Dundes, RIP

Don't know how I missed this.

Knowing the sort of humor that Dundes studied, he might appreciate some sort of macabre joke about his passing. Just can't think one up right now. There is something of the urban legend in a professor dropping dead in front of his class. I don't know how many times I've wished some of my profs would do the same.

So, I guess there's an open position in folklore at Berkeley? (Tasteless, I know)

Go out and buy "Life Is Like a Chicken Coop Ladder," I think it is the best folklore book ever.

Tackling Albion's Seed

First off, I wrote this all last week, but lost it while attempting to post onto blogger. That got rather frustrating. "Learn to save, dummy," I say to myself.

I am currently working my way through David Hackett Fischer's "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America." I became interested in this work mainly because it has become embraced by White Supremacists. I'm pretty sure this is not what Fischer had in mind when he set out to write this. I sure hope that is the case.

I have only started this immense (almost 900 pages) work, and will be reporting on it as I plug my way through. Essentially I want to know what in particular about this book is attractive to people in the white nationalist movement. And can a careful reading of this book provide clues as to Fischer's actual encouragement of such a reading? Personally, going into this book, I would guess that people of this ilk are attracted to this book because it provides a history for a people who are, in essence, rootless. We'll see.