South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

The inter‐disciplinary character of folklore studies is demonstrated by the large numbers of edited collections in the field, bringing together religion and culture, ritual and pilgrimage, dance and theatre, music and art, technology and craft, food and literature. The globalization and glocalization (the local in the global) of culture and identity have encouraged renewed interest in folklore, the antiquarian and colonialist nature of which, although it shaped folklore’s early historiography, have moved on to a search to understand links between ideology/faith and geo‐politics, and deconstruct and redefine conventional concepts of tribalism and tradition. These changes and challenges are noted wisely...