly, this shared knowledge must be employed in the re-interpretation of the utterance. It is the cleverness used in directing the attention of the

26 William Penn, No Cross, No Crown, ch. 17, sec. 5, quoted in Luella M. Wright, Literatureand Education in Early Quakerism (Iowa City, 1933), 53. For an analysis of folklore performancein terms of cultural rules for the use of spoken language, see Richard Bauman, "Quaker FolkLinguistics and Folklore," to appear in The Communication of Folklore, ed. Kenneth Goldsteinand Dan Ben-Amos.



12/12

D I F F E R E N T I A L I D E N T I T Y A N D TH E S O C I A L B A S E O F O L K L O R E 4

hearer and au d i en ce to this shared k n o w l e d g e u p o n which sp eak er s artist ic talent is

j u d g e d . 2 7

For most fo l k l o re f o r ms sh a r e d l i n g u i s t i c code is also n e c e s s a r y for artisticverbal c o m m u n i c a t i o n if the f o r m a l m a r k e r s of the artist ic fo rm are whol lyl i n g u i s t i c , for e x a m p l e , p r o v e r b s in En g l i sh . O t h e r f o r ms h o w e v e r , like songs

or chants , carry p a r a l i n g u i s t i cor kinesic m a r k e r s wh i ch may be widely if not uni

versa l ly r e c ogn iz e d w i t h o u t any l i n g u i s t i c c o m p r e h e n s i o n at all The mos t funda-mental p r e r e qu i s i t e for artist ic verbal c o m m u n i c a t i o n r e m a i n s s ha red esthe t icof sp o k en l a n g u a g e , the f ea t u res of whi ch must also be d e t e r m i n e d by e m p i r ic a li n v e s t i g a t i o n .The q u e s t i o n of what m akes for such shared u n d e r s t a n d i n g s is infact q u e s t i o n of the f u n d a m e n t a l natu re of cul ture itself and is far b ey o n d the

scopeof this

paper.For the t ime

beingwe

maya d v a n c e the

s tudyof fo l k l o re

c o n s i d e r a b l e d i s t an ce by c o n c e n t r a t i n g u p o n those r e l a t i o n s h i p s where it doesexist and ask ing o u r s e l v e s why fo l k l o re shou ld f igure in the c o m m u n i c a t i v e b o n d sof these r e l a t i o n s h i p sand not in those f rom whi ch it is absent .

The U n i v e r s i t y of Texas

Aust in , Texas

7 Claud ia M i tc h e l l- K e r n a n L a n g u a g e Beh av i o r in Black Urban C o m m u n i t y B e rke le y, California: Wo r k i n g Paper No 3 of the L a n g u a g e - B e h a v i o r Resea rch L a b o r a t o r y, 1969 , I2M

DIFFERENTIAL IDENTITY AND THE SOCIAL BASE OF FOLKLORE 41

hearer and audience o this shared knowledge upon which a speaker's artistic talent isjudged.27

For most folklore orms, a shared inguistic ode s also necessary or artisticverbal communication, f the formal markers f the artistic orm are whollylinguistic, or example, roverbs n English. Other orms, however, ike songsor chants, arry aralinguistic r kinesicmarkers hichmay be widely f not uni-versally ecognized ithout ny inguistic omprehension t all. The most unda-mental prerequisite or artistic erbal communication emains shared stheticof spoken anguage, he features f which must also be determined yempiricalinvestigation. he question f what makes or such shared nderstandings s infact a question f the fundamental ature f culture tself, and s far beyond he

scope of this paper. For the time being, we may advance he study of folkloreconsiderable istance y concentrating pon those relationships here t doesexist and asking urselves hy olklore hould igure n the communicative ondsof these elationships ndnot n those rom which t is absent.

The University of TexasAustin, Texas

27 Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Language Behavior in a Black Urban Community (Berkeley, Cali-fornia: Working Paper No. 23 of the Language-Behavior Research Laboratory, 1969), i2i.

bauman r-diferential identity and the social base of folklore

Documents