Worldviews and the American West: the life of the place itself

• Other Authors: Stewart, Polly, Siporin, Steve, Sullivan, C. W., III, Jones, Suzi
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Colorado State University. Libraries 2007
• Subjects: Minorities > West (U.S.) > Social life and customs; Ethnophilosophy > West (U.S.); Folklore > West (U.S.); Group identity > West (U.S.); West (U.S.) > Ethnic relations; West (U.S.) > Civilization; West (U.S.) > In literature; Elliott; Griffith; Lopez; Sullivan; Venn; tlingit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/87822

Edited by Polly Stewart, Steve Siporin, C. W. Sullivan III, and Suzi Jones. Includes bibliographical references. A diverse group of writers and scholars follow the lead of noted folklorist Barre Toelken and consider, from the inside, the ways in which varied cultures in the American West understand and express their relations to the world around them. As Barre Toelken puts it in The Dynamics of Folklore, '''Worldview' refers to the manner in which a culture sees and expresses its relation to the world around it. 1. Introduction, The Editors, Personal Essay -- 2. Language of Animals / Barry Lopez -- Song -- 3. Faith of our Fathers / George Venn -- 4. Blue Shadows on Human Drama: The Western Songscape / Hal Cannon -- Objects -- 5. A Diversity of Dead Helpers: Folk Saints of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands / James S. Griffith -- 6. Icons of Immortality: Forest Lawn and the American Way of Death / Elliott Oring -- 7. Ride 'Em, Barbie Girl: Commodifying Folklore, Place, and the Exotic / Jeannie B. Thomas -- 8. Tall Tales and Sales / Steve Siporin -- Narrative -- 9. Jesse James: An American Outlaw / C.W. Sullivan III -- 10. John Campbell's Adventure, and the Ecology of Story / Jarold Ramsey -- 11. Raven and the Tide: A Tlingit Narrative / Nora Marks Dauenhauer editor, Richard Dauenhauer, editor -- Groups -- 12. "Two Moonlight Rides and a Picnic Lunch": Memories of Childhood in a Logging Community / Twilo Scofield -- 13. In Her Own Words: Women's Frontier Friendships in Letters, Diaries, and Reminiscences / Margaret K. Brady -- 14. Concept of the West and Other Hindrances to the Study of Mormon Folklore / William A. Wilson -- 15. Coquelle Indians and the Cultural "Black Hole" of the Southern Oregon Coast / George B. Wasson -- 16. Visible Landscapes/Invisible People: Negotiating the Power of Representation in a Mining Community / Robert McCarl -- Personal Essay -- 17. Local Character / Kim Stafford.