Surabaya 鈥 HUMAS | FISIP Unair once again held a guest lecture on Friday (10/02/2023). This time, FISIP Unair invited Prof. 脺lo Valk, a professor from Estonian and Comparative Folklore Department, University of Tartu. 脺lo’s focus is on local beliefs, place-lore and folklore in a social context. 脺lo delivered his lecture entitled 鈥淎sian Folklore and How It Affects Society鈥.
脺lo started the guest lecture by first defining 鈥渇辞濒办鈥. 脺lo took the opinion of Alan Dundes (1934-2005) who said that folk is a group of people who share at least one thing in common, such as occupation, language and religion. However, the most important thing is that they share the traditions that are their own.
In the current era, folklore is something that cannot be separated from society. Furthermore, there is a reciprocal relationship between tradition and social environment. One of the folklore that can be found today is place-lore. According to 脺lo, place-lore is a place that has an attachment to a group both emotionally and historically.
脺lo gave the example of Sunan Ampel’s grave which is one of the place-lores in Surabaya. “I’ve been to the Tomb of Sunan Ampel where I saw many pilgrims visiting there. They pray together, read the Quran together, and so on,鈥 said 脺lo in the middle of his presentation.
In addition, folklore can increase people’s awareness about who they are and where they come from. Moreover, folklore can be a medium of resistance for society. Therefore, during the Soviet communist era, folklore was so limited for political reasons. Their goal is of course to eliminate the sense of awareness from the community.
In closing, 脺lo said that studying folklore can be done through various approaches, such as through ethnographic orientation, beliefs, religious institutions, social reality, social environment, and communication in society. Indirectly, folklore describes the norms that apply in society and how folklore carries the values held by society.
Guest lecture from Prof. 脺lo Valk received quite high enthusiasm from the participants. Several guest lecture participants held questions and answers with 脺lo regarding the future of folklore and how students take part in preserving folklore. 鈥淭hank you so much for coming here. Hopefully my material will be useful for your future studies,鈥 added 脺lo while concluding the guest lecture session.
This article reflects the value of the 4th SDGs Quality Education and the 17th Partnership for the Goals (AS).
