Why Explore Pool as a Folkloric Ground of Study?
Sometimes, it is not easy for an academic researcher to be productive in gathering information on any smaller community (the focus of interest).
So, first of all, the ritual folklore of pool and billiards is highly accessible to the author of this project. That is because I have over 15 years of experience as an organized pool player (see the "About the Author" page for more details). Furthermore, that means I did not have to work hard to gain the trust of these various pool societies as I went out to gather data on them. There was just no worry about rejection, in other words. Moreover, being a practitioner of the folklore myself, I have a certain benefit (if not some additional challenges) of already being very familiar with all of the ritual materials (including the vocabulary, rules, ceremonies, artifacts, etc.).
Still, even more importantly, the dynamic world of billiards is just a densely saturated ground for studying folklore, for numerous reasons. For one, the pool ritual just easily meets all the main criteria necessary in order for it to be considered as folklore (see the "What is Folklore" page, for additional details). In other words, pool is communal, creative, and relatively subversive (also, it is often deviant and non-institutional in origin). What is more, these universal folkloric characteristics (that one must find to study a folkloric material) are so vividly obvious in pool that they are just very easy to withdraw from this lore. Furthermore, there is such a diverse type of folk that take part in the ritual of pool that a researcher need not be afraid of getting stuck with any over-simplistic data. Personally, I just like to see the world as a very complex place and so, a more complex environment is just infinitely more desirable for me to analyze.
What is more, according to those three universal traits of folklore...
All of these three things manifest in multiple ways across the entire geography of pool. For instance (and this list may not be accurately complete)...
The creative aspects manifest in pool's:
- ritual play
- ceremonies and rules
- language and dialogues
- personal narratives
- wider and popular history
- myths and superstitions
- hierarchical wrestling
- artifacts
The communal aspects manifests in pool's
- ritual play
- ceremonies and rules
- language and dialogues
- personal narratives
- wider and popular history
- myths and superstitions
- hierarchical wrestling
- artifacts
The subversive/deviant/non-institutional aspects manifest in pool's:
- ritual play (as cheating, etc.)
- ceremonies and rules (as cheating, drinking alcohol, etc.)
- language and dialogues (cussing, put-downs)
- personal narratives (stories of personal defeat, stories of violence, putting down another person's skill, etc.)
- wider and popular history (proximity to bar culture, stories of violence, "sharking," etc.)
- myths and superstitions (just by definition these are non-institutional, perhaps)
- hierarchical wrestling (extreme competitiveness intrinsic in the sport, unsportsmanlike conduct)
- artifacts (applications of controversial images, etc.)
Please note: I've offered examples here, in the last category only, because this category is sometimes the hardest to dissect from a folkloric perspective. Furthermore, all of these 3 universals will be explored in detail, in later pages on this site. Hopefully, sufficient examples will be given on those pages for each universal aspect of folklore.
