Folklore as Language

We acquire our community’s folklore as small children in the same manner as we learn language. Language instils cognitive structures that we use to make sense of the booming, buzzing sensation that is our world. We also take on, almost without us noticing, deep cognitive structures (which I call Archetypes) from folklore. Today, we acquire our folklore through our parents reading us bedtime stories like Three Billy-Goats’ Gruff, or through watching Disney films, pantomimes, romantic comedies with happy endings or hearing stories about child-snatching demons in films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Now, we acquire our Disinfolklore through news and conversations influenced by what we and our interlocutors have learned to see as important from the Disinfolklore Apparatus.

Source: Book Proposal (May 2025)

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