Brazilian Folk Narrative Scholarship (RLE Folklore)

Book excerpt: Although Brazilian scholars have collected and studied folklore since the second half of the nineteenth century, their work has gone largely unnoticed by folklorists working in other parts of the world. With the exception of anthropologists who occasionally study the folk literature of indigenous peoples in Brazil, few foreigners are familiar with, or even aware of, the kinds of folklore studies that have been undertaken in that country. This work, first published in 1994, aims to characterize the nature of Brazilian narrative studies and trends; to discuss and assess the roots of the apparent preoccupations, approaches and objectives of traditional narrative scholarship in Brazil; to examine Brazilian folklore scholarship in light of Euro-American research; and to point out the results and accomplishments of Brazilian research while simultaneously indicating possibilities for new directions in research.