The Cultural Transmission and Evolution of Folk Narratives

Tehrani, J.J.

Abstract

Folk narratives—such as fairy tales, legends, and fables—are products of tradition, rather than individual authors. As they get passed on from person to person and from generation to generation new variants evolve, some of which catch on and generate new traditions, while others soon fade into extinction. Folklorists have long been interested in documenting and reconstructing these processes, but have often been stymied by the limitations of the folklore record. Cultural Evolution has brought powerful new concepts and methods to investigate the transmission histories of folk narratives, from comparative phylogenetic analyses of the relationships among similar tales from different cultures, to experimental studies of how stories mutate and evolve through oral transmission. This chapter reviews these contributions and considers prospects for future research into the cultural evolution of folk narrative traditions.

Citation

Tehrani, J. (2023). The Cultural Transmission and Evolution of Folk Narratives. In J. Tehrani, J. Kendal, & R. Kendal (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution (C39S1-C39P96). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198869252.013.39

• Acceptance Date: Mar 7, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 19, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 19, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: C39S1-C39P96
• Series Title: Oxford Handbooks
• Book Title: Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution
• ISBN: 9780198869252
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198869252.013.39