IRFL40140

Students will need a computer and internet connection to participate in this module as the module will be delivered online.
Oral texts are represented in the National Folklore Collection in a variety of forms and media, including manuscript, audio and visual. Paper-based texts vary from handwritten or typed verbatim transcripts, to summaries and observational notes. There is also considerable variation in the quality of contextual information contained in texts. This module looks at the relative value of texts as primary sources of data for folkloristic research. Study texts will include English- and Irish-language examples of oral tradition recorded in the field both by trained and amateur collectors. Selected texts from around Ireland will be examined, analysed and interpreted in terms of their validity as expressions of social and cultural norms, belief concepts, and personal and collective world view. Chosen texts will vary from the point of view of region, language, dialect and folklore content. As a consequence, time will be devoted in the initial part of the module to the history and character of languages in Ireland. Students will be introduced to the different methods of fieldwork and transcription as practised by past and present collectors of folklore.