Alan Dundes

“My own bias in folkloristics is decidedly psychoanalytic. I believe that the vast majority of folklore concerns fantasy, and because of that, I am persuaded that techniques of analyzing fantasy are relevant to folklore data.”

“Americans often have trouble enjoying the present moment.”

“They do not merely collect texts; they must also gather data about the context and the informant and, above all, write an analysis of the items based upon the course readings and lecture material on folklore theory and method.”

“I mentioned that one of the tripartite formulas in American worldview involves time: past, present, and future.”

“Future orientation is combined with a notion and expectation of progress, and nothing is impossible.”

“Their term project consists of a fieldwork collection of folklore that they create by interviewing family members, friends, or anyone they can manage to persuade to serve as an informant.”

“Cities all over the world are getting bigger as more and more people move from rural to urban sites, but that has created enormous problems with respect to environmental pollution and the general quality of life.”

“There can be no self without other, no identity of group A without a group B.”

“As a folklorist, I have come to believe that no piece of folklore continues to be transmitted unless it means something - even if neither the speaker nor the audience can articulate what that meaning might be.”

“Life, it seems, is nothing if not a series of initiations, transitions, and incorporations.”

“It is important to recognize that folklore is not simply a way of obtaining available date about identity for social scientists; it is actually one of the principal means by which an individual and a group discovers or establishes his or its identity.”

“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.”

“There is more to folklore research than fieldwork. This is why in all of my other upper-division courses I require a term paper involving original research.”

“The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more, but I always insist upon reading all the student folklore collections myself. Although this is a tall order, I look forward to it because I learn so much from it.”

“I have a great advantage over many of my colleagues inasmuch as my students bring with them to class their own personal knowledge of national, regional, religious, ethnic, occupational, and family folklore traditions.”

“Folklore provides a socially sanctioned outlet for the discussion of the forbidden and taboo.”

“Ancestor worship, or filial piety so characteristic of Asian cultures, for example, does not really resonate with Americans who favor children, not grandparents.”

“I find all folklore challenging, and I never cease to be grateful that I became a professional folklorist.”

“Americans have a penchant for the future and tend to disregard the past.”

“In the light of our culture, these are not unreasonable questions and tactics, but if once again, we try to see the lens through which we look, we can see that there is far too great an emphasis placed on the future.”