Folklore and National Identity: Canadian Perspectives

Abstract

The concept of how folklore relates to national identity has been of central concern to researchers ever since theorists in the nineteenth century began to analyze peasant culture. Folklorists' early writings automatically assumed that all folklore items expressed national identity. The simple assumption was made that once folklore was documented, there soon would follow a strengthening of the idea of nationhood. Folklore, then, has always been linked to nationalistic issues and questions of national identity.