In Honour of Counterhegemony Man Hommage à l’homme de la contre-hégémonie

I also remember that Peter epitomized the very best of the kind of scholar we were taught to emulate: someone who was intellectually immersed in the discipline, but who also profoundly respected those he worked with, and indeed, was a participant as well as observer of traditional culture. I wouldn’t have realised it at the time, but Peter’s background as a member of an ethnically marginalized group in the United States probably served as a crucial touchstone for his profound understanding of the political economy of Newfoundland and Canadian culture. He was the first of those who were professors at Memorial when I was a student to recognise that I had become a colleague. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be part of the gang offering this modest gift. Soon afterwards a graduate student a year ahead of me drew my attention to a flyer posted downtown. Peter would be performing at the Ship Pub that night. “We should definitely go,” he said enthusiastically. “Peter is a fantastic musician.” I had never seen a professor perform in a bar, at least to my knowledge. I thought of my undergraduate professors and simply could not imagine it. Soon I would realize that many folklorists/ethnologists were also performers, a circumstance that would further endear the discipline and its ethos to me. Peter’s detailed knowledge about — and profound affection for — Newfoundland and Labrador also impressed me. The little I knew about the province before I arrived was significantly augmented in Peter’s classes. His lectures about Newfoundland folklore and culture enriched both my research and my life beyond the university campus. For over three decades, from 1974 to 2005 when he retired, Peter Narváez was an integral part of the Department of Folklore at Memorial University. His enthusiasm attracted countless students to the discipline. His high academic standards, combined with remarkable support as a teacher and mentor, pushed students to achieve levels of excellence and made him a highly sought-after teacher, supervisor, and thesis examiner. A few of the many former students whose lives he touched contributed to this volume: Kelly Best, Ian Brodie, Pat Byrne, Martin Laba, Ronald Labelle, Richard MacKinnon, James Moreira, and Jodi McDavid, as well as the editors of this issue. Others, like Joy Fraser and Michael MacDonald, represent a second generation in an academic genealogy, taught by Peter’s students and/or influenced by his writing. In his classes, Peter presented scholarship as an ongoing dialogue. His students recall his enthusiasm for the subject, his critical perspective, and his self-effacing wit. An example of this humour, which Holly first heard during a guest lecture on field recording in a research methods course, is included in his Marius Barbeau award acceptance speech. No one who has learned about Peter’s night with Ralph forgets to call ahead to arrange accommodation during fieldwork. Peter’s own lively contributions to interdisciplinary conversations have not been restricted by genres or disciplinary boundaries. Broadly speaking, his work reflects what would now be seen as cultural studies, not only in terms of its subjects but also because of his progressive, critical account of traditional and popular culture as resistant to hegemony. His interests are wide ranging; he developed and/or taught approximately twenty different courses during his years at Memorial. But he also located himself in terms of some of the central genres and areas of the discipline; he was regarded as the departmental expert in folkloristic theory, popular culture, and occupational folklife, as well as in his specialties of folksong and folk music, especially blues. His edited collections reflect this eclecticism, from Media Sense: The Folklore-Popular …