Reading for 1/29

The first article titled "Kentuckians" by Ronald Baker, was a series of jokes heard in Indiana about people from Kentucky. Many early Indiana residents migrated from Kentucky to the state. Northerners liked to look down on Southerners in this time period, so jokes were a good way to make derogatory comments about another group of people. Residents of Indiana did not want to be identified with the southern "hillbillies" of Kentucky, so they used jokes as a way to show their superiority over their southern neighbors. Most of the jokes were directed at Kentuckians lack of education and stupidity. This was to illustrate that Indiana residents were not rednecks like people from Kentucky were, but more sophisticated.
The second article titles Indiana Story teller by Herbert Halpert, was a series of stories recorded from a Bloomington resident named Jim Pennington. Jim had lived in Indiana most of his life and collected stories from many different people. He recalled times in his youth when the only entertainment in town was to trade stories back and forth with one another to pass the time. Many of the stories are considered tall tales. None of them have any real truth to them but some have a kind of hidden message to them. Some stories were about catching a giant fish, or killing hundreds of animals with one bullet while hunting. Many of the stories had to do with good or bad luck.
I personally feel like jokes about people from Kentucky are evolving into jokes about people from Southern Indiana. Northern Indiana and Southern Indiana are two completely different areas geographically, culturally, economically, and ethnically. I have heard many derogatory comments growing up about people from Southern Indiana much more than jokes about people from Kentucky. It's very possible that Kentucky jokes are more used in Southern Indiana than from I am from. 
The story telling article was an interesting read. People collect coins, art, music; but Jim collected stories. He could remember where and who he learned most of his stories, connecting them to a point in his life. The stories came from many other people, but became a part of Jim's identity as a story teller. The stories seemed like a way to add comedy or tragedy to normal day activities like farming or hunting.

Questions to consider:
1.  Why do you think it was necessary for people from Indiana to develop jokes as a way to make themselves superior to Kentuckians?
2. Technology is making face to face communication less and less over time. Will this cause tall tales and stories to disappear from every day life?

Origins of Hoosier

In this excerpt, Ronald L. Baker describes a few different stories about the origin of the term Hoosier. Ask any Indiana native what Hoosier means or where it came from and they most likely won't know, or have varying ideas about its origins. The first theory presented comes from the term husher. Kentuckians would travel to Indiana and bring back stories of great land, lots of trees, and other great things. The pennsylvania dutch refused to believe their stories and labeled them hushers which evolved into hoosier. The next theory described comes from the term "who's there" or "who's er." People often stopped at cabins during their travels. When they would stop at a cabin, the person inside would shout out "who's er?" Through the walls of the cabin is would sound like "hoosier?" The last theory described comes from the saying "who's ear." One story says that there was a bar in town that had an ear in a jar. When people came to the bar they would ask "Who's ear?" Another form of this story says that after bar fights, the patrons would come back the next day, find an ear on the floor, and ask "Who's ear?" This eventually evolved to hoosier.

The story that I have heard, and believe to be true, is the story about the travelers going to the cabins and the residents asking who's there? When you mix that saying with the dialect of a lot of Indiana residents, it's easy to see why most people heard hoosier.

Discussion Questions:
Are there any other stories that you have heard about the origin of the term Hoosier?
What does Hoosier mean to you?
How has the term Hoosier evolved from the past to the present?

Response to Brewster articles

These two articles show the vast amount of sayings that are used in Indiana. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of different sayings that were recorded by Brewster during his fieldwork within the state. Many of the sayings relate humans to animals or to something in nature. This could be why sayings can become regional and not spread. The sayings are developed as a response to ones environment. Many of them are ways to describe people by the certain traits. These traits can be physical, mental, or social.

These sayings are almost like a secret language known only to the people living in a certain geographical area. They can be ways to bond community members together through common speech. They are also a way to spice up language and make it more fun. You could say, "wow that guy is really tall!" or you could say, "he is long for this world if he dies tomorrow!"  It is just a more fun way to talk.

Discucssion Questions:
What is your favorite saying from the articles?
Why are so many of the sayings ways to demean people without outright saying it?

Notes on Indiana Speech

The article, Notes on Indiana Speech by V.E. Gibbons, analyzes various sayings that are used in the state of Indiana. The first saying that he analyzed was the term "any more." To be honest I did not know that this was an Indiana saying. I have used this saying before. An example of its use would be, "They just don't make them like they used to any more." The next sayings that he analyzed for the most part unknown to me. I have never heard anyone use the terms lizard, goose-drownder, or hay-doodle. The author apparently hasn't heard these phrases used either, which makes me question why he included them in the article.

It's interesting to find out that sayings that you considered to be a part of everyday speech are actually a regional dialect. I never really considered any more to be isolated to Indiana. Some other sayings that I recognized and didn't realize were native to Indiana were "whole kit n' caboodle" and "ugly as sin."

Discussion Questions:
What are some factors that make regional sayings and dialects remain in one place and not spread to the rest of the country?
How would you use "couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a banjo" in a sentence?!?
Are there any other Indiana sayings that you can think of that are not mentioned in the article?

Fieldwork in the City

Richard Dorson spent some time in the Calumet Region of Indiana performing research on the folklore of the region. He began the research by specifically focusing on the the steel mills, the white flight taking place, crime, and decline of the downtown. This article hit close to home for me, because I have family from East Chicago and am pretty familiar with the area.

Doing fieldwork in an urban environment is much different than in a small town. There is obviously many more people, and many more groups and sub-groups to consider. The most important way to begin is to find, what Dorson refers to as bridge contacts. These are people that are willing to work with you and are able to put you in contact with other people to aid you in your research. Dorson found these contacts through a class he taught at the local university, and in a local restaurant where he befriended the owner. His other method was to check the newspaper for local community events. Public events are a great way to get an insiders view of a certain group of people.

In the field, it is necessary to have the proper equipment in order to record the stories and actions of whatever group you are studying. Dorson suggests to always have a tape recorder with you and pen and paper to capture what is going on. In the case of a large church service, or musical performance, this may not be enough. He saved the fliers for these types of events, recorded as much as possible, and wrote a sort of diary to encapsulate the event as much as possible. I think that the key to urban fieldwork is finding the right contacts, and recording as much as possible.  

Thoughts on Bill Ivey article

The article "Folklore, Art, and Indiana" by Bill Ivey focused on the idea of art having a more prominent place in our society. In the recent past, funding has been cut from many art programs around the country. Ivey argues that art is "central to community and family life." He believes that art is used as a way to communicate the values and heritage of a particular group of people to the outside world. I liked how he said that artists should be looked upon just as any other type of worker would be. They are fulfilling a need of our society to present and memorialize our folklore.  He also stated that a sculptor need not just be a sculptor but can be an architect or a designer. A writer can be a teacher. Art can become a part of everyone's lives. "Our expressive lives constitute the basic currency of civil society." This statement really intrigued me. Without the ability to be expressive and artistic our society loses its civility. Our country has become an every man for himself kind of society. Communication and expression between citizens, even neighbors, has become minimized. Perhaps this lack of expression is cause for some of the recent violence that has occurred. Increasing arts in everyday life could have a positive impact in this case.

First blog post!

Excited for the rest of this semester!