This collection explores folklore and folkloristics within the diverse and contested national discourses of Britain and Ireland, examining their role in shaping the islands’ constituent nations from the eighteenth century to our contemporary moment of uncertainty and change. This book is concerned with understanding folklore, particularly through its intersections with the narratives of nation entwined within art, literature, disciplinary practice and lived experience. By following these ideas throughout history into the twenty-first century, the authors show how notions of the folk have inspired and informed varied points from the Brothers Grimm to Brexit. They also examine how folklore has been adapting to the real and imagined changes of recent political events, acquiring newfound global and local rhetorical power. This collection asks why, when and how folklore has been deployed, enacted and considered in the context of national ideologies and ideas of nationhood in Britain and Ireland. Editors Cheeseman and Hart have crafted a thoughtful and timely collection, ideal for students and scholars of folklore, history, literature, anthropology, sociology and media studies.

Written by the founder of Britain's Cambridge University's Anthropology Department, this pioneering work traces the origins of the world's nations as they are found on all continents in terms of their ancestral migrations across the globe. Starting with an overview of the basic concepts involved (defining a mass migration, the driving forces for such movements, religious fervour and so on), this remarkable work then moves on to a chapter-by-chapter discussions of the great Völkerwanderungs which led to the peopling of the continents. A vital work for anyone seeking an understanding of just how the indigenous populations of the world came to be resident in their regions. This is a completely reset edition, with all original five maps digitally restored to the highest standards possible. It also contains a new index and a brief biography of the author.