Zoofolkloristics: First Insights towards the New Discipline Cover Image

Zoofolkloristics: First Insights towards the New Discipline
Zoofolkloristics: First Insights towards the New Discipline

Author(s): Marjetka Golež Kaučić
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore
Published by: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku
Keywords: zoofolklore; zoofolkloristics; animal in folklore and literature; anthropocentrism; ecocentrism; critical animal studies

Summary/Abstract: The author notes that new, more complex researches of connections between animals, nature and connections to humans are needed in Slovenian and European folklore, literature and cultural studies, due to new ecological and ethical findings in the wider social and cultural environment and a changing order of the world, which has moved the focus from anthropocentrism into ecocentrism. The discussion builds upon various theoretical discourses, new concepts and multidisciplinary knowledge, to create the foundations, guidelines and directions for a new academic discipline of zoofolkloristics. Furthermore, new theoretical and analytical discourses should enable zoofolkloristics to provide an insight into changes in human attitudes to animals, in both folklore and within traditional and contemporary ritual practices, or their redefinition, and at the same time exert influence upon legal safety of non-human subjectivities.

  • Issue Year: 52/2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 7-30
  • Page Count: 24