Question

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

Mia...apologies for taking so long to respond to your post. However, I hope
the following does so. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate
to be in touch.

Ok...there was a lot of work done by Dr. Robert Redfield out of the School
of Anthropology at the University of Chicago back in the 1950/60s. You are
correct, a lot of his data came from North, South and Mezo America,
particularly, Yucatan.

What they did, was to visit communities, globally, maintaining extensive
field notes. This information was then fleeced out into what they developed
into a concept of an 'ideal folk society'. The 'clinch' term here is
'ideal'. No where does this 'ideal folk society' exist. However, societies,
on a global scale and excluding 'urban societies', will demonstrate any
number of the characteristics, more or less. In the abstract to his article
"The Folk Society" in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LII, January,
1947, he states that the ideal folk society will be:

small, isolated, non-literate, and homogenous, with a strong sense of
solidarity. . . . Behavior is traditional, spontaneous, uncritical, and
personal; there is no legislation, experiment, or reflection for
intellectual ends. Relationships and institutions are the type categories of
experience and the family is the unit of action. The sacred prevails over
the secular; the economy is one of status rather than of market.

There is nothing in the above abstract that would deter from anything you
suggest in your own post. Actually, I might suggest that it would re-enforce
what you are saying when both your post and the abstract are given a 'very'
close reading.

Redfield's intent was to develop a continuum from folk society to urban
society...a sliding scale along which one could move the marker as an
analytical tool.

Further work was done on this by Dr. Robert K. Thomas, a Cherokee and
Anthropologist and a student of Redfield, to extend the continuum to include
'tribal societies' as one end of the continuum and urban societies at the
other end of the slide. That also was extended by Dr. Merle Jackson from
Harvard School of Anthropology to include in an unfinished hypothesis that
the fourth element of the continuum would be 'bureaucratic society'. Thus
the continuum would appear as:  tribal society - folk society - urban
society - bureaucratic society. Each society would display characteristics
unique to each and others which would not be exclusive. It has to be
remembered this is a sliding scale.

These, you must remember, are not intended to be value judgments or
statements of quality, they are statements of 'fit'.

-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon




----- Original Message -----
From: "MiaKalish at LFP" <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question


> Well that sounds very interesting, Rolland.
>
> I am kind of interested in how one characterizes a 'folk culture'. The
> original inhabitants of North & South American were very sophisticated in
> math, science and communication. However, since the colonists annihilated
> all the leaders and the the medicine people who maintained, shared and
> spread such information, and since people recording language only asked
> questions that paralled their European culture, a lot was lost.
>
> Here, we have writing on the rocks, and languages scripted through various
> lengths of time.
>
> Are you in Canada? I looked up www.shaw.ca, and it seems to be a cable or
> satellite tv company. Yes?
>
> Mia
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rolland Nadjiwon" <mikinakn at SHAW.CA>
> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 10:01 AM
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question
>
>
>> Thank you Mia for responding...the only posts I have received are from
>> yourself, now, and Phil earlier telling me we are still up and running.
>> However, apparently, I am still capable of receiving and sending.
>>
>> I find the postings interesting and thought provoking although I am not a
>> linguist. My field is literary and critical theory. Within that, I have
> been
>> interested in the psychocultural impact of folk/tribal cultures moving
> from
>> a primary orality to writing, even rudimentary.
>>
>> -------
>> wahjeh
>> rolland nadjiwon
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "MiaKalish at LFP" <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>
>> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 11:34 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question
>>
>>
>> >I think so. We got email just last week when Phil added [ILAT] to the
>> > subject line, and there were some messages from Dr. Penfield.
>> >
>> > Mia
>>
>>
>