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Vol. 54 of Folklore: EJF came out
This special issue of the journal is dedicated to sport and physical movement culture, games and folk dance and is published on the occasion of the 50th jubilee of the Estonian Sports Museum.
The issue begins with an article on an extremely topical theme – doping in sport. Piret Voolaid and Liisi Laineste (Estonian Literary Museum) analyse the doping scandal that broke out in April 2011 and concerned the esteemed Estonian cross-country skier and Olympic gold medal winner, Andrus Veerpalu. The article provides a contribution to the evolution of an athlete as a mythic national hero on the Internet.
The first article is followed by two treatises on ballgames in traditional folk culture. Laurent Sébastien Fournier (University of Nantes) suggests that the example of folk football in England and Scotland enables us to better understand the relationship between sport and violence.
Junwei Yu (National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport) discusses in his article connections between baseball and magic in Taiwan, claiming that the Puyuma tribe in Taiwan indubitably applies its folk religion to baseball, and produces a unique sports phenomenon.
Two articles of the issue are dedicated to folk dance. In the first one Sille Kapper (Institute of Fine Arts, Tallinn University) offers an interesting overview of the changes in the concept of ‘folk dance’ in Estonia starting from the end of 19th century until today. Eha Rüütel, Iivi Zajedova and Angela Arraste (Institute of Fine Arts, Tallinn University) in turn analyse interviews with Estonians living abroad and try to find answers to two research questions: 1) What incentives have guided Estonians’ folk dance activity in historical perspective from World War II until today? 2) What qualities originating in Estonian folk dance have motivated people to carry on Estonian folk dance practices?
The section of research is completed by an article on playing culture. Sarita Sahay’s (School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University, Melbourne) article aims at exploring how children, particularly in rural areas of Bihar, an economically poor but culturally rich state of India, enjoy their leisure with limited resources available to them.
In addition to research articles, the special issue offers to the readers two writings in the discussion section. Kalle Voolaid (Estonian Sports Museum) introduces an interesting trend in the development of the School Olympic Games in Estonia – the use of traditional sports and games in the School Olympics programme. Dmitry Belyukov (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Velikiye Luki State Academy of Physical Education and Sports) discusses the traditions of fisticuffs in the north-west of Russia in the Early Middle Ages and in the modern world.
The special issue of Folklore: EJF has been compiled and edited by Piret Voolaid (Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum) and Kalle Voolaid (Estonian Sports Museum).
Folklore: EJF 54 can be found as a free online version at http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol54/.
