!!!Volkskunde

Folklore Studies: The development of folklore studies hailed on the 
one hand from traditional interest in "the country and its 
people" (W. H. Riehl), as evidenced by the 
"Landesbeschreibungen" (country descriptions) mainly from 
the 18%%sup th/%  and early 19%%sup th/%  centuries, that were written 
for administrative purposes (e.g. "Attempt at a statistics about 
the cameral districts of Fohnsdorf in the Judenburg Kreis", 
written in 1813 by J. F. Knaffl on commission of Archduke 
Johann), and on the other hand from a romantic school of thought 
which, owing to its philological-historical orientation, attempted to 
define an idealised "folk spirit" (Herder). The two Vienna 
Schools, that of "mythologists" (G. Huesing, K. Spiess, E. Mudrak) and 
that of "ritualists" (R. Much, O. Hoefler, R. Wolfram) supported the 
thesis of a continuity that reached back to the early Germanic 
peoples, and a Folklore Studies canon soon began to develop: Folklore 
studies as a subsidiary branch of cameralistic studies and, later, in 
its role as a supplement to Germanistic anthropology mainly dealt with 
material evidence of rural agricultural practice (food, clothing, 
housing, equipment) and, to a smaller extent, studied "intangible" 
testimony (customs and traditions, fairy tales and legends, religion 
and beliefs) of the German "people´s character", which 
was championed in the course of the conflicts between the various 
nationalities and ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary towards the end of 
the Monarchy.

\\
In the late 19%%sup th/%  and early 20%%sup th/%  centuries, the 
development of folklore studies was influenced by German studies, 
prehistoric studies, physiological anthropology, geography and 
ethnography and was first mainly pursued in the context of museums. In 
1895, the Austrian  Folklore Museum was founded, in 1913, V.  Geramb, 
founded the Styrian Folklore Museum, and in 1924, K.  Adrian opened 
the Salzburg Folklore Museum. Recognition as an independent academic 
field of study at university level was achieved only much later: From 
1924, Folklore Studies was taught in Graz by V. Geramb within the 
framework of German studies, and an independent institute was not 
established until 1949; Innsbruck possessed a department of folklore 
studies from 1941; this department was the successor of the earlier 
"Institute for Historic Settlement Studies and Local History and 
Geography of the Alpine Countries" (founded in 1923); the 
"Institute for Religious Folklore" (founded 1932) headed by 
H. Koren was closed in 1938; in Vienna, from 1939 to 1945, there was 
an "Institute of Teutonic German Folklore", which was 
re-established in 1961 as "Institute of Folklore Studies". 
Austrian Folklore Studies had considerably more influence on 
activities of popular cultural policy, e.g.  Heimatkunde (homeland 
studies), "Heimatpflege", which was dedicated to promoting cultural 
values and traditions and education, particularly in rural areas, in 
the name of a  Popular Culture that was used as an instrument to 
uphold the existing political system ( Heimatwerk,  Local Heritage 
Museums). These activities were mostly performed and promoted at the 
non-academic level and were also those which, as "applied folklore 
studies" were for a long time used to promote Austrian national 
identity after the Second World War.

\\
Concerning contents, Folklore Studies during the time of the Monarchy 
and the First Republic was partly committed to a supernational and 
comparative view (M. Haberlandt) and partly adhered to the German 
Nationalistic stance (V. Geramb) of a more or less pronounced 
nationalist-racist character (R. Wolfram). After 1945 the rejection of 
the ethnicity and continuity principle which had compromised the image 
of Folklore Studies on both scholarly and political grounds resulted 
in the discipline being primarily seen as the "Study of life in 
traditional orders or contexts" (L. Schmidt), based on a 
historical approach and a critical evaluation of documentary and other 
sources (L. Kretzenbacher). In the wake of developments in Germany and 
elsewhere since the late 1960s, Folklore Studies (which has also 
become known as "European Ethnology" in academic circles 
since the 1970s) has tended to develop into a discipline in the 
context of the Social Sciences; in so doing, it has adopted a broader 
conception of culture which also comprises every-day cultural and 
behaviour patterns, and tends to increasingly focus on contemporary 
issues, including the long-neglected area of urban life.

!Literature
L. Schmidt, Geschichte der oesterreichischen Volkskunde, 
1951; L. Kretzenbacher, Volkskunde als Faktor der Kulturpraegung im 
Oesterreich der Zwischenkriegszeit, in: Internationales 
kulturhistorisches Symposion Mogersdorf 12, 1983; K. Beitl, 
Volkskunde, Institutionen in Oesterreich, 1992; R. Johler, Konstrukte: 
Nationalismus, Regionalismus, Volkskultur - Zum Beitrag der 
Volkskultur, in: Bericht ueber den 19. oesterreichischen 
Historikertag, 1993; W. Jacobeit, Voelkische Wissensch., 1994.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Volkskunde|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]