Real and Virtual Spaces of Revisiting the Question “What to Do With Folklore?”

Abstract

In 1975, the question “What to do with folklore?” very clearly expressed the position of Slovenian folklore studies of the time. It was aimed at society, which the experts deemed indifferent towards tradition. A new examination primarily asks whether today this question can be addressed to the same audience and ask the same thing. Is it once more directed at society, or does it perhaps demand self-reflection by scholars, who, without extensive theoretical consideration, often find it difficult to justify their research topic and presence today?

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Leta 1975 je vprašanje Kam bi s to folkloro? zelo jasno izrazilo stališča tedanje slovenske folkloristike. Namenjeno je bilo družbi, po presoji stroke brezbrižni do izročila. Vnovično soočenje z njim pa je predvsem dilema, ali ima lahko danes to vprašanje istega naslovnika in enako vsebino. Ali je spet namenjeno družbi ali pa morda zahteva samorefeksijo stroke, ki brez širokega teoretskega premisleka marsikdaj težko opraviči predmet svojega raziskovanja in svojo navzočnost v sodobnosti?