Abstract:From the time I was a graduate student in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania I have been interested in the ways that folklore studies and the health professions can be productively brought tog...From the time I was a graduate student in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania I have been interested in the ways that folklore studies and the health professions can be productively brought together, and I have always considered this to be a primary example of "applied folklore." My definition of applied folklore is simply the application of concepts, methods and materials from academic folklore studies to the solution of practical problems. In other words, I see applied folklore standing in the same relation to basic folklore research as engineering does to the basic natural sciences. Such an application of academic folklore knowledge to practical problems provides an excellent setting for the empirical testing to folklore hypotheses and generates by necessity a richly inter-disciplinary approach. Applied folklore, therefore, should be as productive for the academic folklore enterprise as vice versa, and this reciprocal advantage is best realized by folklorists with both basic and applied training and interests.Read More
Publication Year: 1985
Publication Date: 1985-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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