History, Theory, and Methods of Folklore Studies - (Set of Two Volumes)

Author: Zhou Xing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Since the reform and opening-up, Chinese folkloristics has made remarkable progress and has become one of the "eminent fields" in Chinese social sciences and humanities. In recent years, various theoretical works, studies on the history of the discipline and the history of academic thought, ethnographic monographs and fieldwork reports, thematic research findings, and popular readings related to Chinese folkloristics have been published one after another, attracting widespread attention from academic circles both at home and abroad, as well as from various sectors of Chinese society. Meanwhile, many university departments have successively introduced folkloristics courses into their undergraduate curricula, and graduate schools with master's and doctoral degree programs in folkloristics and related fields have been rapidly increasing. With the rapid economic growth and the construction of a harmonious society, Chinese society has clearly and continuously shown a trend of reevaluating and reviving traditional folk culture. The demand for folkloristics knowledge has not only emerged in undergraduate and graduate education but also throughout society. This book is compiled and published in response to such professional educational needs and public knowledge demands. The theme of this book is "The History, Theory, and Methods of Folkloristics," aiming to provide a relatively concentrated introduction to the development of folkloristics in China and major countries, as well as its fundamental academic concepts, theories, academic traditions, schools, research methods, and techniques. The intended readership includes undergraduate students who are interested in folkloristics, particularly those who have just entered the field through master's and doctoral programs in folkloristics or related disciplines, members of the Chinese Folklore Society, and society members who are particularly concerned with folk culture issues and the development of Chinese folkloristics. The editors hope that this book will have the honor of becoming a foundational Chinese reading text for folkloristics. Although international academic exchanges in folkloristics have been quite active, and the shared folkloristic concepts among international scholars are numerous, considering that folkloristics in different countries has basically developed in its own specific social and historical contexts, with distinct growth trajectories and academic traditions, this book introduces folkloristics in China, Japan, Korea, North America, and Germany through five groups of essays.