The Individual and Tradition

Profiles of artists and performers from around the world form the basis of this innovative volume that explores the many ways individuals engage with, carry on, revive, and create tradition. Leading scholars in folklore studies consider how the field has addressed the connections between performer and tradition and examine theoretical issues involved in fieldwork and the analysis and dissemination of scholarship in the context of relationships with the performers. Honoring Henry Glassie and his remarkable contributions to the field of folklore, these vivid case studies exemplify the best of performer-centered ethnography.

Ray Cashman is Associate Professor of English and Folklore Studies at Ohio State University and author of Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border (IUP). Tom Mould is Associate Professor of Anthropology and director of PERCS, the Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies, at Elon University. He is author of Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future and Choctaw Tales. Pravina Shukla is Associate Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington and author of The Grace of Four Moons (IUP).