The Pathology of Folklore Literature Theses in Iran

Folklore literature is a new field in Iran. Compared to other countries, not many studies have been conducted in this field. A number of studies that have been done both in terms of quantity and quality have a significant influence on introducing it. There are some theses written about this subject matter. If such theses are written in a correct and coherent way, they could be effective and efficient in solving many scientific problems of folklore literature field; consequently, providing scientific and useful results. The present article randomly picked and analyzed a total number of 100 theses registered in Irandoc system. The research goal is to highlight the situation of some university research in this field and criticize them in a constructive manner in order to support the research basis in this scientific field. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the data collection method is library-based with a pathological approach. The main findings of this study indicate that most of the studied theses are descriptive, thus they are not giving us new results. They are usually imitative in general section (introduction). Boring clichés can be seen in theses’ main structure. Literature review is not properly acknowledged. Authentic sources are not used, and generally, they lack a problem-based and academic approach. Of one hundred studied theses, only seventeen are problem-based and have a scientific approach. University theses being descriptive and compiled in this field indicate the primitiveness of folklore literature studies in Iran. One should realize that every research about any problem in any country begins with compilation, and then reaches to maturity and the level of analysis. It should be mentioned that although good steps are taken in recent years, this field is still in its early stages.

Research Background

In some parts of books, articles, theses, and speeches, traces of pathologies can be seen. For example, although in Analouee's thesis title (2015), it is claimed that it is about criticism of folklore works, in fact, there is no sign of criticism.

But what is directly related to our discussion is an article titled “Persian Literature and Language Theses’ Losses” by Gholaminezhad and Ghaboul. It is not free from mistakes either. For example, one of the cases is that in this article, the research method is not clearly explained. Also, it is not clear whether the obtained information from these theses is the result of reviewing the whole theses or a certain part of them, or rather their title, or the research methods of each of these theses alone. In addition, this article has not stated the approaches of these Persian literature theses, separately. Except the mentioned article, no research has ever dealt with the pathology of folklore literature’s theses exclusively.

Goals, assumptions, and questions

In recent decades, folklore literature and language has become an academic field, and students’ have gained interest towards this area as a field of study. However, the criticism against these theses are growing as well.

In order to organize and identify the strong and weak points of these folklore literature studies, the present article randomly chose and carefully analyzed a number of 100 theses. All their contents are saved in the science and information technology system of Irandoc. These theses are chosen from a total number 1100 theses, organized from the beginning of the century until the end of year 2018 on different aspects of folklore culture and literature.

This article is to investigate what the features of these 100 theses chosen from a collection of 1100 theses are. What approaches have they used for criticism? What positive characteristics do they have and could they be of any help to studies in folklore literature? What pitfalls or major criticisms they have?

Main discussion

In this section, we deal with studying one hundred submitted theses of folklore culture and literature during 60s to 90s. The theses include 93 MA theses in Persian language and literature one of which is related to specialized orientation of folk literature. Seven of them are interdisciplinary theses, most of which are related to art department and three of which are PhD dissertations.

The number of subject-oriented theses compared to all the other theses are more. These theses are merely descriptive and follow a totally data collection approach. Repetition is seen a lot in these theses.

One of the main research problems in all kinds of folklore literature studies is the lack of pathological approach and criticism. This issue is especially significant in theses. The lack of pathological and critical study is highly observed so far that it became the main idea for writing this article.

Knowing the sources that exist about the subject matter has a multiple function. They provide knowledge about research background; also, they are used in research design and data collection. Today, considering the abundance of sources about any subject, and the evaluation of identified sources are also important (Razi, 2015, p. 68). In some of these theses, we are faced with incorrect and unrelated sources. From 100 studied theses, 43 do not have source originality and the used sources in them are generally unrelated and sometimes fake.

Conclusion

Although we see different and exciting subjects in theses regarding folklore literature from 2000s onward, most of these theses seriously suffer from quality issues. Generally, subject choice about folklore literature is made enthusiastically and only based on the researchers’ sentiments.

Therefore, so many subjects are chosen in the format of folklore culture or literature of different regions. Some of the theses are quite stereotypical in terms of subject due to the lack of attention to the research background. The number of problem-oriented and functional subjects in these theses is low in number.

References

Analouee, N. (2015) The criticism and study of Iran’s folklore researches’ course from beginning to year 1390 SH. MA Thesis, Folklore Literature Field, Tarbiat Moddares University, Tehran, Iran.

Razi, A. (2015). Research methods and skills in literature and bibliography (in Farsi). Fatemi.