Folklife Annual, 1986. INSTITUTION Library of Congress, Washington, D.C
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 310 960 SO 020 179 AUTHOR Jabbour, Alan, Ed.; Hardin, James, Ed. TITLE Folklife Annual, 1986. INSTITUTION Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. American Folklife Center. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8444-0514-0 PUB DATE 87 NOTE 178p.; For the 1987 edition, see SO 020 180. AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Cultural Education; *Dance; Ethnic Groups; Ethnography; *Folk Culture; Foreign Countries; Foreign Culture; *Legends; Mythology; Photographs IDENTIFIERS Breakdancing; Finland; Finnish Americans; Peru; West Indies ABSTRACT Folklife is the study of tradition, of what carries forward through time, providing continuity and identity with a place or an activity. This collection of articles is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of theories and procedures of folklife study and to demonstrate both the variety of folklife communities and the unexpected similarities displayed by seemingly disparate groups or situations. "Breakdancing" (S. Banes) traces the phenomenon of breakdancing from its origins on the streets of New York City in the early 1980s where it served as a nonviolent form of competition between gangs, or "crews," of youngsters through its transformation into a theatrical event. "Among the Qeros" (J. Cohen) details the return visit of a filmmaker to a remote region in the Andes of Peru and the changes he found there after only six months. "'Bleows'": The Whaling Complex in Bequia" (H. P. Beck) describes 19th century whaling customs still practiced on the island of Beguia in the Lesser Antilles. "The Kalevala: 150 Years, 1835-1985" (E. Brodunas) introduces this Finnish folk epic. "The Kalevala Process" (L. Honko) discusses the history of the epic, and "Partial Repentance of a Critic: The Kalavala, Politics, and the United States" (W. A. Wilson) is a critic's reassessment of The Kalevala. "Immigrant to Ethnic" (Y. H. Lockwood) has to do with the symbols of identity among Finnish Americans. "Minnesota Logging Camp, September 1937" (R. Lee) is a photographic essay. "Via Dolorosa" (A. Asplund) is the life story of a Finnish immigrant to the United States, and "Symposium on the Life Story" (E. D. Ives, et al.) provides commentary on the preceding article. Many black and white and color photographs are included. (JB) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * **********************A************************************************ -4{ ValIqf r _ 4. U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office or Educational Research and Improvement IIED CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating It. Cl Minor changes have been made to Improve reproduction quality S. Forms& view °Jo:anions stater. in INS dOCir rrent do not necaz-sarily represent official :JERI position or polc. mrevr nvp Ai Al! .a.nt. r .....lesm==.& r. A Publication of the AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER at theLIBRARY OF CONGRESS Edited by Alan Jabbour and James Hardin LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON 1987 Folk life Annual presents a yearly collection of articles on the traditional expressive life and cul- ture of the United States. The articles are written by specialists in folklife and related fields, but the annual is intended for a wide audience. A publication of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, Folklife Annual seeks to promote the documentation and study of American folklife, share the traditions, values, and activities of American folk culture, and serve as a national forum for the discussion of ideas and issues in folklore and folklife. The editors will consider for publication articles on all areas of folklife and are particularly in- terested in the folklife of the United States. Manuscripts should be typewritten,Jolible- spaced, and in accord with the Chicago Manual of Style. Submit to: The Editors, Folklite An- nual, Publishing Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 CORRECTION: In Folklife Annual 1985, on page 148, the pho- tograph bottom left was incorrectly identified as "Tower for the Brooklyn festival." The tower shown is one from the Nola festival in Italy. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 ISBN 0-8444-0514-0 ISSN 0747-5322 Designed by Adrianne Olukrdonk Dudden AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Director Writer-Editor ALAN JABBOUR BRETT TOPPING Deputy Director Administrative Secretary RAY DOCKSTADIER DORIS CRAIG Folklife Specialists Contract Specialist CARL FLEISCHHAUER MAGDALENA GILINSKY MARY HUFFORD Staff Assistant DOROTHY SARA LEE LISA OSHINS Folklife Researcher Tel: 202-287-6590 PETER T. BARTIS Executive Assistant PATRICIA M. MARKLAND ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE Head Staff Assistant JOSEPH C. HICKERSON SEBASTIAN LOCURTO Reference Librarian Tel: 202-287-5510 GERALD E. PARSONS, JR. Archivist MARSHA MAGUIRE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman JEANNE GUILLEMIN BRUCE JACKSON Massachusetts New York Vice Chairman JUDITH McCULLOH WILLIAM L. KINNEY, JR. Illinois South Carolina J. BARRE TOELKEN RUSSELL W. FRIDLEY 0; egon Minnesota EX OFFICIO MEMBERS DANIEL J. BOORSTIN LYNNE CHENEY The Librarian of Congress Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities ROBERT MCCORMICK ADAMS Secretary of the ALAN JABBOUR Smithsonian Institution Director, American Folk life Center FRANCIS S. M. HODSOLL, JR. Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Contents EDITORS' NOTES 6 Breakdancing: A Reporter's Story 8 BY SALLY BANES An article in the Village Voice brings national attention to a new dance form. Among the Qeros: Notes from a Filmmaker 22 BY JOHN COHEN Encounters between documentary filmmakers and Peruvian Indians generate moral questions and physical danger. "Bleows": The Whaling Complex in Bequia 42 BY HORACE P. BECK Nineteenth-century whaling customs brought to a small Caribbean island continue today. The Kalevala: 150 Years, 1835-1985 63 AN INTRODUCTION BY ELENA BRADUNAS Ancient heroes and tales of adventure create a national identity. The Kalevala Process 66 BY LAURI HONKO The foiktales of the Kalevala have been interpreted in different ways. e N 0 Partial Repentance of a Critic: The Kalevala, Politics, and the United States 81 BY WILLIAM A. WILSON A folklorist evaluates his criticism of the uses of the Ka levala in the light of his own involvement with public-sector folklore. Immigrant to Ethnic: Symbols of Identity Among Finnish-Americans 92 BY YVONNE HIIPAKKA LOCKWOOD Ethnic communities in Michigan's Upper Peninsula define themsek es in both traditional and newly created ways. Minnesota Logging Camp, September 1937: A Photographic Series by Russell Lee 109 SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY CARL FLEISCHHAUER, BEVERLY W. BRANNAN, AND CLAUDINE WEATHERFORD Photographs taken for the Farm Security Administration provide rounded portraits of their subjects. Via Dolorosa 132 BY ARVID ASPLUND The son of an immigrant from Finland dcsLribcs a difficult boy hood and shows himself to be resourceful and tenacious. Symposium on the Life Story 154 INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD D. IVES Comments on "Via Dolorosa" by ROGER E. MITCHELL, JANE C. BECK, BARRY LEE PEARSON, JEFF TODD TITON, JUHA YRJANA PENTIKAINEN, and YVONNE HIIPAKKA LOCKWOOD CONTRIBUTORS 174 PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER 175 Editors' Notes helping to present publicly sponsored folk- life programs, or Russell Lee documenting life in a Minnesota lumber camp in the 1930s. In each case the photographer or folklorist cannot discount the effect of his or her own involvement with the commu- nity observed or the material ctudied. This fact is dramaticahy (even danger- ously) apparent in the work of Sally Banes and John Cohen, but many who have done fieldwork, even of a less exciting variety, will see their experiences and problems re- flected in the essays here. Few communities are isolated enough to be free of impinge- mentparticularly in America where ra- dio, television, public education, and pop- ular culture are nearly universal.Sally Banes's essay provides a case in point. But in addition to recognizing the difficulty of identifying a "pure" community or tradi- tion, folklorists need to consider both their own attitudes toward the people and ma- terial they study and the way they them- selves are regarded by their subjects. The folklorist is neither anonymous in the ma- terial he gathers nor invisible to the people he studies. One of the purposes of Folk life An- Folk life is the study of tradition, of course, nual is to provide a forum for the discus- of what carries forward through time, pro- sion of theories and procedures of folklife viding continuity and identity with a place study, and the editors believe that such dis- or an activity. But also emerging from the cussions gain special importance as the essays in the second volume of Folk life An- hundredth anniversary of the American nual is a sense of the forces of changein Folklore Society approaches. The commu- Finland or Peru or on the streets of New nities of people that are depicted in the 1986 York City. Arvid Asp lund's life changed for annual include teenager. in New York City, the better when he married and began a Peruvian Indians on the slopes of the Andes, family of his own, although it was his early and Finns in their homeland and in Amer- life that he judged most important in telling ica. In bringing these essays together the his "life story." He sent in "Via Dolorosa" editors intend to demonstrate both the va- in response to a notice inviting manuscripts riety of folklife communities and the un- for this annual. The editors wish to thank expected similarities displayed by seem- Gerald E. Parsons, reference librarian in the ingly disparate groups or situations. We Archive of Folk Culture, for organizing the discovered also that the essays exhibited a symposium of commentaries that follows it commonality we did not anticipate, for each and thus showing us how best to present one presents an encounter between two Mr.