South Florida Folklife

by Stetson Kennedy, Peggy A. Bulger, Tina Bucuvalas

Book Overview

South Florida summons tropical vacationland images--gleaming beaches, exotic foods, colorful costumes, and grand hotels. Yet beyond this facade teems a rich folklife that is the subject of this alluring book.

The three collaborating authors present south Florida folklife from the 1930s to the present in four parts: the Everglades and Gulf Coast, the Miami megalopolis, the Keys, and the seasonal residents and tourists.

Together, these create a mosaic of contrasts. South Florida embraces extravagant wealth and heartbreaking poverty, constant evolution and solid tradition, tropical peace and devastating storms, settled generations and the newest Americans. It is a folk region identified not by physical or political boundaries, but by its hot, sultry climate and the many people who interact with the land and with one another.

South Florida Folklife explores the area for the first time from a folklorist's perspective and firmly establishes it as a microcosm of the United States, an enticing example of the human diversity that characterizes life in this country.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0878056602
• ISBN13: 9780878056606
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Overview of Folklife in S Florida

This book provides a strong overview of the folk culture of a range of communities in South Florida. The chapters on occupational folklife and tourism are especially strong. The writers provide a very readable and informative study of the types of traditional activities associated with the many different ethnic and occupational groups in the region. There is excellent background history on the Seminoles, Miccosukees, and Cuban communities as well as fine descriptions of the folk arts, musical traditions, and festivals associated with each of the various cultures. The bibliography is excellent, and it is a useful starting point for further developing the insights of the writers. This volume is a great contribution to the Folklife of the South series, and it will serve the historical record well.