Folklore and Ethnology of the Modern World: A Theory of Cultural Engagement

In Folklore and Ethnology of the Modern World, Simon Bronner identifies “cultural engagements” that people use to reconcile tradition and modernity and confront the anxieties of the present by bringing together the past, often represented by tradition, and the immediate digital, unreal future.These socially bounded, symbol-laden practices integrate ritual, play, narrative, and object with the instrumental purpose of confronting paradoxes and tensions of modern life.They provide the basis for a theory of how people cope culturally with change that appears to be outside of their control. Bronner explains the social and psychological complexities of cultural engagements with case studies from different parts of the world connected by their often politicized clash between tradition and modernity.The book explains the growth of strongman contests invoking mythology, the evolving meaning of Chinese puzzle balls, the responses to suppression of naval hazing traditions in Europe and America, t