Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2014 June 9

= June 9 =

American Gothic (legends & folktales)
Hi! I'm looking for books about the legends and folklore of the Deep South and the Old West. Can you recommend any?

Thanks! MelancholyDanish (talk) 03:54, 9 June 2014 (UTC)MelancholyDanish


 * You mean tall tales like Paul Bunyon ? StuRat (talk) 04:56, 9 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Start with Dark romanticism and American Gothic Fiction and progress to Southern Gothic.  St ★ lwart 1 1 1 05:17, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Br'er Rabbit is seen by some as putting the African-American in a negative light, as just a Good ol' boy. In another view, it is seen as a triumph of the slave where he always outsmarts the slavemaster in the end. Schyler  ( exquirere bonum ipsum ) 13:22, 9 June 2014 (UTC)


 * You may want to check out Fearsome critters. Matt Deres (talk) 16:23, 9 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Lots of American Southern folklore is also captured in song. For example, songs like "Tom Dooley", "Stagger Lee", "Cotton-Eyed Joe", etc.  -- Jayron  32  00:56, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I love some of those songs! MelancholyDanish (talk) 03:13, 12 June 2014 (UTC)MelancholyDanish


 * The OP asked for books about "legends and folklore of the Deep South and the Old West." I have "A treasury of American folklore," edited by Benjamin A. Botkin,(1944), reprinted by American Legacy Press. It runs 932 pages, Botkin was folklore editor and chairman of the Federal Writers' Project 1933-1941. It contains about 500 stories and 100 songs, with many of the songs being very familiar ones which were later commercial successes, and others being more obscure. The stories cover all the familiar ones of fact and myth from Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan to Casey Jones. It is available at Amazon in used copies for about $6 including shipping or about $62 new with shipping.  As a document of a bygone era,  about culture of the 18th through early 20th century it is not always  "politically correct" and contains material which would be considered offensive by some today.  The bio of Botkin identifies several other folklore volumes he edited, dealing with particular southern states or the Civil War (the U.S Civil War, not the English one or others which might come to mind for certain readers). Edison (talk) 17:40, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks so much! I'd like to read that MelancholyDanish (talk) 03:13, 12 June 2014 (UTC)MelancholyDanish

Captain James Mackee
When did a Hawaiian Captain James Mackee live, birth and death date and when he lived/visit Hawaii? There is a whaling captain by that name but I'm not sure if that is the same person.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 05:08, 9 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Online bio gives you the details you need and has his birth as 24 November 1812 (familysearch.org has the year 1813) in Woburn, Mass., (familysearch gives Woburn, Middlesex, Mass.,) and death 16 September 1879 in Honolulu. --Bill Reid | (talk) 15:24, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Anyway to known if he is the photographer in the series of photographs of the Lunalilo Mausoleum found in that link?--KAVEBEAR (talk) 07:57, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
 * You can contact the digital archives in Hawaii, see . The sequence of those photographs, different focuses, and very varied angles suggest a sophisticated handheld camera, which would make them posterior to James Makee's own life. However an  involvement of the estate with photography cannot be denied (this auction announcement, p.19 and next).  --Askedonty (talk) 12:24, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Duke Kahanamoku siblings
Does anybody know the names (full names) of siblings of Duke Kahanamoku? Also what exactly is the number of Kahanamoku's siblings I have seen sources that he had five or six brothers and three sisters or the nine siblings stated in most sources but other sources state he had twelve siblings or fourteen siblings. I'm guessing a number of them died young, and only the six brothers and three sisters survived into adulthood, but do we know the names of the missing five. These are two sites I have looked at but there is no way to know if that is all of them. An interview by his brother Louis indicate that there was twelve with nine that survived and three who were stillborn. Is this Louis' forgetfulness or the real number, also any knowledge who the stillborns (I known stillborn children are usually not named but extra sister in the genealogy sites indicate at least one was named Kakiana or Pislana K. Kahanamoku) were named and then there is the question if they actually are stillborn or died relatively young (you don't say you have a family of twelve children and include stillborns in the count unless they lived for a while).--KAVEBEAR (talk) 06:51, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

Thich Nhat Hanh & conflict resolution
Hi folks. For awhile now I've been looking for a certain quote from Thich Nhat Hanh about the tricky role of mediator in conflict resolution. Years ago I heard him in an interview (broadcast on NPR but not necessarily hosted by them) about how difficult that role can be especially when one or both sides want to keep fighting... something about the warring parties both turning against the mediator, who often became stuck in the middle like that. I've tried googling various combinations of keywords with no luck. (I usually consider myself good at searching &researching, refinining etc but on this i'm stumped.)  The closest I got was to a recording and transcript of some of his interviews including npr, but none included the specific quote i remember or anything close to it. If anyone has ideas for searching or even another good place to ask, i'd greatly appreciate it. El duderino (abides) 19:32, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
 * No idea how to track down the quote, but the phenomenom you describe is well-recognized. For a real-life example, ask your local police officer if he's had similar (or identical) experiences attending "domestics". I'll be very surprised if he hasn't. 14.201.22.133 (talk) 09:53, 12 June 2014 (UTC)