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@article{JEF, author = {Megersa Tolasa and Dejene Chala}, title = { Oromo Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions in the Customary Judicial System in Ethiopia}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {Conflict; Conflict resolution; Communication; Oral Literature; Oromo proverbs}, abstract = {This paper discusses the role of Oromo proverbs in conflict resolution and/or management as a peace-making verbal communication principle in the cultural context. The lesson from proverbs, which contain traditional morsels of wisdom, consists of cultural value and rhetorical effectiveness helping to enforce reality in the context in which they are used. Data for this paper is generated from primary sources. In data gathering, we used interview and focus group discussion. The analysis shows that proverbs have persuasive power to advise, guide and influence conflicting parties to settle their case peacefully. The proverbs tell their truths about conflict situations and devise a resolution and management approach through metaphorical and symbolic representations. Proverbs are also an integral part of Oromo culture, handing down and imparting norms, values, rules and the worldview of the community to guide people to live in customary ways.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {108–123}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/324} }

@article{JEF, author = {Anastasiya Fiadotava}, title = { Book review: The Practice of Folklore}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {Bronner, Simon J. 2019. The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. 382 pages.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {142–144}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/380} }

@article{JEF, author = {Jana Reidla}, title = { Identity and the Controversial Experiences of Museum Researchers: The Case of the National Museums of Finland and the Baltic States}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {This paper highlights the internal contradictions of museum institutions when they are influenced by neoliberal market-driven policies and new museology from the viewpoint of the museum-working researcher. Museums increasingly interface with the public because they are now part of the leisure market. Recent transformations have affected the roles and responsibilities of museum researchers. Whereas marketing, communication and sales specialists have gained more prominence in museum decision-making, the researchers’ role has been marginalised. Semi-structured interviews at five national museums in Finland and the Baltic Statesgive voice to museum researchers and reveal their subjective reflections. The interviews revealed two discursive patterns: 1) caring for museum collections is more of a priority than conducting research, and 2) if academic results are prioritised, researchers are less involved in servicing the collections.The analysis showedhowperceived marginalisation has caused role conflict and ambiguity for researchers, and that current shifts reduce researchers’ motivation to contribute to research.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {99–122}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/382} }

@article{JEF, author = {Anastasiya Fiadotava}, title = { “The Path of the Comedian is Always Going to Be a Lonely One”: Comedians’ Mediation between Family Humour and Public Performance}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {The article presents a study of the use of family humour in public comedy and the mutual influence of family humour and public humour on comedians’ performances and everyday life. The interrelations between these domains lie at the level of the content of humour, its format, its performance and the interaction between humour producers and their audience. Family and public humour often overlap and interweave in various ways, especially in the experience of those who engage in humour production both in public and in private spheres. The study is informed by interviews with UK-based comedians on their family humorous folklore and its interrelation with their public humour performances. The interconnection between public and family humour was identified on several levels: textual, communicative, personal and conceptual. This multidimensional interplay indicates that family humour is contingent on the context, but at the same time is often conditioned by comedians’ public personae and cannot be fully separated from the humour they perform publicly. The study illustrates the vagueness of the dichotomy between public comic performances and family humour and points to multiple ways in which the boundaries between these domains can become blurry.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {1–16}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/384} }

@article{JEF, author = {Dagrún Jónsdóttir}, title = { “Obey My Will or Suffer”: Violence against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {This article will look at how domestic and sexual violence against women is presented in the Icelandic folk legend collections from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Gender-based violence is a subject relatively absent in Icelandic legend collections which were mostly told, collected and published by men (the exception being the collection of Torfhildur Þorsteinssdóttir Hólm). Violence plays a role in the subordination of women, and there is good reason to consider how violence against women is portrayed in the oral legends of the past. I will among other things consider the effect these particular legends might have had on those who heard them and examine the roles of the legends in maintaining and shaping a discourse which in many cases may well have attempted to normalise this violence.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {17–43}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/386} }

@article{JEF, author = {Kristiina Kruuse and Veronika Kalmus and Pille Runnel and Andra Siibak}, title = { Mapping Children’s Life-Worlds: A Content-Analytical Study of Drawings of Favourite Gifts}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {lifeworld; gifts; child-centric research; draw-and-write method; societal changes}, abstract = { What children count as their favourite things tell us not only about children but also about their social and cultural experiences. This study, based on the outcomes of a children’s drawing competition organised by the Estonian National Museum and applying a combined framework of visual sociology and participatory research, proposes an innovative angle to using the museum’s experimental approach to contemporary collecting of cultural heritage. This large-sample (n=926) content-analytical study of children’s favourite gifts gives a rich ethnographic and sociological perspective on children’s life-worlds. On the one hand, the children’s wishes reflected contemporary global trends in technology and commercialisation. On the other hand, the children’s prevailing dream of having a pet shows loneliness shaped by societal changes, including urbanisation and changing family models and time regimes.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {123–141}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/334} }

@article{JEF, author = {Ekaterina Iagafova}, title = { Simēk in Modern Chuvash Ritual Culture}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {The paper describes the features of the Simēk ritual (compare semik in Russian) in different ethnic and religious (Orthodox Christian, ‘pagan’, Muslim) and ethnic and territorial groups of Chuvash. The author shows the key role of Simēk in the structure of rituals of the semik and Trinity block and reveals its links with funerary, commemorative and wedding rites. Simēk is one of the main rituals on the Chuvash ritual calendar. Traditionally, it is associated with commemoration customs of the people and is one of the three compulsory days of commemoration of family ancestors. It corresponds to semik in the Russian ritual calendar and is held either on Thursday (for unbaptised Chuvash) or on the Saturday before Trinity (for the majority of Orthodox Chuvash). Today Simēk is performed in the villages as a commemoration ritual with a visit to the cemetery, which involves both villagers and those family members who live in cities. After visiting the cemetery family members conduct visits, turning a commemoration ceremony into a festival. Thus, Simēk strengthens family links between villagers and city dwellers. With increasing levels of religiosity in society the importance of Simēk as a means of preserving and spreading ethnic traditions has also increased. In modern rituals there is some structural transformation of Simēk among the Orthodox community, but at the same time it is possible to trace the actualisation and expansion of the ritual together with the general trends in unification of the Chuvash ritual complex.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {67–82}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/379} }

@article{JEF, author = {Patrick Laviolette and Alla Sirotina}, title = { Karakats: the Bricolage of Hybrid Vehicles that Skate and Swim}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {9}, number = {1}, year = {2015}, keywords = {hybrid technology; car culture; east Estonia; masculinity}, abstract = {This paper explores the material culture of ‘karakat’ (Russian karakatitsa) hybrid vehicles in the town of Kallaste, east Estonia. It focuses on the social factors that allow karakat culture to change. The region of study was part of the Soviet Union so the phenomenon of self-assembled vehicles implies socialist and communist considerations. Local people are still surrounded by the material legacy of that time. Technological assemblages from the past therefore continue to live in the present. It was popular in the USSR to maintain off-road vehicles, which were put together with the owner’s own hands. Such a bricolage technique has been preserved since the middle of the 20th century and is something that is used as a marker of local identity. The distribution of spare parts was problematic in former Soviet times and this has influenced the way men now make karakats. Current owners spend a lot of time servicing their vehicles. The issue of masculinity is highly relevant here because dealing with technology is seen as a masculine activity. Moreover, because it is increasingly open to tourists, karakat culture is becoming a tradable commodity.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {21–40}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/188} }

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Of all Romanian dances with ritual functions the most archaic and dynamic is the căluş, a custom of great complexity in its functionality and manifestation, in which dance prevails. Over the course of time, the dance aroused the admiration and interest of many scholars due to the ancient ritual elements it contains, as well as for its spectacular virtuosity and the beauty of the performance and music. The purpose of this study is to reveal the meanings and functions of the căluş, primarily at the social level, in its natural environment – the traditional Romanian village – and to make an analysis of the key moments, the logical order of the dance sequences, gestures and ritual acts, the importance of its props and of group composition and organisation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Authors retain the following rights:

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– the right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books,

– the right to reproduce the article for own purposes, provided the copies are not offered for sale,

– the right to self-archive the article.

In this article I attempt to analyse the way in which the Estonian national costume, as heritage, was defined through the cooperation of the state, the museum and ethnographers in the 1930s. The nationalist state wished to strengthen the national identity of Estonia. The Estonian National Museum (ENM) as a repository of memory and knowledge availed its resources to support cultural propaganda. The ethnographer Helmi Kurrik, a woman of strong will and keen interest in folk textiles, managed to fulfil her obligation at the expense of her own health. The primary result of her labours was a handbook entitled Eesti rahvarõivad (Estonian Folk Costumes) (1938) which has influenced general knowledge of folk costumes in Estonia up to the present day – the ‘right’ national costumes are believed to derive from authentic ethnographical folk costumes held in the Estonian National Museum.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Authors retain the following rights:

– copyright, and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,

– the right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books,

– the right to reproduce the article for own purposes, provided the copies are not offered for sale,

– the right to self-archive the article.