Tracking Traditions

Did you realize you are fostering traditions every day? According to folklorists, we fashion traditions with our words, hands, actions, and, beliefs. A classic example of where this happens might be around the holidays or even just our daily experiences. Professional folklorist, Jill Rudy, visits with Rachel Wadham on “Worlds Awaiting,” about our remarkable capacity as humans to establish and preserve what folklorists call “texts”—what you and I normally call traditions. Professor Rudy, of the BYU English Department, researches the history of American folklore scholarship, folk narratives, fairy tales in the media, family folklore, and foodways.