From Folklore to Urban Folklore : A Discourse

This article discusses the field of folklore and urban folklore at the School of Malay Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, National University of Malaysia. Obviously, the term oral tradition and its subtopic oral literature or folk literature is well accepted in Malaysia compared with the term folklore. Being part of the literature especially traditional Malay literature, folk literature is introduced as society’s earliest form of literature before the existence of other forms of literary genres either written or print traditions. According to Mohd. Taib Osman, folk literature emerged as a tradition but eventually became incognisant in the context of nation building. Such a scenario makes the field of literature static, outdated and assume the role of a complementary subject in the field of literature as a whole. In this context, a different perspective is needed and folklore should be considered. From this perspective, literature is seen as a phenomenon that exists parallel to the changes in the way of life in the contemporary world, the world of IT and cyber traditions. Folklore now not only exists as an oral tradition but it has been captured and spread via modern technology and cyber space such as the internet, blog and social networks. Through such medium, urban folklore and urban legend exist as a continuation of yesteryear traditions when one discusses the current phenomenon as society’s thought and creativity.