Asian Folklore Studies articles from October 2006

Asian Folklore Studies archives from October 2006

Editor's introduction.(animals in folklore)(Editorial)
October 1, 2006... WITH THE present issue Asian Folklore Studies (formerly Folklore Studies) completes sixty-five years of publication. For a human being it would be the time for retirement or, for those with a more forward-oriented attitude, the time to start a...

The fox in world literature: reflections on a "fictional animal".
October 1, 2006... THE FOX (vulpes vulpes), which includes the red fox, the cross fox, and the arctic fox, among others, lives all over Europe, West and East Asia, and in many parts of North America (ZIMEN 1980, 2; BURROWS and MATZEN 1972).* Hardly any other...

Myths and traditional beliefs about the wolf and the crow in Central Asia: examples from the Turkic Wu-Sun and the Mongols.
October 1, 2006... ACCORDING to the material at hand, it seems that among the peoples of the Altaic language group traditional beliefs about the wolf and the crow had been extant from ancient to recent times, and that there were mythical traditions backing up...

Preaching the animal realm in late medieval Japan.
October 1, 2006... AMONG the most striking artifacts of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Japanese religious culture is a group of paintings of the ten worlds of enlightened and non-enlightened existence known as Kumano kanor jin jikkai mandara [TEXT NOT...

Symbolic animals in the land between the waters: markers of place and transition.
October 1, 2006... ONE EVENING in East lava, I heard a cicak (small house-lizard; Hemidactylus frenatus) chatter quite excitedly. (1) Since cicak there are reputed to be consummate gossips, I perked up my ears: was it true what they said about Mrs. A? Did Mr. B's...

Embodying evil and bad luck: stray notes on the folklore of bats in southwest Asia.
October 1, 2006... BEFORE introducing ethnographic notes on bat folklore in the region between Iran and Rajasthan, it seems appropriate to take a brief look at the zoology of these misunderstood and feared animals (FENTON 1983; FENTON 1992). * A characteristic...

Culture and knowledge of the sacred instrument Qeej in the Mong-American community.
October 1, 2006... THE Qeej is the sacred, ritual funerary instrument of the Mong. (1) It is made of six bamboo pipes and a wooden chamber similar to a wind chest, (2) through which the voice intones a highly stylized and ritualistic language. The Qeej makes a...

Ema Shu's "The Mountain Folk": fictionalized ethnography and veiled dissent.(Critical essay)
October 1, 2006... ANTHROPOLOGISTS, historians, and folklorists alike struggle with the problem of recovering the past experiences of "ordinary" people--that is, those who constitute the vast majority in any population. Memories are selective and often suffused...

Narrative "Lore" and Legend from Saurashtra (India): gems waiting to be polished.(Oral Traditions of Saurashtra)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... MEGHANI, JHAVERCHAND. Oral Traditions of Saurashtra series. I: A Noble Heritage: Short Stories Based on Saurashtra's Folklore; II: The Shade Crimson: Short Stories Based on Saurashtra's Folklore; III: A Ruby Shattered: Love Legends of...

MacDonald, Margaret Read. Ten Traditional Tellers.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... MACDONALD, MARGARET READ. Ten Traditional Tellers. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006. xvi + 213 pages. Illustrations, bibliography, index. Paper US$20; ISBN-10: 0-252-07297. Cloth US$50; ISBN-10: 0-252-03055-9. The book...

Balcom, John, and Yingtsih Balcom, Editors, translators. Indigenous Writers of Taiwan: An Anthology of Stories, Essays and Poems.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... BALCOM, JOHN, and YINGTSIH BALCOM, Editors, translators. Indigenous Writers of Taiwan: An Anthology of Stories, Essays & Poems. Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. xxiv + 194 pages. Map,...

DuBois, Thomas David. The Sacred Village: Social Change and Religious Life in Rural North China.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... DUBOIS, THOMAS DAVID. The Sacred Village: Social Change and Religious Life in Rural North China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. 275 pages. ISBN 0-8248-2837-2. The Sacred Village is a historical and anthropological study of...

Goossaert, Vincent. L'interdit du boeuf en Chine. Agriculture, ethique et sacrifice.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... GOOSSAERT, Vincent. L'interdit du boeuf en Chine. Agriculture, ethique et sacrifice. Bibliotheque de l'Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, Volume XXXIV. Paris: College de France, 2005. 320 pages. Illustrations, bibliography, index. Paper, EUR...

Von Glahn, Richard. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... VON GLAHN, RICHARD. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xiii + 385 pages. Maps, illustrations, tables, bibliography, glossary, index. Cloth US$55.00, 36.95...

Lam Tuyen Tinh, translated and annotated by Honda Mamoru. LangBiang no jiseki: Betonamu Chubu shosuminzoku no kodensho [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].(Legends from the LangBiang Highlands: Folklores of minority groups in Central Vietnam)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... LAM TUYEN TINH, translated and annotated by Honda Mamoru. LangBiang no jiseki: Betonamu Chubu shosfiminzoku no kodensho [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [Legends from the LangBiang Highlands: Folklores of minority groups in Central Vietnam]....

Tule, Philipus. Longing for the House of God, Dwelling in the House of the Ancestors: Local Belief and Christianity, and Islam among the Keo of Central Flores.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... TULE, PHILIPUS. Longing for the House of God, Dwelling in the House of the Ancestors: Local Belief and Christianity, and Islam among the Keo of Central Flores. Studia Instituti Anthropos 50. Fribourg: Academic Press, 2004. xiv + 366 pages....

Gongboo Sayrung (author); Losang Sodnum and Tsepakgyap (illustrations). Tibetan Childhood.(Jahzong: Tibetan Tribal Hero)(Tibetan Village Wedding)(The Perfection of Wisdom)(Tibetan Woman's Life)(Book review)(Video recording review)
October 1, 2006... GONGBOO SAYRUNG (author); LOSANG SODNUM and TSEPAKGYAP (illustrations). Tibetan Childhood. http://www.lulu.com/content/188312, 2005. 144 pages. Numerous illustrations. Paperback, US$8.99; download: 1 document, US$1.58. GUHRUH (author),...

Soren, Sagram Santosh Kumar, Compiler. Santalia: Catalogue of Santali Manuscripts in Oslo.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... SOREN, SAGRAM SANTOSH KUMAR, Compiler. Santalia: Catalogue of Santali Manuscripts in Oslo. NIAS Reports, No. 41. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1999. x + 180 pages. Bibliography, index. Paper US$19.95; 14.99 [pounds sterling];...

Canova, Giovanni, Editor. Studies on Arabic Epics: Oriente Moderno.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... CANOVA, GIOVANNI, Editor. Studies on Arabic Epics: Oriente Moderno. Vol. XXII (LXXXIII), n.s., 2-2003, (Special issue). Roma: Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino, 2004. ISSN 0030-5472. Arabic folk epics, (siyar; singular: sirah, which...

Hurreiz, Sayyid Hamid. Folklore and Folklife in the United Arab Emirates.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... HURREIZ, SAYYID HAMID. Folklore and Folklife in the United Arab Emirates. Culture and Civilization in the Middle East. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. xiv + 192 pages. Map, illustrations, bibliography, glossary, appendices, index. Hardcover...