Argentinean and Slovenian folk narrative collections: a comparative approach

Abstract

Argentina and Slovenia are young nations whose folk narrative archives share distinctive features. This article analyzes some of these distinctive features, departing from a diachronic overview of folk narrative collections of both countries. The way of organizing collections in both cases shows the influence of different trends in Folklore studies, understanding Folklore as an aesthetic expression of social local identities. The analytic approach to Argentinean and Slovenian collections is aimed to highlight the relevance of the folk narrative archives to construct traditions and social memories, not only by preserving the heritage of the past but also by updating traditions in the present. From this point of view, tradition, as kept in archives, is conceived as a transformative force that resignifies identities and serves as an instrument of social changes. Thus, the comparative studies of folk narrative collections of different countries, along with the consideration of the epistemological paradigms which sustain them, stimulates the dialogue between cultures, indispensable for locating national identity expressions, such as Argentinian and Slovenian ones, in a global map.