This book represents a small contribution to the ongoing discussion about the past, present, and - mainly - the future of Folklore, particularly at a time that is not at all favorable for it.

The "certainties" established until now, which rendered it an "national" science (simultaneously referring to a "burdened" past), are clearly in retreat, in the face of the obvious cultural fluidity and diversity of our days and the questioning of racial - national "purity" (with all that it implies).

At the same time, there is a growing number of opinions about the "completion of the historical cycle of folklore science," opinions that mainly originate from the broader field of Social Anthropology.

(. . .) [Excerpt from the preface text]