RASTI, Malikeh. Animals as Real Animals or Animals as Absent Referents? A comparative Study of Folk English and Persian Lullabies. In Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference, Reykjavik 13-16 June 2022. 2022.
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Basic information
Original name Animals as Real Animals or Animals as Absent Referents? A comparative Study of Folk English and Persian Lullabies
Authors RASTI, Malikeh.
Edition Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference, Reykjavik 13-16 June 2022, 2022.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Presentations at conferences
Field of Study 60206 Specific literatures
Country of publisher Iceland
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/re22/paper/66948
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English Animal studies; Absent referent; English lullabies; Persian lullabies; Folk Literature
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. Jana Pelclová, Ph.D., učo 39970. Changed: 22/1/2023 17:54.
Abstract
“It must be remembered that the dance was not the only primitive activity, the rhythm of which evoked that of song. The rocking of the cradle was another” (Opie 19) Being highly cultural, lullabies-genesis of all songs- are a significant genre of Folk Literature in almost every nation. Assuming the age of lullabies to be at least 4000 years, they include various themes from which this article is supposed to study the themes of animals (as well as birds and insects) in selected folk English and Persian lullabies. Furthermore, the present paper discusses how the concept of animals is represented in the lullabies regarding the term “absent referent”-“a subject whose identity becomes lost in a one-sided metaphorical comparison meant to illustrate the condition of another” (De Angelis 232)- coined by the feminist literary theorist, Carol J. Adams presented in her book, The Sexual Politics of Meat. While specifically comparing and contrasting how these two culturally and linguistically different languages have employed animals, this article identifies the animality of animals in these folk songs to distinguish literary or folk animals from real ones. Studying some showcases of folk English and Persian lullabies, this article argues to what extent English and Persian lullaby singers not only have not seen animals as the objects representing the human traits and features, but also have been aware of their existence as real animals. Hereby, the lullaby singer is acting as a camera or a reporter that records and tells of the life of animals. Nevertheless, they have also employed animals in some lullabies as the absent referents to nurture the infants depicting some animals that have metamorphosed into human beings who can talk, sleep and live as they do.
Links
MUNI/A/1478/2021, interní kód MUName: Paradigms, strategies and developments - Anglophone literary and cultural studies II
Investor: Masaryk University
PrintDisplayed: 1/9/2024 08:28