Authenticity as an analytic concept in folkloristics: A case of collecting folktales in Friesland

Abstract

This article examines the notion of authenticity as applied in folktale collector A.A. Jaarsa's endeavour to write down narratives fromt the oral tradition of ordinary folk in his home region of the Frisian Wâlden in the north of the Netherlands. Jaarsma was instructed by J.J. Voskuil, head of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam, to collect authentic folktales. What did 'authenticity' mean according to fieldworker Jaarsma and ethnologist Voskuil, and just how (un)problematic is this notion?