William Bascom

Infobox Scientist
name = William Bascom
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caption = William Bascom
birth_date = 23 May 1912
birth_place = Princeton, Illinois
death_date = September 11, 1981
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nationality = United States
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field = folklore, cultural anthropology
work_institutions = Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley
alma_mater = Northwestern University
doctoral_advisor = Melville J. Herskovits
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known_for = studies of Yoruba culture and religion; "four functions of folklore"
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William R. Bascom (born Princeton, Illinois, 1912 - died September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and museum director.

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Biography

Bascom completed his B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and earned his Ph.D. in anthropology at Northwestern University under Melville J. Herskovits in 1939. He taught at Northwestern, Cambridge University, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also Director of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology. During World War II, he joined the O.S.S. and together with Ralph Bunche co-authored an unsigned volume, "A Pocket Guide to West Africa" in 1943.

Bascom was a specialist in the art and culture of West Africa and the African Diaspora, especially the Yoruba of Nigeria. Several of his articles on folkloristics serve as texts in graduate courses in folklore.

Four functions of folklore

In a major article published in 1954, Bascom argued that folklore can serve four primary functions in a culture:
*Folklore lets people escape from repressions imposed upon them by society
*Folklore validates culture, justifying its rituals and institutions to those who perform and observe them.
*Folklore is a pedagogic device which reinforces morals and values and builds wit.
*Folklore is a means of applying social pressure and exercising social control.

Major works

*"The Relationship of Yoruba Folklore to Divining," "Journal of American Folklore" (1943)
*"The Sociological Role of the Yoruba Cult-Group" (1944)
*"Ponape: A Pacific Economy in Transition" (1947)
*"Four Functions of Folklore," "Journal of American Folklore" (1954)
*"Urbanization Among the Yoruba," "American Journal of Sociology" (1955)
*"Verbal Art," "Journal of American Folklore" (1955)
*co-editor, with Melville J. Herskovits, "Continuity and Change in African Culture" (1959)
*"Folklore Research in Africa," "Journal of American Folklore" (1964)
*"The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives," "Journal of American Folklore" (1965)
*"The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria" (1969)
*"Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa" (1969, recipient Pitrè International Folklore Prize)
*"African Art in Cultural Perspective: An Introduction" (1973)
*"Folklore, Verbal Art, and Culture," "Journal of American Folklore" (1973)
*editor, "African Dilemma Tales" (1975)
*editor, "Frontiers of Folklore" (1977)
*"Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World" (1980)

Sources

*Robert Georges & Michael Owen Jones, "Folkloristics: An Introduction," Indiana University Press, 1995, pp. 171-192.
*Daniel Crowley and Alan Dundes, "Obituary: William Russel Bascom," "Journal of American Folklore" 95 (1982): 465-7.
* [http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/museum/history.html Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropolgy website - History page]