Valgevene folkloristika õnnestumised ja valupunktid 21. sajandil
Hotspots and successes in Belarusian folklore research in the 21st century

Summary/Abstract: The article gives an overview of the achievements in Belarusian folkloristics in the 21st century, highlighting the most vulnerable areas in folklore research, and trying to understand the reasons and prerequisites for successes and shortcomings in folkloristics. The author is especially concerned about the shortage of professionals in the country to block the non-scientific publications. Although entertainment-specialised publications offer the reader exiting mythology, they also contain unsubstantiated generalisations made on the basis of traditions in a narrow region. This makes detailed research into folklore as a complete historical and cultural phenomenon the more essential. Therefore, Belarusian folklorists’ most important direction of work is the recording of the folk heritage, identification of the typology of the folklore genres, determination of the spread areas of song melodies, dances, plots, motifs, and images, and preparation of collections revealing the richness of the cultural landscape of the Republic of Belarus in its regional and local peculiarities. In 2013 the Centre of Fine Arts, Ethnography, and Folklore at the Belarusian Academy of Sciences launched an annual collection of scholarly articles under the heading Belarusian Folklore: Materials and Studies. The edition has already become a fruitful and interesting platform for discussing topical problems in folklore studies. The research covers the main directions of Belarusian folkloristics, and new approaches to study and understand the traditional world of Belarusian spiritual culture.

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