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Phylogenetics Meets Folklore: Bioinformatics Approaches to the Study of International Folktales

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Maths Meets Myths: Quantitative Approaches to Ancient Narratives

Part of the book series: Understanding Complex Systems ((UCS))

Abstract

Traditional narratives, like genes, mutate as they are transmitted from generation to generation. Elements of a myth, legend or folktale may be added, substituted or forgotten, generating new variants that catch on and flourish, or vanish into extinction. Reconstructing these processes has been complicated by the fact that traditional narratives are transmitted via mainly oral means, leaving scant literary evidence to trace their development and diffusion. In this chapter we demonstrate how this problem can be addressed using phylogenetic methods developed by evolutionary biologists. We show how these methods can be used to identify cognate relationships among tales from different societies and eras, reconstruct their ancestral forms, and test hypotheses about how stories evolve. We illustrate how three kinds of phylogenetic analysis can be applied to these problems through two worked examples: Little Red Riding Hood and Polyphemus.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Jamshid J. Tehrani

  2. Institut des Mondes Africains (IMAf), unité mixte de recherche (CNRS—UMR 8171; IRD—UMR 243; EHESS; EPHE; Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; AMU), Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France

    Julien d’Huy

Authors
  1. Jamshid J. Tehrani
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  2. Julien d’Huy
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Correspondence to Jamshid J. Tehrani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Mathematics Research Centre, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Ralph Kenna

  2. Department of History, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Máirín MacCarron

  3. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Pádraig MacCarron

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Tehrani, J.J., d’Huy, J. (2017). Phylogenetics Meets Folklore: Bioinformatics Approaches to the Study of International Folktales. In: Kenna, R., MacCarron, M., MacCarron, P. (eds) Maths Meets Myths: Quantitative Approaches to Ancient Narratives. Understanding Complex Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39445-9_6

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