Russian 361: Russian and Slavic Folklore

Considers folklore in the context of multi-disciplinary topics that include poetics, performance, religious practice, myth, ritual and symbol, oral textuality, history, law, politics and power as well as the social base of folklore.

Provides a cross-cultural survey of the major types and methods of inquiry in folklore to define the identity of every culture in the world.

Provides a framework for approaching the study of folklore, and an introduction to the methodologies for identifying, documenting, interpreting and applying key information about folklore and its relevance to modern life.

The Russian folklorist Propp published The Morphology of the Folktale in 1928. Translated to English,in 1958, it has become a bestseller and is known as a major theoretical work in oral literature. Liberman has selected 7 essays and 3 chapters from his later books which reveal the full range of Propp's thought.

Individual titles in the series focus on a specific cultural topic for the 175 countries covered and offer broad factual information, insight and analysis.

This book explores the role of ritual in social life, human evolution, and religion. It explains the functions and purpose of varied rituals across the world by arguing they are mechanisms of 'resource management', providing a descriptive tool for understanding rituals and generating predictions about ritual survival. By showing how rituals have resulted from the need to cultivate social resources necessary to sustain cooperative groups, Rossano presents a unique examination of the function of rituals and how they cultivate, mobilize, and direct psychological resources. Rossano examines rituals from a diverse range of historical contexts, including the Greco-Romans, Soviet Russians, and those in 'crisis cults'. The book shows how rituals address societal and community problems by cultivating three psychological resources - commitment to communal values, goodwill (both of humans and supernatural agents) and social support or social capital.