Given folklore’s quiet pervasiveness in all our lives, it is unsurprising that it has often been used to think through the big issues faced by a community. Folklore is at once a useful lens, permitting focus and diverse perspectives, and an adaptable tool in the handling of such matters. Stories and customs travel, taken as cultural luggage as people move in and out of communities. And just as folklore is not sedentary, neither is it stable. Practices and beliefs that appear ancient and unchanging are often surprisingly recent inventions, adoptions, or adaptations. Folklore is by necessity fluid – otherwise it would not retain its relevance. This Special Issue is concerned with how folklore has been used as such in engagements with two particularly big – and equally pervasive – issues: managing conflict and striving for peace. It is an invitation to consciously and deliberately engage with and explore the interdisciplinary nature of folklore; to experiment with a different lens, a shift in perspective to see if, perhaps, the mechanisms for understanding and positive change are magic beans that we already possess.

鉴于民俗在我们的生活中悄然普遍存在，它经常被用来思考社区面临的重大问题也就不足为奇了。民俗既是一个有用的镜头，可以提供焦点和不同的视角，也是处理此类问题的适应性工具。当人们进出社区时，故事和风俗旅行被当作文化行李。正如民间传说不是静止不动的一样，它也不是稳定的。看似古老且不变的实践和信仰往往令人惊讶地是最近的发明、采用或改编。民间传说必然是流动的——否则它就不会保持其相关性。本期特刊关注的是如何利用民俗来解决两个特别重大且同样普遍的问题：管理冲突和争取和平。它邀请人们有意识地、刻意地参与和探索民俗学的跨学科性质；尝试不同的视角，转变视角，看看理解和积极改变的机制是否是我们已经拥有的魔豆。