Secrets of the Extraordinary Ordinary: The Revelations of Folklore and Anthropology

The basic principle of folklore is constant—unveiling the hidden riches within the ordinary things of everyday life, contributing to the humanities. Examples include studying orality, life stories of obscure individuals, practices of hidden amateur musicians via ethnography rather than written scores, and research by scholars outside formal institutions. An important new topic, being explored by folklorists and anthropologists, is the area of noetics, psychic studies, heightened or altered consciousness, and the shared mind. This has a long history in antiquity, the middle ages, and eastern philosophies, covering dreaming, contact with the dead, experiencing music, and new perspectives on consciousness. Consolidating these into a recognized field linked across disciplines would greatly benefit the humanities.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The basic principle of folklore is constant—unveiling the hidden riches within the ordinary things of everyday life: a fine contribution to, and coordination with, the humanities. Examples are the study of the oral/orality; life stories of the obscure; practices of ‘hidden’ amateur musicians, studied ethnographically rather than through written scores or the ‘great’ composers; research by scholars outside the formal institutions of higher learning. An important new topic now being embarked on, in a scattered way, by folklorists and anthropologists, is the area known by such terms as ‘noetics’, ‘psychic studies’, ‘heightened/altered consciousness’, ‘the shared mind’, and the like. With a long history (too often disregarded in conventional scholarship) in antiquity, the middle ages, and eastern philosophies, this concerns such topics as dreaming; contact with and from the dead; experiencing music; and new, popularly but not academically acclaimed, perspectives on consciousness within innovative scientific thinking. Taking such studies further and, in particular, as folklorists and anthropologist have the capacity and interest to do, consolidating them into a new and fully recognized field of study together with linking this with endeavors across the disciplines, scientific as well as humanistic, will be of the greatest benefit for the humanities as a whole.