Comments on: Fighting COVID-19 with folklore

By: Stephen Jones. Coronavirus: sfide all’autorità dalla Cina rurale – Sinosfere

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 08:30:47 +0000

[…] della Mongolia Interna, che spiega qui come prevenire il Coronavirus:5)Vedi Gegentuul Baioud, “Fighting COVID-19 with folklore”, 27 febbraio 2020. Analogo il caso di una canzone nello stile dell’opera Huadengxi del Guizhou, […]

By: Livia

Livia — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:26:31 +0000

In reply to Pia Tenedero.

Dear Sofie, I was reminded of your fantastic blog and of Pia’s comment when reading today’s ABC News article on “How South-East Asia is using catchy pop songs to combat coronavirus.” According to the article, “[t]he original video has 9.4 million views on YouTube, with the English-subtitled version attracting 1.2 million.” Perhaps the song’s entertainment factor is transcending its public service message? Either way, songs and dances – and fiddle stories as you argue – not only spread important health information and medical advice, they also serve to keep people’s spirits up in times of uncertainty and angst. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-10/how-south-east-asia-is-using-pop-songs-to-combat-coronavirus/12038228

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:12:22 +0000

In reply to Li Jia. Thanks Li Jia! It is always amazing to see how these bottom-up cultural practices persevere against many odds. The bamboo clappers sound very interesting, will check it out.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:07:27 +0000

In reply to Laura. Thanks Laura! Yes, it’s always nice to see how people channel the information though different trajectories.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:02:51 +0000

In reply to Dong Juan. Thank you for your comment, Dong Juan! Yes indeed that’s how culture continues.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:01:00 +0000

In reply to Pia Tenedero. Thanks Pia for sharing this interesting song!

By: Pia Tenedero

Pia Tenedero — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 02:21:42 +0000

What an interesting read! Thanks Sofie! This points to something positive — how extraordinary challenges, like the COVID-19 epidemic, motivate creativity and innovation, as shown by the Mongolian fiddlers you wrote about. A more modern take of the musical campaign related to this global health issue is rendered by Filipino artists who perform songs that parody panic-driven behavior (including racism) and give advice on health practices. An example is “Stupid Cough” (lyrics written to the tune of a pop song titled “Stupid Love”) in https://youtu.be/cgnBQ9qOqmY.

By: Dong Juan

Dong Juan — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 03:52:03 +0000

Professor Sophie, thanks for your sharing. Your article on “Fighting coronavirus with folklore” is very interesting and insightful. It provides us a new perspective and inspiration of observing different language styles in our society. It is amazing that, in modern world, traditional practices ( like foklore) are still powerful in response to events and trends in society, especially in such hardship of China. It reminds the researchers that the wisdom of ordinary poeple is worth to explore and preserve.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 04:47:14 +0000

Sofie, thanks so much for sharing this! I agree that it has some clear parallels with your fantastic PhD research. Traditional practices are not static: rather, they continue to evolve in response to events and trends in society, both to maintain their own relevance, as well as drawing on their value/prestige to meet communicative/social goals. This is a fantastic, novel example of just that and is so interesting to compare this to the two other posts on the virus which we have already read, and reflect on the different ways in which diverse social actors communicate about the virus, for different purposes, drawing on different linguistic (and other) resources and with different ideologies underlying their communication.

By: Li Jia

Li Jia — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 03:31:46 +0000

Thanks Sophie! It’s so amazing to see how thousands of years of civilization can be acknowledged in 21st century and further developed to fight the epidemic. I also find the similar practice from other minority groups like Zhuang people using bamboo clappers and composing folksongs to spread the warning message. Truly grassroots wisdoms are powerful and deserved to be explored more