| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Alf, 1954-
(author)
-
Tell your story, save our community : raising local consciousness and reinforcing political mobilization in Bjurholm through storytelling
- 2022
-
In: Folklore. - : The Folklore Society. - 0015-587X .- 1469-8315. ; 133:4, s. 511-525
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present article focuses on how storytelling events serve as a tool in reinforcing local identity. The case study presented here centres on Bjurholm, a small rural town in northern Sweden, where a local storytelling society called Bjurholms Berättarakademi has been emphasizing municipal community building as a singularly important task. Initially offering public storytelling evenings and festivals celebrating prominent local storytellers, it soon shifted strategy and instead concentrated on storytelling in schools and villages, by pupils and villagers, and addressing urgent local topics at special events. The tenuousness of relying on only a handful of activists and the problem of continuity has been countered through collaboration with other local societies, as well as by embracing new media.
|
|
| 2. |
- Kuusela, Tommy, 1979-
(author)
-
Spirited Away by the Female Forest Spirit in Swedish Folk Belief
- 2020
-
In: Folklore. - London : The Folklore Society. - 0015-587X .- 1469-8315. ; 131:2, s. 159-179
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article explores the Swedish belief in the skogsrå, an anthropomorphic female forest spirit, as the cause for people being spirited away or getting lost in forests. In the folk narratives, she is a dangerous seductress who possesses untamed sexuality and is threatening to men who work in or close to forests. The forest was a dangerous otherworld, fundamentally different from the world of humans. The forest spirit represents wild nature, as a counter-image to cultural order. Furthermore, the article compares the belief in a female forest spirit as the active agent in Swedish folklore to the concept of metsänpeitto ‘forest cover’ in Finnish folklore, where the forest itself is the active agent. Legends reinforce the danger of getting lost in a forest, especially in dense forests like those found in Sweden and Finland.
|
|
