OCR Text |
Show 202 bettering the living conditions, material or moral, of the groups classifying and analyzing the data they gather. For example, the studies made on the primitive notions about illnesses and therapy or about droughts have not contributed to improving the health of the natives or counter-acting droughts by means of irrigation. Such studies are only of academic interest. In this article the writer makes the following suggestions: a) that constructive conclusions be drawn from the fund of folklore material in order to benefit the groups studied; b) that the study of the folklore of a certain native group be undertaken in cooperation with other specialists, who shall interpret the folklore findings in terms of the biogeographic and social environment in question. This would be done with a view to drawing conclusions of practical value for the natives concerned; c) that when such cooperative scientific enterprise is impossible and when the student of folklore is obliged to work single-handed, he should try to make practical suggestions based on his findings, which will be helpful later to other specialists who study the group in question. Villa Rojas, Alfonso (Mexico), "Significado y Valor Practico del Folklore," America Indigena, V, No. 4 (October, 1945), Mexico, D.F., pp. 295- 302. English summary: The principal aim of this article is to point out some of the possibilities and limitations of folklore as a branch of applied knowledge. For his purposes, the writer divides his subject in three parts: the first section defines the specific field of folklore; this is done in the hope of reducing the ambiguities and confusions now existing. The second section presents a brief review of the academic bases for the study of folklore; the object of this review is to give some of the theoretical aspects to be taken into account in dealing with the practical value of folklore investigation. The final section deals solely with the practical value of folklore. Here the writer stresses the importance of taking the sociological content of folklore material into consideration. 1946 Metraux, Alfred (Estados Unidos), "Dios Supremo, los Creadores Heroes Culturales en la Mitologia Sudamericana," America Indigena, VI, No. 1 (January, 1946), Mexico, D.F., pp. .9-25. English summary: The tradition of a Creator or Great Ancestor who made the world or mankind and set humanity on its way to civilization, is probably general throughout South America. An Originator and Civilizer of this kind could easily become a Supreme Being or a High God; this change seems to have taken place in ancient Peru where Viracocha was both a Culture hero and a High God. It is difficult to decide whether the conception of the Supreme Being among the Araucanians was pre-European or came of the Araucanians' long contact with White people. Belief in a High God was one of the most fundamental concepts of the religion of the tribes of Tierra del Fuego. The |