Scan barcode
kellysavagebooks's review against another edition
2.0
I almost didn't rate this because I'm not a folklore scholar, I don't know what I'm talking about. But then Jorgensen's end notes say she wrote this "so that everyone who wanted to take a folklore class but didn't get a chance in college would be able to take a quick dive into the field of academic folklore studies," so I guess I'm exactly the target audience.
This was an absolute drag to read. I understand wanting to make academia accessible, but this is very "hello, fellow kids!" You can tell this book was compiled from Jorgensen's blog posts (at one point she forgot to change "this post" to "this chapter") because the amount of repetition and re-explaining of concepts from one chapter to another added thousands of words. The chapters are only 2-6 pages long and each focus on one specific concept, so the fact that things were explained all over again rather than just saying "see chapter 2" makes me suspect that only the bare minimum amount of editing was done to compile said blog posts.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Jorgensen is vastly knowledgeable in and passionate about her field. I get the impression I'd love to meet her at a cocktail party and let her talk my ear off about folklore, and I absolutely don't doubt that she's a spectacular professor. It's just this specific book and its specific compilation I take issue with. I don't really feel like I learned much of anything (and I'm starting from 0 on folklore academia) and the notes I did take are almost exclusively from quotes pulled from other sources.
So, I don't know, I can see how this book could be a helpful jumping off point for a college course where you have a professor going deeper into each topic and assigning further reading, etc., but if you're like me and looking to learn about folklore on your own, you could probably skip this one.
This was an absolute drag to read. I understand wanting to make academia accessible, but this is very "hello, fellow kids!" You can tell this book was compiled from Jorgensen's blog posts (at one point she forgot to change "this post" to "this chapter") because the amount of repetition and re-explaining of concepts from one chapter to another added thousands of words. The chapters are only 2-6 pages long and each focus on one specific concept, so the fact that things were explained all over again rather than just saying "see chapter 2" makes me suspect that only the bare minimum amount of editing was done to compile said blog posts.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Jorgensen is vastly knowledgeable in and passionate about her field. I get the impression I'd love to meet her at a cocktail party and let her talk my ear off about folklore, and I absolutely don't doubt that she's a spectacular professor. It's just this specific book and its specific compilation I take issue with. I don't really feel like I learned much of anything (and I'm starting from 0 on folklore academia) and the notes I did take are almost exclusively from quotes pulled from other sources.
So, I don't know, I can see how this book could be a helpful jumping off point for a college course where you have a professor going deeper into each topic and assigning further reading, etc., but if you're like me and looking to learn about folklore on your own, you could probably skip this one.
ameliareadsstuff's review
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
A great introduction to the field of folklore.
Written in a conversational, occasionally humorous tone, Folklore 101 covers the basic ideas of folklore, its many 'genres', and several special topics (such as women's folklore, coding, and some important but outdated theories). Each topic is covered in a bite-sized chapter, allowing for a strong focus on one specific idea at a time.
Jorgensen is also not afraid of discussing the more unfortunate aspects of her field's past, providing perspective and showing the evolution from more stereotypical ideas of what folklore 'should' be to the broader, but also more inclusive, field that it is today.
Folklore 101 is a work focused on making the academic accessible, and on that level, it succeeds admirably. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to start learning about folklore studies, or who simply wants to have a greater understanding of what folklore truly is.
Written in a conversational, occasionally humorous tone, Folklore 101 covers the basic ideas of folklore, its many 'genres', and several special topics (such as women's folklore, coding, and some important but outdated theories). Each topic is covered in a bite-sized chapter, allowing for a strong focus on one specific idea at a time.
Jorgensen is also not afraid of discussing the more unfortunate aspects of her field's past, providing perspective and showing the evolution from more stereotypical ideas of what folklore 'should' be to the broader, but also more inclusive, field that it is today.
Folklore 101 is a work focused on making the academic accessible, and on that level, it succeeds admirably. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to start learning about folklore studies, or who simply wants to have a greater understanding of what folklore truly is.
More...