Editor's column (Oral Tradition, 18/1, 2003)

Oral Tradition for 2003 presents something quite different from its usual contents. Over this and the next issue we will explore the "state of our art" across the multiple academic disciplines and hundreds of individual traditions, ancient through contemporary, that collectively constitute our field. That is, this and the next issue of OT will be devoted exclusively to sampling the heterogeneity of studies in oral tradition, to gaining some insight on the variety and limits of investigation and understanding as of the year 2003.Not