Informant disavowal and the interpretation of storytelling revival
Authors
Heywood, SimonAffiliation
University of SheffieldIssue Date
2004
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The scholarship of traditional arts revivals is often ironic. Revivalists’ activity has been understood as a rational, politically nostalgic, and symbolic re-enactment of a fictional past. In this, scholars have underestimated the significance of disavowal; that is, informants’ neutral or negative responses to analytical methods and conclusions. Interviews with English storytelling revivalists reveal a coherent and significant consensus of disavowal, showing their primary concern to be not with nostalgic self-rationalisation, but with basic practical issues of artistic and sociable interaction. Storytelling revival involves nostalgic displays that are actually fragmentary, superficial, and subordinate to practical concerns. This suggests that revivalists are seeking not to symbolise an imagined past for political purposes, but to familiarise recently appropriated performance genres for artistic purposes. This conclusion is hypothetically applicable to the uses of nostalgic rationalisation within other revival movements.Citation
Heywood, S. (2004). 'Informant Disavowal and the Interpretation of Storytelling Revival'. Folklore 115, pp. 45-63.Publisher
Taylor and FrancisJournal
FolkloreDOI
10.1080/0015587042000192529Additional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0015587042000192529Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0015-587XEISSN
1469-8315ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/0015587042000192529
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