SETTLEMENT-LORE: SCRUTINY AS CULTURAL MEMORY, ALTERNATE HISTORY AND NEW FOLKLORE GENRE

Abstract

The idea and capability of construction of a shelter and beginning of settlement can be considered as the preliminary stride of human towards structured life, growth of tradition, culture, and civilization. The ‘settlement-lore’ can be defined as the ‘folklore’ associated with settlement. It is the cultural memory and materials of alternate history embedded and sustained in the tradition of a community. The term ‘Settlement-lore’ is not a prevailing accepted term in the discipline of Folklore. Due to absence of appropriate terminology or division that fits to current body of materials, the term is proposed. This is an attempt to survey, categorize, and explore that body of Settlement-lore came across in some ethnic communities of Assam, India. The traditional process of initiating settlement is a systematic process, dependent on different practical and supernatural consideration and endorsement. Settlement also often involves episodes of journey and migration. Such narratives of migration, place-lore, personal narrative etc. can be clubbed as constituent part of Settlement-lore. The paper, which is qualitative, is primarily based on field data, supplemented with related secondary sources. The paper attempts to record and classify collected settlement-lore with few examples from Assam qualify to consider as a new genre of folklore.