Study Guide for Midterm - Introduction to Folklore

I. Terms for identification. You will need to discuss each term as fully as possible by defining it, elaborating on its characteristics, relating it to class lectures and readings, and, unless the term is a proper name, providing some specific examples.

examples of conversational genres märchen types of folk narratives

tradition broadside ballad Vance Randolph

urban legend Child ballad “The Vanishing Hitchhiker”

occupational folklore Native American ballad The Roomate’s Death”

ostension conservative vs. dynamic dulcimer

esoteric vocabulary disaster jokes Almeda Riddle

tall tales folk speech bluegrass

types of variation in folklore genre KFFA

William J. Thoms folk group “goodnight” song

proverbs Motif Index of Folk Literature numen

communitas liminality Gore Orphanage

Sonny Boy Williamson shapenote banjo

II. Some of the terms above and questions below may take the form of multiple choice questions and/or short-answer questions.

III. Essay topics. From the following topics I will choose two or three. Each essay should be clearly focused on a thesis which you support with plenty of specific examples.

1. What is folklore? How does it achieve its traditionality?

2. What do alien abduction narratives do for those who share them?

3. What accounts for variation in folklore?

4. What are folklore genres?

5. How might folklore groups be formed?

6. What are the three types of ballads and what do they have in common? Discuss their differences and similarities.

7. Define the blues according to the way this type of folksong in discussed by McNeil.

8. Identify and discuss the types of audiences in the performance of folklore, such as tall tales, riddles, and pranks.

9. Compare and contrast white gospel to black gospel music.

10. According to Ellis, when is a legend traditional?

11. Why does he argie that there is a sense of urgency in legends?

12. Explain how legend telling is a fundamentally political act.

13. Describe and explain the “structure of ostensive panics.”

14. Drawing from McNeil’s article, trace the history of the banjo.

15. Look over the questions I asked you on quizzes and be prepared to answer them on the exam.