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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Vic Gammon
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In this essay we explore the ways folk song collectors active in England in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods used and engaged with contemporary discourses relating to the terms peasant and peasantry. We look into the understandings and connotations that the words had for the collectors and their wider society, the historical ideas that became associated with notions of the peasant, its use as an insult and the consequent reluctance of some collectors to use the word, as well as idealizations that became associated with it. We also look critically at the ways collectors' usages of the terms have been understood (and misunderstood) by recent writers. In place of rather one-dimensional interpretations we propose a nuanced and complex understanding of highly significant but difficult and conflicted terms. Our broader aim is to make a contribution to a better historical understanding of the English folk song movement.
Author(s): Knevett A, Gammon V
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Folk Music Journal
Year: 2016
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Pages: 44-66
Print publication date: 01/01/2016
Acceptance date: 01/01/1900
ISSN (print): 0531-9684
Publisher: English Folk Dance and Song Society
URL: http://www.efdss.org/efdss-join-us/folk-music-journal
