Yes, this corresponds exactly with what I've gathered
about tradition=bearers and their audiences, in the
context of old communities.
Talking of cunning folk, it's said that after the
death of the famous 19th C Essex one, Cunning Murrell,
his son tried to carry on the business, but being
incompetent managed to cause one of his
'witch-bottles' to explode. The villagers were not
Impressed!
Jacqueline
--- Sabina Magliocco <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Thanks for that, Jacqueline. You are correct, of
> course. What I meant was not that performative
> competence in all genres was accessible to all
> members of a community (or even knowledge of all
> genres, as many were limited by gender, age, social
> class, occupation and so on), but that in
> face-to-face communities, nearly all members are
> bearers of some kind of folklore. More
> significantly, even when performance of one genre is
> limited to those who have the requisite knowledge,
> skill and authority, members of the community give
> immediate feedback to the performer. For example,
> in the performance of oral epic poetry in the
> Balkans, even men who do not perform these genres
> can distinguish an exceptional performance from an
> average one, and give feedback through their body
> postures, facial expressions, and responses to the
> performance.
>
> In the area of magical practice, cunning folk whose
> cures were perceived as not efficacious sometimes
> became the targets of accusations of maleficence or
> witchcraft.
>
> Sabina
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 12:11:21 +0000
> >From: jacqueline simpson
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Re: Pop-Wicca
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >Without in any way joining im the discussion of
> >'Pop-Wicca' itself, I'd just like to refine a bit
> on
> >Sabina's statement that 'In folk levels of
> culture,
> >everyone is a creator/ performer and at the same
> time
> >a consumer/ audience member'. This is perhaps true
> >nowadays in our own societies, but in older
> >tradition-based societies it often happened that
> >certain specific forms of folk performance were the
> >strictly guarded prerogative of particular groups.
> Not
> >everyone would be entitled to recite epic poems, or
> >dance the calusari dances, in the Balkans, or tell
> the
> >long complex hero-legends and fairytales of western
> >Ireland, and so forth. One had to learn the skill
> from
> >one's elders, and eventually be accepted into the
> >group as a story-teller, bard, dancer, or whatever.
> >
> >Just a small point ...
> >
> >Jacqueline
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--- Sabina Magliocco <[log in to unmask]>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Hi everyone,
> >>
> >> I'm posting my personal reply to Pitch to the
> list,
> >> as I hope it will help defuse / re-focus some of
> the
> >> conversation on this topic.
> >>
> >> BB,
> >> Sabina
> >>
> >> Hi Pitch,
> >>
> >> I'm not sure I agree with you completely about
> the
> >> "lowbrow" nature of Wicca and Neo-Paganism. I'm
> >> very uncomfortable with terms such as "highbrow,"
> >> "middlebrow" and "lowbrow" to begin with, largely
> >> because they are not value-neutral, and the
> >> determination of what belongs to which category
> is
> >> based more on judgement than on observable
> >> characteristics.
> >>
> >> I would feel more comfortable writing about
> "elite/
> >> academic," "popular" and "folk" levels of
> culture,
> >> with the following stipulations: "elite/academic"
> >> culture is characterized by formal transmission
> in
> >> an academic setting, or one limited to paying
> >> students or self-selected audiences, with a fair
> >> degree of separation between the purveyors of the
> >> material and the audience. Purveyors need formal
> >> training and certification to pass the stuff
> along.
> >> "Popular" culture is promulgated by the mass
> media,
> >> and is also characterized by distance between
> >> producers and consumers of the product, though
> the
> >> authority to disseminate is based less on formal
> >> certification than on access to means of
> production.
> >> "Folk" culture, on the other hand, is
> characterized
> >> by informal transmission in face-to-face groups,
> a
> >> lack of distance between producers/ promulgators
> and
> >> consumers/ audience, and a constant feedback loop
> >> between the two. In folk levels of culture,
> >> everyone is a creator/ performer a!
> >> nd!
> >> !
> >> at the same time a consumer/ audience member.
> Each
> >> member of a society can participate in any or all
> of
> >> these levels of culture; and the categories
> >> themselves are not exclusive, but feed into one
> >> another constantly.
> >>
> >> Looking through this more nuanced lens, it
> appears
> >> to me that Neopaganism and Wicca partake of all
> >> three of these levels. The materials for much of
> >> the construction of contemporary Paganisms derive
> >> from academic and elite levels: literature,
> folklore
> >> studies, historical studies, anthropology, etc.
> At
> >> the same time, the crucible for the development
> of
> >> rituals, praxes and worship has traditionally
> been
> >> the coven, grove or small group of practitioners:
> a
> >> perfect example of a folk group. At some levels,
> >> Neopagan/ Witchen society functions much like a
> >> traditional folk group, with dense,
> multi-layered,
> >> overlapping networks. Because we live in a
> >> market-driven, capitalist society, these
> movements
> >> are now also promulgated by the mass media,
> albeit
> >> in a very different context than the folk group.
> >>
> >> Some of our discomfort with pop-Wicca comes, I
> >> believe, from the de-contextualization of
> practices
> >> that we have experienced in the small group, but
> >> which now are marketed at a mass level for
> >> individual consumers to buy and imitate at will.
> >> Along with this comes a distortion of certain
> >> aspects of the religions as they are adapted for
> a
> >> mass audience.
> >>
> >> Think of it as the same process that happens to
> >> music when it moves from a small, face-to-face
> club
> >> or coffee-house venue to a mass-marketed, giant
> rock
> >> concert one. We're having the same arguments as
> >> music fans who complain that their favorite
> >> small-time band sold out and got ruined once they
> >> went big-time, and that a particular category of
> >> music [fill in with your fave] is no longer any
> good
> >> now that it's gotten popular.
> >>
> >> Does this help shed any light on our discussion?
> >>
> >> BB & xo
> >> Sabina
> >> Sabina Magliocco
> >> Associate Professor
> >> Department of Anthropology
> >> California State University
> >> 18111 Nordhoff St.
> >> Northridge, CA 91330-8244
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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