This study evaluates the concept of tradition in personal narrative texts of folklore within the framework of the approaches of Richard Bauman, Sandra Dolby and Katherine Briggs. The research reveals that the concept of tradition is not only a set of values transmitted from the past to the present, but also a dynamic phenomenon that is reshaped in individual narratives. In this context, personal narrative texts play a vital role in the transmission, reconstruction and transformation of traditions. Narrators reinterpret and update traditional elements through individual stories by combining them with their own life experiences. Thus, folklore emerges as both an individual and a social process. The works of Richard Bauman, Sandra Dolby and Katherine Briggs provide an important framework for understanding the concept of tradition in both individual and social contexts. These approaches show that personal narratives play a central role in understanding the richness and continuity of folkloric elements. Therefore, paying more attention to personal narrative texts in folklore studies will contribute to a better understanding of the dynamic nature of the concept of tradition.
Richard Bauman, Sandra Dolby, Kahterine Briggs, personal narrative, tradition.