folkloristiky

Folkloristika, or folkloristics, is the academic study of folklore—the traditional beliefs, narratives, practices, and expressions that communities transmit across generations. The field examines how people make meaning through stories, songs, rituals, crafts, and other cultural forms, and how these forms evolve in different social and historical contexts. It covers oral literature such as folktales, myths, legends, proverbs, and ballads; customary folklore including rites and festivals; and, in many traditions, material culture and digital folklore.

Methodologically, folkloristics relies on fieldwork and participant observation, interviews, and the collection of lore in archives. Researchers use textual analysis, comparative methods, motif-indexing, and performance-focused study to describe variation, diffusion, and the function of folklore within communities. Ethnographic insight is often combined with philology, linguistics, and cultural studies.

Historically, folkloristics emerged in the 19th century in Europe alongside Romantic nationalism and philology. It was shaped by scholars such as the Grimms, who assembled oral narratives; Vladimir Propp, who outlined the morphology of the Russian tale; Stith Thompson, who compiled the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature; and later figures such as Alan Dundes, who helped broaden analytical approaches. The field is interdisciplinary, connecting with anthropology, literary studies, ethnomusicology, and media studies.

Contemporary folkloristics addresses living folklore in communities and digital environments, focusing on transmission, variation, canon formation, and the ethics of collecting. It also explores how folklore contributes to cultural heritage, identity, and memory, while engaging with ongoing debates about authorship, ownership, and representation.