Ancestor worship, or filial piety so characteristic of Asian cultures, for example, does not really resonate with Americans who favor children, not grandparents. Alan Dundes Read Quote
Life, it seems, is nothing if not a series of initiations, transitions, and incorporations. Alan Dundes Read Quote
If a student takes the whole series of my folklore courses including the graduate seminars, he or she should learn something about fieldwork, something about bibliography, something about how to carry out library research, and something about how to publish that research. Alan Dundes Read Quote
The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more, but I always insist upon reading all the student folklore collections myself. Although this is a tall order, I look forward to it because I learn so much from it. Alan Dundes Read Quote
They do not merely collect texts; they must also gather data about the context and the informant and, above all, write an analysis of the items based upon the course readings and lecture material on folklore theory and method. Alan Dundes Read Quote
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. Alan Dundes Read Quote
Their term project consists of a fieldwork collection of folklore that they create by interviewing family members, friends, or anyone they can manage to persuade to serve as an informant. Alan Dundes Read Quote
In my introductory course, Anthropology 160, the Forms of Folklore, I try to show the students what the major and minor genres of folklore are, and how they can be analyzed. Alan Dundes Read Quote
I have a great advantage over many of my colleagues inasmuch as my students bring with them to class their own personal knowledge of national, regional, religious, ethnic, occupational, and family folklore traditions. Alan Dundes Read Quote
My academic identity is that of a folklorist, and for many years I have taught only folklore courses. Alan Dundes Read Quote
