Observing the activities of urban folk dance enthusiasts in Slovakia,
Joseph Grim Feinberg sets out to scrutinize the processes by which
authentic folklore is identified, talked about, represented,
reconstructed, reenacted, and revived.
In Slovakia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe after World War II,
Communist governments promoted folklore revivals and staged performances
of song and dance as representations of the people. When the Communists
fell from power in Slovakia in 1989, folklore was also discredited in
the eyes of many. By the early twenty-first century, however, a new
generation launched a movement to revive folklore's reputation and
reintroduce it to a broad public.
Weaving together personal narrative, ethnographic analysis, and
philosophical reflection, Feinberg examines the aspirations and
difficulties of young folk dance devotees as they recognize that
authenticity is more easily prized than achieved. He sheds new light on
the problems of specialized performance and broad participation, the
uneasy relationship between folklore and the public sphere, and the
paradoxical pursuit of authenticity in the modern world.