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Interpretive Approaches: Functionalism

The concept and practice of folklore and folklife studies matured in response to new theories, methods, and analysis under the influence of scholars working in other fields, such as anthropology and museum studies. The expansion of ideological points of view and interpretive strategies is reflected in Warren’s own career, particularly in his shift from the historic-geographic method, with its focus on the origin and diffusion of traditional cultural forms, to what he came to call the functional approach. Though his interest in the historical and cultural antecedents of   log buildings was never displaced, he became increasingly fascinated with the time-tested way in which folk architecture answered practical problems of construction, inhabitation, and use.

"In the case of the log buildings I have been studying, I can offer the following suggestions [as to why 95 percent of log houses have exterior chimneys on the gable-end walls]. The pile of masonry making up the chimney and fireplace is, of course, tremendously heavy. Hence it may settle into the ground more than the house. . . . It is also true that the likelihood of the house catching fire if mortar should fall out from between the stones or bricks of the chimney is materially lessened if the chimney is several inches from the house. With other types of chimneys there is a problem with roof construction where the chimney passes through the roof. Prior to the time when sheet metal became generally available, it was hard to make a completely water-tight seal where he chimney passed through the roof. The chimney type I have been describing, however, simplifies roof construction, for the chimney does not pass through the roof at all. In every type of fireplace, of course, the masonry absorbs a great deal of heat from the fire and radiates it in all directions. In the houses I have been describing almost all of the cooking was done year round in the fireplace. . . . In warm weather, much of the heat from the cooking fire was radiated to the outside by the masonry outside the house. In cold weather, of course, the loss of heat was a distinct advantage, but one cannot have it both ways. I assume, by the way, that the prevalence of chimneys in the center of the house in the northern United States may be accounted for in part by the necessity of using every bit of available heat in cold weather."

“The Folk Museum,” in Viewpoints, 239-240.

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