Study Guide for American Folklore Exam #1

(Bring a blue book)

I. Define and write as much as you can on each of the following, and, except for proper names, provide examples for each:

esoteric-exoteric (S-X) factor in folklore

motif crimelore

ethic folklore Teatro Desengano del Pueblo

types of folk groups castrated boy legend

John Dillinger diffusion

personal experience narrative Juan Gomez

occupational folklore susto

the evil eye curandera

esoteric tradions public traditions

conversion experience narrative Calvary Baptist Church

millrat Region rats

rags-to-riches motif tamburitza

rural-urban continuum

II. Some of the following may require short answers while a few will be 150-word essays you will choose to answer

How might folklore promote a sense of ethnicity?

What is folklore? How does an item of folklore achieve its traditionality?

Identify and discuss at least five motifs that appear in crime victim narratives Dorson collected.

Identify the dozen or so defining characteristics of an ethnic group. Give examples of these characteristics in groups that Dorson documents in Land of the Millrats.

Drawing from Land of the Millrats, discuss how folklore occurs at points of conjunction and at points of disjunction.

According to Dorson, how is steelworkers’ folklore different from the folklore of other industries?

Provide at least six categories of stories (based on themes) that Dorson and his co-workers collected, and give at least one example of each.