Folklore and Ethnography in Rumania [and Comments and Reply]
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7195508 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Octavian Bubociu, Linda Dégh, Milenko S Filipovic, Milovan Gavazzi |
| Year | 1966 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 295-314 |
| Publication date | 1966-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Current Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0011-3204 • E-ISSN: 1537-5382 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/200719 |
| OpenAlex | W2273184044 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
The Rumanians began research in folklore and ethnography somewhat later than their Greek, Yugoslav, Hungarian, and Polish neighbours but very soon made up for lost time. By the 1850's, both materials and interpretations had reached the general scientific level of the rest of Europe. From that day to this, the perspective of this research has embraced all of southeastern Europe as well as Eastern Europe to the Baltic Sea. The Rumanians have preserved and developed not only the traditions which they have in common with their neighbours, but also the traditions of their pastoral civilization, unique to them and dating back to the Indo-Europeans. B. P. Hasdeu broke the ground for modern folkloric, linguistic, and historical research; he was closely followed by O. Densusianu, who added a strong ethnological emphasis and a special interest in pastoral folklore. After 1918, the ethnographers R. Vuia and S. Mehedinti and the sociologist D. Gusti, through their own studies and, even more, those of their students, enormously broadened and deepened the domain of Rumanian folklore and material life, this time in a European context. Towards 1935, there was a veritable conquest of the savant literature (the novel, theatre, poetry, philosophy) by popular creations such as the epic songs Miorita and Manastirea Argesului and by creative interpretations of myths (first of all those of C. Brancusi). This gradual transformation of popular and anonymous creations into individualized works of literature can be explained by the fact that this region has had no Chansons de Geste or Roman de la Table Ronde, in which the folk literature of Western Europe was assimilated, surpassed, and drowned. The continuity of the popularsavant culture of the entire Baltic-Aegean zone in spite of Turco-Tartar and then Russian domination is indicative of its organic and vital character. This vitality, which does not exclude a deeply rooted humanism, is the basis for the coexistence of pagan and Christian beliefs and rites. An analogous abundance and unity can be found in the material culture, as one can see in museum collections and in the reports of ethno-sociological research. Since World War II, Rumanians have republished old materials and published the results of new research with as little interpretation as possible. Once this sterile moment has passed, ethnologists, folklorists, and men of general science will return to objective research and reintegrate Rumanian culture and civilization into free-minded, creative Europe. In the meantime, interpretations of Rumanian myths and rites are being made by Rumanian scholars living in the West, most of them professors in European or American universities, of whom Mircea Eliade is an outstanding example. The traditional Carpathian and Lower Danubian civilization appears to be rich, original, and of real importance for an understanding of European culture
Archaeology · Baltic sea · Civilization · Ethnography · Ethnology · Folklore · Sociology · Anthropology · European Linguistics and Anthropology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 1982 - 2018 (37) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |