1st Edition

Folklore, People, and Places International Perspectives on Tourism and Tradition in Storied Places

Edited By Jack Hunter, Rachael Ironside Copyright 2023
    244 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Folklore, People and Place is a contribution towards better understanding the complex interconnectivity of folklore, people and place, across a range of different cultural and geographical contexts. The book showcases a range of international case studies from different cultural and ecological contexts showing how folklore can and does mediate human relationships with people and place.

    Folklore has traditionally been connected to place, telling tales of the land and the real and imaginary beings that inhabit storied places. These storytelling traditions and practices have endured in a contemporary world, yet the role and value of folklore to people and places has changed. The book explores a broad range of international perspectives and considers how the relationship between folklore, people, and place has evolved for tourists and indigenous communities. It will showcase a range of international case studies from different cultural and ecological contexts showing how folklore can and does mediate human relationships with people and place. By exploring folklore in the context of tourism, this book engages in a critical discussion of the opportunities and challenges of using storied places in destination development. The case studies in the book provide an international perspective on the contemporary value of folklore to people and places engendering reflection on the role of folklore in sustainable tourism strategies.

    This book will be of interest to students, academics, researchers in fields such as anthropology, folklore, tourism, religious studies, human geography and related disciplines. It will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners of traditional ecological knowledge.

    Introduction: Mapping the Territory

    PART I: Re-making and Re-shaping the Past

    1. Rebuilding The Sacred Union with Basque Fountains and Springs by María Martínez Pisón
    2. Bedecked in Ribbons and Bows: Dressed Trees as Markers of Heritage, Hope, and Faith in Southern England by Ethan Doyle White
    3. ‘Unite and unite, and let us all unite’: The Social Role of the Calendar Custom in English Communities by Sophie Parkes-Nield
    4. ‘The spik o the place’: dialect and its place in the folkloric cultures and traditions in North-East Scotland by Peter H. Reid
    5. Folklore, Story and Place: An Irish Tradition with Vast Touristic Value by Shane Broderick
    6. PART II: Folklore and Indigenous Landscapes

    7. Wildness Makes This World by Matthew Cowan
    8. Sacred Anishinaabeg Folklore: Okikendawt Mnisiing, The Island of the Sacred Kettles by Renée E. Mazinegiizhigoo-kwe Bédard
    9. Break in the Reef of Time: An Indigenous Science approach to the Olowalu petroglyphs on Maui by Apela Colorado and Ryan Hurd
    10. Creating La Cuna del Folklore Nacional: The Colonization of Indigenous Celebrations, Legends, and Landscapes in Nicaraguan State Heritage Tourism by Paul Edward Montgomery Ramírez
    11. Tasting the Intangible: Examples of Communication from Sápmi by Kajsa G. Åberg and Doris A. Carson
    12. PART III: Reimagining folklore in a globalised world: tourism, placemaking and re-enchantment

    13. A City Made of Stories: Re-Enchantment and Narrative Placemaking in Madrid by Leticia Cortina Aracil
    14. The Folklore of the Subterranean: The Spectres of the Underground in Dudley Tourist Sites by Sian MacFarlane
    15. Ghosts, Extraterrestrials and (Re-)Enchantment: Possibilities and Challenges in Post-Secular Tourism by Eva Kingsepp
    16. Mythical Park: Reflections on Folklore, its Natural Environment and Tourism by Katja Hrobat Virloget
    17. Virtually Haunted Places: Armchair Ghost Tours Through Weird Space by Alicia Edwards-Boon

    Concluding Remarks: Exploring Further

    Biography

    Jack Hunter, PhD, is an Honorary Research Fellow with the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre, and a tutor with the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, where he is lead tutor on the MA in Ecology and Spirituality and teaches on the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology.

    Rachael Ironside, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at Robert Gordon University, Scotland. Her research interests focus on the role of supernatural folklore, and how it impacts our experience and understanding of place and cultural heritage.