Abstract
MR. R. U. SAYCE discusses folk-life in his presidential address to Section H (Anthropology). Until about 1914, Britain occupied a well-recognized place in the front rank of folk studies ; but since that time it has been falling further and further behind, and appears to a great extent to have lost touch with the developments that have taken place in European countries. A few scholars continue to produce work of distinction ; but they lack a common meeting ground, where adequate discussion can stimulate thought and help them to see their special problems in relation to the whole. There are even societies devoted to dialects and place-names, beliefs and customs, dance and song, which have scarcely any contact with one another, although they are all concerned with the culture of the folk. In spite of this fragmentation, we are realizing, as general ethnologists have already done, that a culture must be studied as a whole. This, of course, makes our studies more complex, but also far more interesting. It also needs special training ; the student of folk-life must know something of the methods of, and the results achieved by, archaeology, history, psychology, anthropology. to say nothing about architecture, agriculture, technology, etc. There can be little doubt that the present unsatisfactory state of British studies in this field is due largely to the failure of the universities to provide the necessary training.
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Investigation of Folk-Life in Britain and Abroad. Nature 162, 403 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162403a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162403a0