The below facets introduce one to the fundamental concepts, ideas and thematic concerns related to local, regional and national folklore studies. It presents definitions and nomenclatures as well as introduces one to the ways in collecting, studying, analysing, categorising folklore. It also provides a broad outline of global theories of folklore, including Historic-Geographical theory, Structuralist Theory, Oral Formulaic theory and Genre theory. Through this preliminary introduction, one will learn how to engage with cross-cutting issues of gender, human values and sustainability and develop methodological and analytical skills of conducting research.
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Introducing Folklore
Introducing Folklore
Introducing Folklore
-Shita Thukral and Diksha Devlina
The Pyramid Metaphor is a compelling image used to conceptualize the relationship between folklore and other forms of literature in Indian culture. At the base of this pyramid lies folklore, which serves as the foundation for all other Indian literatures. Just like a pyramid, where the base supports the weight of the structure above it, folklore provides the cultural and thematic groundwork upon which other literary forms are built. This folklore includes a rich tapestry of oral traditions, myths, legends, folktales, rituals, and performances that have been passed down through generations.
The Great and the Little Tradition metaphor further elaborates on this idea, likening folklore to the "country road" and other literary forms to the "high road." The Great Tradition represents mainstream, classical literature, while the Little Tradition encompasses local, vernacular expressions of culture. Both traditions are integral to understanding the diverse literary landscape of India, with folklore serving as a bridge between them.
· Folklore as a floating segment suggests that within anthropological studies, folklore, particularly oral narratives, is often perceived as a disconnected or isolated component of culture.
· The term "floating segment" implies that folklore is not thoroughly integrated or studied in-depth within the broader context of a culture. Instead, it may be seen as existing on its own, separate from other cultural elements.
Central to the study of folklore is the concept of the folklore 'text.' Unlike traditional written texts, folklore encompasses a wide array of cultural performances, rituals, games, and oral traditions. These forms of expression are not exclusive to academic inquiry; rather, they provide valuable insights into the lived experiences and beliefs of communities. Written texts coexist with oral traditions, often influencing and enriching one another.
The substance of folklore texts typically includes myths, folktales, and legends, which are imbued with cultural significance and transmitted orally across generations. Studying folklore allows us to trace the continuity of cultural practices, satisfy our curiosity about diverse belief systems, and recognize the necessity of preserving intangible cultural heritage.
The metaphor of the old knife underscores the enduring nature of cultural traditions despite changing details. Like a knife whose handle and blade may be replaced over time, the essential structure and relationships within folklore remain constant, even as cultural particulars evolve.
However, studying folklore poses challenges, particularly regarding context. Folklore is deeply rooted in specific cultural, social, and historical contexts, and understanding these contexts is crucial for interpreting and analyzing folklore accurately.
The nature of myth—whether it is factual or fictional—remains a subject of debate. While some myths may contain elements of historical truth, others are purely imaginative creations that reflect deeper cultural truths and values.
The study of folklore offers invaluable insights into the cultural richness and diversity of Indian society. By examining the foundational role of folklore, exploring the interaction between oral and written traditions, and grappling with the complexities of context and myth, scholars gain a deeper understanding of the human experience across time and space.
Folklore as Historical Artifact
Folklore as Historical Artifact
Folklore- A Perspective Through, Time Space and Digital Realms
— by Ananyaa Sharma & Rashi Agarwal
Folklore encompasses traditional knowledge, a wide range of crafts, performances and practices transmitted through word of mouth or imitation. The multifaceted nature of folklore serves as a kaleidoscope, reflecting socio-cultural dynamics, political influences, and the resilience of traditions against the evolution of time.
Folklore as a cosmic traveller and folkloristics as a field, navigating through the corridors of history started with human existence itself, however, with the Grimm Brothers as its first guide, we trace its origins. Their collection of German folklore laid the groundwork for the systematic study of folk traditions. Folklore is not bound by spatial constraints. From the Missionary records, who first penned down the vibrant narratives of Indian communities to the Nationalistic fervour, folklore in India experienced a metamorphosis, transforming into an academic discipline that delves deep into the dynamic and evolving cultural phenomenon we witness today. Just like a chameleon, it camouflages itself in multiple hues beginning from anthropology, history, archaeology, linguistics, and so many more.
The role of history in folkloristic study is crucial, as folklore is intimately connected to the historical & cultural contexts in which it was created and transmitted. Historians and folklorists collaborate to gain a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural contexts in which folklore was created and transmitted. This collaboration is essential for the transmission of information and source material. Challenges arise in validating oral traditions due to variations and difficulties in discerning historical accuracy. Further, studying folklore in non-literate communities offers insights into cultural heritage, empowering marginalized communities and enriching human history. From preserving tradition to cultural artifacts, folk museums serve as timeless spaces where objects/items of local people’s everyday lives are preserved and put into display as a form of cultural heritage of communities. The purpose of these museums is to preserve unique traditions that hold historical value. The museumization of folklore items, architecture that allude to the materialistic aspect of folklore not only puts the folkloric aspect of culture in one dimension of the heritage but also popularises one version of the folk literature associated with material culture itself. This leads to other versions of the said folk literature to go unnoticed and ignored until some miracle revives them. Yet, folklore is a timeless entity that has no boundaries to spatial constraints and is ever evolving; thus comes the cons of the museumization of folklore. The museumization of folklore, akin to placing cultural treasures in a showcase, does invite us to ponder the dual facets: preserving traditions while breathing life into them.
Folklore's entanglement with popular culture uncovers another dazzling spectacle, where ancient myths twirl in tandem with modern creativity. As we marvel at the kaleidoscopic symphony of folklore, let us not forget its role in cultural revitalization, reclaiming and reinterpreting social formations. Tradition and society engage in a dance, a rhythmic interplay shaping the essence of our cultural identity. In this ever-evolving saga, folklore stands as both witness and participant, a timeless companion guiding us through the labyrinth of our shared human experience. As folklore pirouettes through time, it becomes a living bridge connecting past, present, and future. Yet, we wonder how important folk literature is? As an entity and as a historical artifact.
Folklore as Describable and Transmissible Entity
Folklore as Describable and Transmissible Entity
Seminar Coursework - Transmissibility of Folklore
-Tiyasha Mukherjee and Brinda Nair
Folklore as a Describable Entity
Folklore as a Describable Entity implies the act of labelling a folklore object, with the understanding that labelling also categorizes it into a generic set which contains objects that share features/characteristics. While material objects maybe identifiable based on their general physical characteristics (baskets, pots, fences, etc.), a wide variety of folklore data are not material objects. For instance – stories, songs, beliefs, customs. They cannot be weighed, measured or physically handled. Their nature and characteristics must be hypothesised by intuition, inference or analogy.
Folklore items may be classified based on their structure. For example, superstition – Alan Dundes states that a superstition is “Traditional expressions of one or more conditions and one or more results with some of the conditions signs and other causes”. A further structural analysis of superstition reveals that they can be organized into three subsets – Temporal, Causal and Conversion superstitions.
For folklorists, categorizing/classifying folklore data helps to order the folkloristic database. It helps to describe and systematize the resulting sets. However, this is not an easy task. Folklore data items are large in both number and variety. A given folklore item maybe definable by varied criteria. Conceptualization of form may, and very often does, vary by individual. While the lexicon and the basic set of concepts may be shared, differences exist in the similarities discerned among set members and on the basis of which of the discerned similarities are regarded as important. Differences exist at a given time, and through time. An appropriate example maybe the difference between what is considered myth and what, legend.
Folklore as Describable Entity thus results in the concept of form or genre.
Dissemination of Folklore
Folklore acts as a form of transmission by passing cultural beliefs, traditions, beliefs, and knowledge from one generation to another. Transmission of folklore is not about its actual origin, rather the emphasis is on how it is transmitted from culture to culture and generation to generation. Robert A. Georges proposes, "Folklore-type sets may be created, expanded, subdivided, merged or eliminated" which he defines as the Dissemination of Folklore.
For example, the food item Patsy is considered the staple dish of the Cornish immigrants. It later came to be Finnish food as they had similar dishes like "piiraat" and "kukko". Locating back to the history of 'Malpuas' in India has similar references. It is said to have existed in India 5000 years ago as it is mentioned in the Rigveda. It was called 'Apupa' before and evolved as 'Malpua' due to diverse cultural interferences. The concept of “normal form” defines the recreation, subdivision, amalgamation, or redefinition of the type set, while the basic understanding remains unchanged.
Polygenesis
The concept of Polygenesis proposes that a given folklore type was created more than once, at different times and places by different people. For example, urban legends, rumors, superstitions, religious beliefs, and local history of a particular place. A few interesting urban legends to look at,
The Tale of the Monkey Man in Delhi.
The Rabindra Sarobar Metro Station in Kolkata is said to be haunted.
Rumor has it, that the standard greeting came about because it was the name of Alexander Graham Bell’s wife, at the time of his invention.
The urban legend and the story of “Naale Baa” in Karnataka.
Other examples would be certain idioms and superstitions, like the saying "Old Wives Tale" which is a traditional belief not based on fact but on superstitions. Other superstitions like a black cat crossing the path, hanging off seven lemons and chilies to keep away from the evil eye, seeing one Myna bird, etc.
Monogenesis
Monogenesis proposes that a type set has a single origin across space and time but can be different versions of the same. For example, different versions of the fairytale "Cinderella" exist like The Disney Version of Cinderella is very different from the Algonquin Indian Folklore version and the Egyptian tale of Rhodopis.
Hand gestures are interesting to look at as they represent different meanings across cultures. The "sign of horns" denotes bad luck in the Mediterranean regions while implying cuckoldry in Latin countries. Different hand gestures in dance are used as a form of expression. Hand gestures or 'mudras' in Bharatanatyam represent different animal fables revolving around them, representing a peacock, fish, sacred bird, and tortoise.
Methods of transmissibility include Auto migration, Diffusion, and Historic-Geographic methods. Thus, conceptualizing folklore as being describable, and transmissible emphasizes the focus on folklore types in their multiple versions.
Folklore as Performance
Folklore as Performance
Folklore as Performance
-by Arundhati Anil and Nandana S
The presentation titled “Folklore as Performance” started off with describing some of the theoretical aspects of performance as such, drawing various definitions put forward by different theorists. Then the focus is shifted to different types of performances like storytelling, music, theater, folk dance, rituals and festivals. It talks about various perspectives and definitions of performances, like how it is a demonstration of culture, an aesthetic practice, a restored behavior and how it becomes an inclusive term which will also mean the activities of actors, dancers, musicians, spectators and audiences.
There was a shift in folkloric study from “folklore as a collection of things” to folklore as “a communicative process.” Richard Bauman calls performance “an organizing principle that comprehends within a single conceptual framework artistic act, expressive form, and aesthetic response, and that does so in terms of locally defined, culture-specific categories. The authors of many so-called “performance-oriented” studies of folklore have as their objective to infer and characterize behavioral rules that are distinctive to telling stories, singing songs, celebrating etc., in one particular society or group. Tradition, immediate context, community structure, performer’s individual characters and perception are some of the classes of variables affecting folklore performance. From the 1970s, folklorists sought to give fuller life to written and verbal genres that had traditionally been studied as static texts. There was a shift from an item centered perspective to an enactment or event centric perspective. Storytelling, which fosters a sense of community, contributes to the collective memory of a group. Walter Anderson’s “Law of Self Correction” says that A person hears a traditional tale many times before he or she tells it , constructing a normal form consisting of elements common to all or most of the versions heard. Because people are exposed to the same stories over and over again, they correct performers who make readily perceptible changes, prompting the narrators to try to emulate past performances rather than to be innovative. Folk music has always been associated with activities such as life cycle rituals work, games, enculturation, and folk religion; folk music is also more likely to be participatory than presentational. Lines between folk music and art music were blurred beginning in the 19th century, when art music composers introduced songs from folklore into urban musical culture. After the decline of Sanskrit drama, from the 14th through the 19th century, folk theater developed in various regional languages. Some of the major themes were mythological heroes, medieval romances, and social and political events.
It then discusses folk dance as a performance, how an adjective called “folk” was added with the term to distinguish it from another type of dances. In many cultures, the term cultural dance or traditional dance is used to specify folk dances, but the difference lies in how all folk dances are cultural ones, whereas how all cultural dances do not become folk ones.
It also specifically talks about the origin and among which community it is found popularly. After folk dance being discussed, folk rituals and festivals are brought into the focus, which talks about how they serve as a medium of understanding of a community through their performance or celebration that one can encounter the tradition, legends and folklores which are associated with that community. It further touches upon how several factors like staged cultural representations, structured programs and schedules, live music and dance performances and stagecraft and set design contribute to the factors of making a ritual and festival as a folklore performance.
Folklore as Behaviour
Folklore as Behaviour
Folklore as Behaviour
-by Megha V. and Utsab Banerjee
This seminar on Folklore as Behaviour sought to introduce the study of folklore through the psychoanalytical and behavioral studies lenses. This model of folklore studies was introduced by explaining the literary and anthropological orientation of the discipline, which are both studied through behavioural, psychoanalytical approaches. The subject matter of folklore was even debated to be leaning towards either one by the American and the Chicago Folklore Societies. This then was challenged by Elliot Oring who claimed folklorists missed the point when they asked their subjects, ‘where did you learn that from?’, without considering applying the behavioural approach to their study.
The seminar furthered into the introduction of psychoanalytical folklore by exploring the bifurcation of the
word folklore into folk and lore, which mean descriptions of informal learning, and expressed informal learnings. The presenters then went on to explain that the text-context debate is moot to the behavioral folklorist, as the underlying process is what becomes folk, not the text (object) or the context, as both cannot exist without the process.
The presentation next dealt with the application of psychological learnings in folklore. The theories of
Reinforcement, Punishment and Extinction, in the Classical Conditioning model given by Pavlov, the operant learning techniques given by Skinner, Observational Learning behaviour by Bandura, and Kitayama’s Cultural Psychology, were explained and illustrated with folklore examples. This welcomed many interactions from the audience.
Sigmund Freud’s dream-analysis and Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious concepts were focused on to discuss
motivations for behaviour, and folk elements that both affect and are affected by dreams and cultural motifs. The archetypes were examined in relation to folk cultures, and many discussions surrounding the folklore of life and death ensued.
Lastly, the merits of psychoanalytical and behavioural study of folklore were expressed by using urban folklore studies as examples. Behavioural psychology was seen to act as a bridge between the individual nature of folk behaviours in urban spaces, and the study of folklore, which traditionally engages with communities and not individual accounts of experiences. Further, Folklore Studies’ contribution to the field of psychology was brought out; findings from studies in behavioural folklore aid in counselling, human services, education and management. Thus the seminar was concluded and was followed by a brief conversation, which included many examples to the topics discussed
Genres of Folklore
Genres of Folklore
Navigating Through Genres of Folklore
-by Bhagyashree Mandia & Tresa Sebastian
It was only in the 20th century that Folklore Studies was recognized as both cultural studies and as a distinct discipline. Not only does folklore studies remain an evolving field, but it also borrows an ample amount from disciplines like Theology, Performance (and some aspects of tourism). Additionally, it is codependent on fields such as Anthropology, Mythology, Literature, and Disability Studies.
In such a diverse and unstructured field of study, which is both a boon and a bane, it becomes challenging to draw clear lines of differentiation; some genres always have the possibility of overlapping with others. Though some scholars in the field have attempted to categorize certain genres to facilitate the understanding of folklore studies to name a few – Legends, Myths Fairytales, epics and fables. Though these genres exist it is evident that the genres/ categories are not exclusive or rigidly defined.
Schmidt, in one of the works mentions about legends and says that this genre is so vast that it encompasses all facets of folk culture. There is not a single aspect of folklife that is irrelevant to legend, be it a community or a home, proverbs or speech traditions. Furthermore, the atmosphere of folklore permeates significant adjacent subjects like literature, art history, and cultural history. The challenge of characterizing the legend and distinguishing this unpredictable genre from other types of folk literature has long been recognized by folklorists. In an attempt to determine the boundaries of the legend, researchers tried a range of techniques but eventually came to the conclusion that the form is erratic, can appear in any type of human communication, and cannot be officially defined. The same goes for other genres too. There could possibly not be a way to give clear definitions for the above-mentioned genres and the scope of them crossing paths will remain intact till human existence.
To understand the aspect of intersection better let’s take some examples from some of the traditional as well as contemporary narratives. Religious texts like Mahabharata or Bible are the sacred texts in Hindu and Christian religious and cultural beliefs, respectively. However, the field of study of Mythology if not absolutely negates, but delves on the benefit of doubt that the event may or may not have ever occurred in history (bringing us back to the sheerness of belief and disbelief), and on the contrary Literature on the other hand describes Mahabharata as an epic poem clearly defining it with a static explanation, very much resembling to Iliad.
An Introduction to Theories of Folklore
An Introduction to Theories of Folklore
Introduction to Theories of Folklore
-Abirami P S and Athul S Kumar
Theory is a supposition to explain a situation or a course of event. It is based on a set of principles that are usually independent of the subject under study.
When it comes to theories of Folklore, one can notice that the theories of Mythology are closely aligning with and are intermingling. Owing to the earlier stages of Anthropology, Mythology and Folklore Theories came into being. An easier example is Jungian Archetypes.
In Jungian psychology, archetypes represent inherent potentials within human behavior and experiences. These latent forms become activated upon entering consciousness and are influenced by both individual and cultural encounters. Carl Jung highlighted a number of archetypes, including the 'anima', the 'mother', the 'shadow', the 'child', the 'wise old man', the 'spirits' of fairytales, and the 'trickster' figure found in myths and history.
Evolusionist and Diffusionist theory provide further approaches to inspect folklore. Adherents of evolutionary theory advocate that societies dispersed the world over exhibit the process of evolution from ‘savagery’ to ‘civilization’.
The striking similarity in patterns of evolution in independent projects of civilisation around the communities of the world is based on the fact that human beings around the world share the same psychic structure.
Most of the early evolutionary schemes were unilineal. There is a set sequence of stages that all groups will pass through at some point, although the pace of progress through these stages will vary greatly.
Diffusionism is the term used by anthropologists and sociologists to account for the spread, through time, of aspects of culture, artistic traditions, language, music, myths, religious beliefs, social organization, and technological ideas from one society or group to another.
They believed that most inventions happened just once and men being capable of imitation, these inventions were then diffused to other places.
Campbell's journey of a hero is an extension of this idea, as the popular folk narratives follows similar rhetoric.
Primordialist Theory looks at ethnicity to identify people. It largely takes it base from genetic and biological determinism. Indus Valley Civilisation becomes a good example as a particular geography leads to their ethnicity and so becoming an identity. Modern or Constructionist Theory based itself on the larger identities like nation.
Another theory used to analyse folklore, historical criticism, is the historical approach which involves understanding the events and experiences surrounding the composition of the work, especially the life of the author, and using the findings to interpret that work of literature. Studying the Bible in the recent centuries is an example of this.
The Anthropologist and the Comparative Method in Folklore - Alan Dundes
-Anshika and Sai Sudha
Researchers in anthropology and folklore have utilized comparative methods to ease their investigation in the quest for understanding humans and their cultures throughout the historical framework. Herodotus, a precursor of anthropologists, compares Greek customs with those of neighboring civilizations. The Jesuit priest Joseph-Francois Lafitau (1670-1740) whose magnum opus Moeurs des sau- vages Ameriquains, comparees aux moeurs des premiers temps (1724) sought to compare American Indian cultures with those of classical antiquity. Writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire and early travelers' accounts for their ethnographic data were illustrative rather than comparative. They were unsystematic and deductive leading to a diluted viewpoint of outsiders that superficially contrasted it with the similarities they found back home. The comparative method as practiced by Tylor, Frazer, and others at the end of the nineteenth century in an intellectual context was not unsystematic. Yet, the critical underlying premise was that of unilinear evolution, in which it was assumed that all peoples had progressed or were progressing from initial savagery through the final stage of civilization.
Andrew Lang’s 1884 Custom and Myth, entitled "The Method of Folklore," discusses the comparative method in studying folklore. This method involves examining and comparing various cultural elements like superstitions, usages, and irrational beliefs. He also lays down a basic foundation of folklore which is often seen in forms like tales, riddles, and nursery rhymes, reflecting a stage of thought common in many parts of the world. Carl Jung's work, The Psychology of the Archetype suggests that so-called "primitive" minds, often associated with early cultures, did not differ fundamentally from "civilized" minds in terms of mental functions. This contrasts with earlier views that regarded non-European cultures as intellectually inferior. Most of them sat in the comfort of their library and undertook the task of rather reading through a series of kinds of literature than actually stepping on the field except the pioneering Finnish anthropologist Westermarck who did both extensive fieldwork in Morocco and comprehensive library comparative research.
In his 1896 essay The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology, Franz Boas argued against the then-prevailing unilinear evolutionary theory, which suggested that all cultures evolve in the same manner through fixed stages. Boas highlighted that similar cultural phenomena could develop in various ways across different cultures, debunking the idea of universal developmental patterns. Despite criticizing the speculative nature of earlier comparative methods, Boas did not reject the comparative method entirely. He emphasized the importance of detailed, historical studies of individual cultures as a foundation for any comparative analysis. His approach favored inductive, empirical research over forcing data into a pre-existing theoretical framework. Melville Herskovits, one of Boas' students, suggested another approach to limit comparative studies by focusing on cultures within a given historical stream. This was particularly relevant to his work in comparing African with Afro-American materials, including folklore.
Edward B. Tylor, an early anthropologist, made one of the first attempts to find cross-cultural correlations, or "adhesions," between different cultural elements. In his 1889 paper On a Method of Investigating the Development of Institutions; Applied to Laws of Marriage and Descent, he used statistics to try to link the transition from matrilineal to patrilineal societies. Francis Galton raised concerns about the independence of the cultural traits being compared. He questioned whether the similarities observed across cultures might stem from a common source rather than independent development, which could skew the results.
As more and more individual ethnographies were written, it became obvious that it was virtually impossible to include every known person or culture in a full-fledged comparative cross-cultural investigation. HRAF(Human Relations Area Files) in the late 1930s provided a structured database of ethnographic information, allowing researchers to conduct studies based on a random sample of cultures. This approach aimed to overcome the limitations of earlier methods by offering a more systematic way to compare cultural data across diverse societies.
Even after that researchers chose to imply their methodologies. Anthropologists like Clifford Geertz wrote in detail about specific cultural phenomena (like a Balinese cockfight) without referring to similar phenomena in other cultures. Beidelman's analysis of a Kaguru folktale, which he treated as unique without recognizing its presence in a broader range of cultures, indicates a lack of awareness or use of standard comparative tools like the Motif-Index.
In the nineteenth century, a hypothetical proto-Indo-European language was speculated leading to a thought to be a hypothetical proto- or Ur-form for any particular myth found among Indo-European people. It was assumed that the more widespread a myth (or a trait contained in a myth) was, the older it was. This method was termed the historic-geographic method. In 1889, Kaarle Krohn presented a paper at the Congres International des Traditions Populaires in Paris. In the proceedings of the congress, Krohn's paper is entitled La methode de M. Jules Krohn, which consisted of a comparative study of Kalevala verses in cognate parallels, that is, the variations of a particular tale or ballad or proverb type. He named it the Finnish method. However, his claims were later challenged by Honko as a pre-existing method followed within the periphery of Finland and its neighboring European nations. The champions of the Finnish method in the United States were Archer Taylor and Stith Thompson. Thompson and his students applied this European methodology to American Indian data. He also laid the foundation of the ATU method or the Aarne-Thompson-Uther tale-type index (ATU index) with his mentor Antti Aarne. It classified story plots into seven broad categories with each category assigned a group of numbers.
While concluding his paper, Alan Dundes suggested another method named the oicotype which draws its similarity to its parent, the Finnish method by comparing single culture traits, between institutions, subcultures, areas, nations, and civilizations putting the many possibilities of comparative studies in folklore. To study the relevance of folklore to a culture, or to an individual in that culture, the comparative method is essential. One cannot know a priori what is or is not unique to a culture without seeking possible cognate phenomena in adjacent or historically related cultures. As students of folklore, our fieldwork and knowledge of related tales is the constant point around which the flexibility of testable hypotheses revolves.
Alan Dundes says that is the functions that Folkore perform in society that has let it survive this long. Malinowski has looked at the individuals needs that are being satisfied through the functions of folklore while Brown saw it more of socio-cultural functions. We can group these functions into Amusement, Knowledge Sharing, Spirit Quest,
Dialectical Theory deals with the formation and transformation of identities. It helps anthropologists and sociologists to make use of from historical processes in research.
Folklore as a Counter Discourse is when we question the legal and judicial discourse that were predominantly been fixed by people in power. Through this theory, folklore questions the definitions of terms like crime and criminality which were termed to support the British Administration. Thus using the discourse of the then public while reading Chauri Chaura Incident or the 1857 Mutiny becomes a counter discourse.
Palace Paradigm is the notion that a lot of discourses produced were from the palace - people in power. Eventually so, the discourses of the subjects either had to align with the dominant course and fade away. Though this idea of Handoo's has helped a lot it has two loopholes. The first being it did not answer for the Anti-palace orientation in terms of folk arts that originated out of palaces like the arts of North-east people. It also did not look at the socio-cultural aspects of feudal society.
Sanskritization is a process by which a lower caste or tribe or any other group changes its customs, rituals, ideology and way of life in the direction of a higher or more often twice born caste”. The concept of Sanskritization has also given rise to De-sanskritization. Some higher castes are imitating the behaviour pattern of lower caste, for example Brahmins have started taking meat and liquor. This process is called Desanskritization.
These are a few theories which are commonly used.
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