Tradition Quotes by Alan Dundes

Folklore provides a socially sanctioned outlet for the discussion of the forbidden and taboo.

— Alan Dundes

The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more, but I always insist upon reading all the student…

— Alan Dundes

Their term project consists of a fieldwork collection of folklore that they create by interviewing family members, friends, or anyone they can manage to…

— Alan Dundes

In the light of our culture, these are not unreasonable questions and tactics, but if once again, we try to see the lens through…

— Alan Dundes

The study of folklore is largely the study of particular folklore genres: myth, folktale, legend, ballad, proverb, riddle, superstition, etc.

— Alan Dundes

Cities all over the world are getting bigger as more and more people move from rural to urban sites, but that has created enormous…

— Alan Dundes

I have a great advantage over many of my colleagues inasmuch as my students bring with them to class their own personal knowledge of…

— Alan Dundes

Americans do believe in progress and there is almost certainly a kernel of truth in the joke.

— Alan Dundes

Americans have a penchant for the future and tend to disregard the past.

— Alan Dundes

I mentioned that one of the tripartite formulas in American worldview involves time: past, present, and future.

— Alan Dundes

My academic identity is that of a folklorist, and for many years I have taught only folklore courses.

— Alan Dundes

In my introductory course, Anthropology 160, the Forms of Folklore, I try to show the students what the major and minor genres of folklore…

— Alan Dundes