Mathematical Modeling Applied to Folk Tales
December 3, 2013
A new application of mathematical modeling reminds us how versatile the approach to data can be. Phys.org reports that “Mathematical Modeling Provides Insights Into Evolution of Folk Tales.” Anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at England’s Durham University approaches folk-tale development with methods used to examine biological evolution.
The article tells us that his study:
“… resolves a long-running debate by demonstrating that Little Red Riding Hood shares a common but ancient root with another popular international folk tale The Wolf and the Kids, although the two are now distinct stories. ‘This is rather like a biologist showing that humans and other apes share a common ancestor but have evolved into distinct species,’ explained Dr Tehrani.”
Other stories share this literary ancestor, like the Tiger Grandmother tale found in Japan, China, and Korea. Dr. Tehrani performed his phylogenetic analysis on 58 variations of the story, focusing on 72 specific plot variables. He made a branching map of the variants (an illustration is included in the article).
Of the results, he states:
“This exemplifies a process biologists call convergent evolution, in which species independently evolve similar adaptations. The fact that Little Red Riding Hood ‘evolved twice’ from the same starting point suggests it holds a powerful appeal that attracts our imaginations.
“‘There is a popular theory that an archaic, ancestral version of Little Red Riding Hood originated in Chinese oral tradition…. My analysis demonstrates that in fact the Chinese version is derived from European oral traditions, and not vice versa.'”
Tehrani notes that this research could do a good deal more than satisfy literary curiosity. He hopes that it will help clarify migration patterns of ancient humans by tracing where and when certain stories, and story variants, appeared. It is always nice to see someone successfully using an established tool in a new way.
Cynthia Murrell, December 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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