Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System - how the controversial work of anthropologist J. Alden Mason, who collected Puerto Rican folklore, underscores the problem of authenticating folklore artifacts

Library Trends, Wntr, 1999 by Sarai Lastra

Dennis's (1922) criticism of Mason's collection did not focus on methodology but questioned the validity of the Decimas as representative samples of "true folk" verbal expressions. Her review of the Decimas addressed three major areas: the originality of the folkloristic expression, the authenticity of performer and performances, and the subject matter. The collection on the whole could not be an original one, Dennis (1922) argued, because it exhibited strong Spanish influences of style and language:

   Other decimas are inspired by Spanish ballads. But the majority are
   distinctly of Porto-Rican origin, and reflect Porto-Rican thought and
   custom. Whether, however, these decimas come from the true folk, and not
   rather the lettered classes; and whether, therefore, they may be strictly
   classed as folk poetry,--is to be questioned.... Although there are several
   decimas in the collection which complain of Spain's treatment of Porto
   Rico, there is not one which expresses dissatisfaction with the United
   States Government, nor one which expresses the wish for independence. (pp.
   99-100)

In responding to Dennis, Aurelio Espinosa (1922) questioned her definition of what should constitute folk poetry and argued that he believed "folk-poetry has most of the elements of learned poetry, and often in a more refined degree" (p. 102). Mason unquestionably maintained that the folklore collected came from true Puerto Rican folk. His argument captures the essence of a Puerto Rican "singer of tales":

   The decima, despite the fact that it is a poetical vehicle of considerable
   artistic merit, comparing favorably in rigidity of form and general spirit
   with the English sonnet, appears to be the most popular form of poetical
   expression among the illiterate jibaros. At the velorios [funerals] and
   other social gatherings, according to my informants, it is the decima
   rather than the aguinaldo which is most sung. It was a source of great
   surprise to me to find these poems, many of them of not a little beauty,
   known and sung by illiterate moutain peasants. Quite a number of the
   decimas in the collection were written down by me in phonetic text from the
   dictation of jibaros in out-of-the-way country barrios. I believe that
   there are few adult jibaro men who have not memorized one or more decimas,
   which they sing, when called upon in turn, at social gatherings; and nearly
   every little country hamlet has its noted decima singer, who has dozens of
   them at his tongue's end.... I feel, therefore, that the decimas in the
   published collection are fully representative of the poetry of the jibaro.
   The sources, however, are various quite naturally. Many, as Espinosa
   pointed out, are traditional Spanish. Others give internal evidence of
   jibaro authorship ... but the great majority, irrespective of their
   authorship, had been memorized by jibaro singers, and incorporated into
   peasant folk-lore.... As for the others, only years of persistent research
   in Porto Rico could elucidate their authorship or locality of origin.
   (Mason, 1922, pp. 102-04)