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Arab Folklore: A Handbook. By Dwight F. Reynolds. (Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 2007. Pp. xiv + 258, preface, acknowledgments, glossary, bibliography, web sources, index.)
This timely volume by Arab folklore specialist Dwight Reynolds is an informative and accessible introductory text covering a thoughtfully selected array of traditions from across the Arab world, generously supplemented with photographs. The Handbook is as suitable for scholars and students wishing to become acquainted with salient examples of Arab folkloric expression as it is for specialists searching for references and comparative notes. It begins with a brief introduction on the Arabs, the advent of Islam, the Arabic language and its unifying function in the Middle East, as well as colonial history and its aftermath. Followed by a brief "Definitions and Classifications" chapter, the bulk of the book is found in chapter 3's "Examples and Text," which is organized in four main sections: Verbal Arts, Musical Arts, Material Arts, and Customs and Traditions. Here, Reynolds presents selections from well-known contemporary ethnographic works that the reader can refer to for further study, including Lila Abu Lughod's Veiled Sentiments (University of California Press, 2000) and Steven C. Caton's Peaks of Yemen I Summon (University of California Press, 1993). The case studies provide breadth and variety, covering wide geographical ground. For instance, the Folk Narrative section includes research from Palestine, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Egypt. The book provides an overview of the most notable traditions of Arab folklore and makes thoughtful comparison among their features, including styles of religious ritual, musical instruments, manners and greetings, and rural and urban poetry traditions.
U nlike some introductory folklore texts, but following the Greenwood format, Reynolds situates a "Scholarship and Approaches" section towards the end of the book in chapter 4, where the historical-geographic method, functionalism, performance studies, and other approaches are briefly described and...