ethnopoeticsn.
/ˌɛθnəʊpəʊˈɛtɪks/, U.S. /ˌɛθnoʊpoʊˈɛdɪks/ Chiefly with singular agreement.
The study, interpretation, or representation of the oral narratives of a particular ethnic group, esp. focusing on the unique cultural practices and traditions within that group. Also: the written presentation of oral narratives in a poetic (rather than prose) form in an attempt to capture the tone and rhythm of the original spoken performance.Ethnopoetics is particularly associated with the U.S. poet Jerome Rothenberg (b. 1931), to whom the coinage of the term is usually attributed.
ΚΠ
1968 Poetry 113 129 Write him [sc. Jerome Rothenberg] in care of Stony Brook, the new poetry journal of which he has been appointed ‘ethnopoetics editor’.
1982 J. Ramsey in G. B. Grinnel Punishment of Stingy Introd. p. x We are nowadays inclined to regret, in the name of ethnopoetics, the exclusion of authentic details of style-in-performance.
1991 Amer. Bk. Rev. Apr. 7/2 Ethnopoetics..carries the restructuring task much further, in an effort to open poetry to ‘intercultural’ and noncanonical influences.
2002 J. Sherzer Speech Play & Verbal Art i. 8 Research in ethnopoetics is central to my approach to speech play and verbal art.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1968