Western Folklore

Vol. 73, No. 1 – Winter, 2014

Articles

Cosplay: Intertextuality, Public Texts, and the Body Fantastic
Matthew Hale
 
ABSTRACT: This work examines how fans of popular culture forms materialize and embody various semiotic elements from mass mediated public texts through acts of replication, revision, and modulation in a practice know as cosplay. I argue for a more phenomenological approach to the study of fandom, participatory culture, and vernacular media reception and for increased intellectual exchange between media and cultural studies scholars and folklorists. KEYWORDS: fandom, embodiment, intertextuality, costume, adornment

Now You See Me Now You Don't: Deictic Projection and the Dynamics of Proverb Performance
Erik Aasland
 
ABSTRACT: Neal Norrick presents the interface of tradition and individual agency in proverb performance as a paradox, a rhetorical recusation in which the proverb initiator fades into the background of societal opinion while gaining the upper hand (1994). I will argue that we don’t need to leave ourselves in the place of paradox, but can attain clarification of how proverbs operate by applying the concept of deictic projection to explore how proverbs operate in the space between quote and story. KEYWORDS: proverbs, deictic projection, quoting behavior, story

Women's Songs: The Lullaby in the Spanish Autonomous Region of Valencia
José María Esteve-Faubel, Rosa Pilar Esteve-Faubel, Victoria, Cavia-Naya, María Teresa Oller Benlloch
 
ABSTRACT: A lullaby is a song performed almost exclusively by women in all cultures to make children fall asleep. But traditional lullaby singing has declined due to social change. This study analyzes its structure and content thoroughly and aspects of this tradition providing information on usage, customs, themes and types of melody, and reflecting the importance of this form of cultural expression. KEYWORDS: Lullaby, Traditional songs, Women’s songs, Spain, Qualitative research

Reviews

Debra Lattanzi Shutika, Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico
Reviewed by Irene Garza

Krystyna Duess, Shamans, Witchs and Maya Priests: Native Religion and Ritual in Highland Guatemala
Reviewed by Amy Maxwell Howard

Howard Wight Marshall, Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old-Time Fiddlers in Missouri
Reviewed by Gregory Hansen

Raphael Patai and Haya Bar-Itzhak, editors, Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions
Reviewed by Maria Kaliambou

Peggy Bulger, The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax: Words, Photographs, and Music
Reviewed by Lynne S. McNeill