Contemporary folklore and tracks of its transformations

Contemporary folklore and tracks of its transformations Folklore is the expressive cultural practice shared by a particular group of people. Since the 1970s, it was defined as the artistic communication in small groups (Ben-Amos 1972) though it is as well a part of the more mundane everyday expression (curses, proverbs, jokes, etc.). In folklore events (Dundes 1965), performers and the audience should be in the same situation and a part of the same smaller or bigger group (Ben-Amos 1972). The group is not necessarily homogeneous (Ben-Amos 1971), however, its members should share at least one common factor (Dundes 1965) in establishing an empirical network of social imaginary interactions (Noyes 2016); in this context, the shared traditions are established. Folklore can take the form of verbal traditions (e.g., narrating), customs and rituals (e.g. different celebrations), artistic settings (folklore theater, music in dances), etc. Each individually or intertwined represent a folklore artifact that is transmitted both geographically (from one region to another) and temporally (from generation to generation). Regarding folklore Von Sydow (1932) emphasized the importnce of both permanent migrations and the temporary movements to work. Within the context of migrations, new relations are evident; they affect the exchange of traditions and their slow change over time. Just as the influence of different migrations on traditions is shown, it similarly influences the temporal context when the past, in the form of memories, meets current processes – folklore transforms in form, content, and performance to adapt to new contexts. Both the wider public and many scholars still think of folklore as past phenomena, as heritage or tradition from our ancestors, whereby contemporary, living folklore is often overlooked. Even though folklore is peculiar social relict and relatively stable, it sips contemporary motives, topics and adjusts its forms and includes all levels of life: strictly professional, general, rituals, as well as in art, which uses the potential of ambiguity of folklore and engraves it as an intertextual element. For that reason, part of researching folklore is also intertextuality as an interrogating question (e.g., Kristeva 1966): the intertwining of verbal and written texts: With contemporary manifestations, folklore displays past (conceptual) worlds as well as contemporary trends and changes. These manifestations imply a more differentiated conceptualization of folklore as well as the different concepts of the surrounding world. Observing folklore shows us the state of society: borders between public and personal, gender issues, intergeneration relationships, economic trends, concepts of taboo, stereotypes, etc. The proposed project is focused on observing contemporary folklore: the research will be based on two parade fields of folkloristics: the first one is expressed with language and the art of narration, and another in the ritual.

From a wider point of view, the cooperation of Slovenian and Montenegrin researchers will reveal general methods of “reading the society” from the folklore – the researchers will show, how can observing everyday and seemingly unnoticed levels of social life reveal general data of society. The cooperation of ethnologists and folklorists from Slovenia and Montenegro will strengthen the cooperation between research groups.