Tradition, Modernity, Identity 
Diarmuid Ó Giolláin 
Published by Cork University Press

Folklore is variously subject matter and critical discourse, amateur enthusiasm and academic discipline, residual agrarian culture and popular urban culture of the present, as well as a resource for local historians and for committed nation builders. As an introduction to folklore from an Irish perspective, this book plots the development of the notion of folklore and locates it historically, politically and socially. Locating Irish Folklore examines the pivotal role folklore has played in identity formation but it also questions the usefulness of the concept today in an era of unprecedented cultural circulation.
There are few countries that offer as much scope for an analysis of this sort as Ireland. The author usefully locates the Irish experience within a comparative, interdisciplinary framework, using European folklore and ethnological research and Latin American cultural theory among other analytical perspectives. The first of its kind, this book is a key text for the study of folklore and will be of interest to anyone working in the area of folklore and ethnology, anthropology and cultural studies.

(Diarmuid Ó Giolláin teaches folklore and ethnology in University College, Cork)