American Folklife Center The Library of Congress

Summer-Fall 1990

Volume XII

Numbers 3 and 4

At a conference on cultural conservation, held at the Library of Congress in May, five roundtable groups drafted recommendations for heritage protection. Shown here is the Arts and Humanities roundtable, chaired by folklorists Elaine Eff (standing near easel), who directs Cultural Conser­ vation Programs for the state of Maryland, and Burt Feintuch (seated to the left ofthe easel), director ofthe Center for the Humanities at the University of New Hampshire. The recommendations from each of the five groups begin on page 14. (90-186-H-35) Conference photographs are by Reid Baker AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS EDITOR'S NOTES

Alan j abbour, Director Ray Dockstader, Deputy Director Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant j ennifer A. Cutting, Program Coordinator Acquisitions T his issue of Folklije Center News is various specialists working in allied j oseph C. Hickerson, Head devoted to a review of the conference fields with shared concerns and help Processing Cultural Conservation : Reconfigur­ them form a network for communi­ Marsha Maguire, Archivist ing the Cultural Mission, which was cation. " Elaine Bradtke, held at the Library of Congress, May After some initial planning by a Catherine Hiebert Kerst, 16-19, 1990. The conference was the number of different staff members at America n Memory Project culmination of studies and other acti­ the Center, which included a meeting Programs vities at the American Folklife Center with an advisory group (see page 7) , Peter T. Banis, Folklife Researcher and elsewhere that began about ten folklife specialist Mary Hufford took Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist years ago. on the job of organizing the conference David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist In 1980 Congress became aware of (with the help of conference assistant Publications the need to assess the shape and scope Ann Dancy). The enthusiastic respon­ James Hardin, Editor of governmentally supported heritage ses to the call for papers , the phone Public Events protection (having put in place a num­ calls and letters of inquiry that fol­ Magdalena J annotta, Coordinator ber of significant pieces of legislation lowed the notices, and the submission during the sixties and seventies) and of thought-provoking papers indicat­ Reference requested a report from the Depart­ Gerald E. Parsons, Reference Librarian ed that others had sensed a need to Judith A. Gray, Ethnomusicologist ment of the Interior and the Ameri­ gather. That enthusiasm continued Gregory K. J enkins, Staff Assistant can Folklife Center on "intangible throughout the four-day affair, in ple­ cultural resources." The resulting nary sessions, roundtable gatherings, Administrative Office Tel: 202 70 7-6590 policy study in 1983 (Cultural Conser­and hallway conversations. vation: The Protection oj Cultural Heritage The three articles here, organized Reference Service in the United States, coordinated by Or­ by Mary Hufford, summarize the Tel: 202 707-55 10 mond Loomis) recommended that the proceedings: the first is a review of the Federal Cylinder Project term cultural conservation be adopted as principal themes; the second, excerpts Tel: 202 707-1740 "a concept for organizing the profu­ from formal and informal presenta­ sion of public and private efforts that tions; and the third, the recommenda­ Board of Trustees deal with traditional community cul­ tions drafted by the roundtable judith McCulloh, Chair, Illinois tural life." discussion groups. While the recom­ William L. Kinney, Jr. , Vice Chair, So uth Ca rolina In the time since Congress request­ mendations are those of the five Nina Archabal, M innesota ed the report, the term has appeared groups, and do not necessarily reflect johnnetta Cole , Georgia in a variety of publications, and a the views of the American Folklife John Penn Fix III, Washington number of different initiatives and Center, they are further indication Juris Ubans, Main e projects have indicated an attempt to that a "reconfiguring" of assump­ organize the " profusion" by shifting tions, definitions, goals, and agency Ex Officio Members away from particular disciplines in relationships is needed. J ames H. Billington, Lib raria n of Co ngress Robert McCormick Adams, charge of selected resources toward a Many of the the sessions were Secretary of the Smithson ian Institution more integrated view of the cultural marked by the same sense of urgency John Frohnmaye r, Chairman, mission, one that would require the that characterizes the work of heritage Nat ional Endo wment fo r the Arts cooperation of different public and pri­ and environmental protection in Lynne V. Cheney, Chairman, vate agencies. general (there were numerous requests National Endow ment f or the Humanities Alan J abbour, Director, American Folklife Center By the end of the decade the time for copies of papers during the confer­ seemed right for a conference to bring ence, and many recommendations for together the many heritage conserva­ the Center to take the lead in coor­ tion professionals who had been work­ dinating efforts of cultural heritage ing separately on common goals. The protection). Conference coordinator stated purpose of the conference was Mary Hufford was herself a symbol of " to examine the enterprise of cultur­ the urgency many participants felt, in al conservation , so as to arrive at a having with her her new baby daugh­ fuller understanding of its scope, ter, Katherine. What we do now, for methods, assumptions, and future the earth, for the cultures of the world, directions .. . . and to identify the we do for our children. 0

2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS RECONFIGURING THE CULTURAL MISSION: A Report on the First National Cultural Conservation Conference

By Mary Hufford Conferees represented a broad mix of the bureaucratic division of heritage allied fields and professions, including into "nature," "culture," " history," Nearly a decade after Congress folklore and folklife, anthropology, ar­ "arts," and "humanities, " and its requested a report on the protection of chaeology, architecture, art history, further division into categories of " intangible" aspects of American biology, education, history, environ­ preferred and residual resources by heritage (Cultural Conservation: The Pro­ mental studies, historic preservation, professionals working in those do­ tection of Cultural Heritage in the United humanities, landscape architecture, mains. At the practical level, discus­ States), models for heritage conserva­ tion in the United States are clearly law, lobbying, museology, parks ad­ sions of umbrella concepts gave way shifting and expanding. In Vermont ministration, and planning and de­ to talk of umbrella institutions such as the Nature Conservancy has commis­ sign. They represented various levels a cabinet-level Department ofC ultural sioned a family history in order to of government, the private sector, and Affairs or a National Coalition for deepen its understanding of a recently the academy as well. What united the Cultural Conservation. acquired wilderness area. In Michigan, approximately one hundred fifty pro­ folklorists serve on an interdisciplinary fessionals who attended was a shared The Fragmented State of team to help assess the cultural impact interest in the convergence of environ­ Cultural Affairs of a low-level radioactive waste facili­ mental protection, historic preserva­ ty on selected sites. City Lore's "En­ tion, and the conservation of living Noting that a new century is less than dangered Spaces" program in New cultures. York C ity experiments with strate­ a decade away, a number of keynote gies for protecting threatened urban At the theoretical level, conferees speakers asked: What can be done folklife habitats. J oining forces with questioned assumptions underlying about the fragmented national and folklorists , environmentalists, and pol­ iticians, a group of South Carolina basketmakers keeps an African Ameri­ can craft alive by regaining access to essential natural materials. M odelling itself after the Nature Conservancy, a Folklife Conservancy in Utah seeks to protect ranching as a way of life. Iowa's State Historical Society seeks a broad framework for interpreting an important archaeological site marked by hundreds of years of post-contact history. Residents ofCedarburg, Wis­ consin, hire a folklorist to orchestrate the conservation of history and culture in their community. A "Heritage Parks" initiative in Pennsylvania com­ prises a culturally based strategy for reclaiming and revitalizing spoiled landscapes in the wake of industrial decline. These and other recent develop­ ments in the realm of heritage protec­ tion were topics of discussion at the American Folklife Center's conference Conference Coordinator Mary Hufford (with her baby, Katherine Louise "Cultural Conservation: Reconfigur­ Oaks), speaking with Burt Feintuch, director of the University of New Hamp­ ing the Cultural Mission, " held at the shire's Center for the Humanities, and Roger Abrahams, Professor of Folk­ Library of Congress in May 1990. lore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania. (90-186-G-5)

SUMMER-FALL 1990 3 global state of cultural affairs? How well do the organizations fulfilling heritage protection mandates work together? Do they enhance or impede one another's efforts? How might they better integrate their efforts? How ef­ fectively do these networks support community life and values throughout the nation? Conferees took a critical look at the need for more conversation and coor­ dination among networks of agencies devoted to arts, humanities, folklife, historic preservation, and environ­ mental protection-which, taken as a whole, comprise a national infrastruc­ ture for cultural conservation. This array of organizations grew out of legislation enacted in the sixties and seventies, including the National Keynote speakers for the plenary session entitled " Cultural Conservation: Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Tradition, Community, Environment" included Eliot Wigginton, director National Foundation for the Arts and of Foxfire, Inc.; Chester Liebs, director of the Historic Preservation Depart­ Humanities Act of 1965, the Nation­ ment at the University of Vermont; Bess Lomax Hawes, director of the Folk al Environmental Policy Act of 1969 Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts; George Reiger, con­ (NEPA), and the American Folklife servation editor for Field and Stream Magazinej and Setha Low, of New York Preservation Act of 1976. Conferees University's Environmental Psychology and Anthropology Departments. agreed that while these pieces of legis­ (90-186-C-13) lation provide a powerful basis for cul­ tural conservation, the full potential These frameworks reqUire the com­ ed in the craft to help them find sweet­ for cultural conservation is far from bined expertise of naturalists, hu­ grass. A conference on sweetgrass realized. And the recent controversy manists, specialists in material culture, basketry followed, which assembled threatening the National Endowment and planners, and the combined aus­ basketmakers, humanists, botanists, for the Arts underscores the fragility pices of agencies across the bureau­ policy-makers, community leaders, de­ of the gains made over the past two cratic spectrum. velopers, and others to resolve the decades. There was consensus at the Perhaps no story better illustrates problem of access to sweetgrass. Since conference that cultural conserva­ the possibilities inherent in combining the sweetgrass conference, with support tionists need to join forces in order to resources than that of the sweetgrass from such diverse quarters as the Na­ expand existing resources rather than basketmakers. An African art form tional Endowment for the Arts Folk compete among themselves over the brought to this continent by slaves, Arts Program and the United States small allotments currently available for sweetgrass basketry has persisted con­ Soil Conservation Service, the basket­ cultural initiatives. tinuously in the South Carolina low makers have found alternative sources While specialization among profes­ country for three hundred years. Mary for sweetgrass, and Highway 17 North sionals is deemed necessary, the com­ Foreman Jackson, president of the in Charleston remains distinctive for its partmentalization of resources h<. s ef'­ Mount Pleasant Basketmakers Associ­ basket stands, which continue to attract couraged a range of unfortunate ation, told the conferees that the tourists and bolster the city's economy. dichotomies in the world of heritage baskets have become a way of encap­ The sweetgrass basket gathers to­ protection: nature and culture, tangi­ sulating the community's history, com­ gether history, natural environment, ble and intangible, built and natural, prising a tangible link to its African cultural artifact, and local tradition. historic and contemporary, and even roots. In recent years rapid develop­ Other cases await similar recognition, arts and humanities. Determining that ment along the Carolina coast has seri­ cases in which local ways of doing a more integrated view of the resou rr · ously reduced the basketmakers' access things have been broken up by the is desirable, conferees proposed

4 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS alted, may provide ways of connect­ of management worldwide. Jeffrey Foxfire director Eliot Wigginton ob­ ing with the past, of enriching and McNeely, chief conservation officer of served that cultural specialists can enacting community life and values. the International Union for the Con­ stem the nation's alarming high school Some speakers suggested that a more servation of Nature, outlined the attrition rate. Hal Cannon, director of flexible approach in implementing rationale and steps for combining the Western Folklife Center, cited a public policies would go a long way indigenous and official resource Native American elder who blamed toward conserving vernacular resource management practices in order to pro­ homelessness among Indians on their systems. Folklorist Jane Beck called tect culture and environment. Eth­ loss of ' 'the dream. " Ellen Beasley, a attention to the irony that the govern­ nomusicologist Tom Vennum cited historic preservation consultant based ment promotes recycling yet prohibits the National Park Service's present in Galveston, pointed out that histor­ farmers from using table scraps from reliance on Native American knowl­ ic buildings have a better chance of local institutions to feed livestock. edge and skills to solve the problem of surviving when they are recycled to Folklorist Steve Zeitlin pointed out overpopulation among bison in Yel­ solve housing crises rather than en­ that the City of New York, in closing 10wstone Park. The strategy shows shrined for their cultural value. Folk­ down buildings where ethnic clubs signs of being culturally revitalizing, lorist Leslie Prosterman described the meet because they violate fire codes, illustrating Vennum's point that role of a neighborhood festival , fund­ is breaking up grassroots systems for "only when people regain control of ed in part by the government, in al­ combating drugs and crime. Bringing their cultural tools can they begin to leviating cultural tensions connected the buildings up to code would be deal effectively with the many social with gentrification and third-world in­ more cost-effective in the long run, problems facing them." migration. Robert McNulty, presi­ said Zeitlin, for these "indigenous set­ dent of Partners For Livable Places, tlement houses [provide 1home grown Rekindling Activism argued that the city park, when well­ solutions to social issues confronting staffed and creatively managed, can low income and new immigrant popu­ Some of the speakers called for a rekin­ serve as a front line of defense against lations." Folklorist Erika Brady ar­ dling of the activist spirit that led to drugs. On that basis, he said, "You gued that the National Park Service, the enabling legislation of the sixties should transfer part of your crime before it reversed its ban on trapping and seventies. Cultural conservation­ prevention budget to the parks depart­ along an Ozark National Scenic Ri­ ists must convince public officials that ment to ensure that cultural programs verway, was staging an unwitting at­ cultural programming is not a luxury in parks and recreation become part tack on deep-seated local values in item, but that it can offer real solutions of the strategy you use." order to avoid offending tourists. to social problems like homelessness, With respect to drafting and imple­ Viewing this controversy from the en­ drugs, racism, and unemployment. menting legislation, various speakers vironmental camp, conservation writer George Reiger observed that the present nationwide push to ban hunting and trapping is apt to destroy "the best long-term hope for any spe­ cies of wildlife and its habitat. Every year through license sales and ear­ marked taxes paid on guns and am­ munition ... hunters contribute tens of millions of dollars to wildlife preser­ vation. " Others reported on how a greater understanding of local ways of fit­ ting culture and environment together would enable policy makers to strengthen the resources they seek to protect without turning the resources into "wards of the state." The failures of some official managers to recognize the cultural, economic, and political Mary ForemanJackson, president of the Mount Pleasant Sweetgrass Bask.~t­ parameters ofnatural resource systems makers Association, spoke at a plenary session entitled: "But Sweetgrass is have been offset by a growing effort to Gold: Natural Resources, Conservation Policy, and African American legitimize and use vernacular systems Basketry." (90-186-E-9)

SUMMER- FALL 1990 5 pointed out that vigilance is the order of the day. Bruce Craig, who lobbies for the National Parks and Conserva­ tion Association, called attention to legislative trends that could either ad­ vance or inhibit the goals of cultural conservation in the context of national parks. One proposal, tentatively enti­ tled "The National Heritage Conser­ vation Act of 1990," seeks a higher degree of protection for properties deemed nationall y significant, but does not provide for local or regional significance. And, in response to or­ ganized efforts, several pending bill s propose that the Park Service develop Benita Howell, an anthropologist who co-chaired the Environmental Protec­ American cultural units around land­ tion roundtable, in conversation with Ruth Ann Knudsen. Both women served on the advisory group for the 1983 report to Congress on cultural conserva­ scapes associated with famous Ameri­ tion. (90-186-C-8) can artists. Acknowledging the elitist bent of these recent trends, Craig in­ vited cultural conservationists" to join better support them. Folklorist Doug that cultural conservation at its most in the fray." Eric H ertfelder, director DeN atale contrasted " vernacular" imaginative is not only interdisciplin­ of the National Conference of State and "corporate" notions of place in ary, it coalesces a broad range of com­ H istoric Preservation Officers, agreed Lowell, Massachusetts, and explored munity resources, including housing that cultural conservationists need to the contribution of that distinction for authorities, politicians, bankers, "get a seat at the table where decisions historic preservation planners there. neighborhood organizations, muse­ are made," but warned that lobbying Drawing on his research in Zambia, ums, community planners, transpor­ for legislation is only half the battle, anthropologist Stuart Marks described tation authorities, and many others. " because these regulations and laws the interface of " managerial ecology" Shalom Staub, director of Pennsylva­ which yo u might get passed don't and " lineage husbandry." Folklor­ nia's H eritage Affairs Commission, work by themselves. If they're neglect­ ist James Abram s described the array described a network of industrial parks ed they will fall very rapidly into of "vernacular industrial heritage developing in that state through such disuse." displays" whereby citizens in a Penn­ a process, as did Donald Briggs, a sylvania mining community resist planner for the National Park Service, Community Involvement " official" efforts to recover and inter­ reporting on a proposed plan to inter­ and Advocacy pret their heritage. Landscape archi­ pret the New River Gorge area of tect Matthew Potteiger reported on W est Virgina . A dichotomy that drew a great deal of Neo-traditionalist approaches to land­ attention went by various names and scape planning, inspired by traditional A C oalition for Cultural generall y opposes the elite (offi cial, settlement patterns. M argy McLain, C on servation professional, bureaucratic, academic, director of Chicago's Urban Tradi­ scientific) to the vernacular (unoffi­ tions, described the efforts of cultural Various speakers observed that, as a cial, indigenous, traditional, local, organizations in Chicago to obtain movement, cultural conservation has community, grassroots, folk). J amil official recognition for ethnic language not yet achieved the coherence and Zainaldin, director of the National schools. And Alan S. Downer and his visibility of its siblings, historic preser­ Federation of State Humanities Coun­ colleagues from the Navajo Nation vation and environmental protection. cil s, spoke of the conventional detach­ Historic Preservation Office present­ All fi ve roundtable groups urged the ment of the academy from the ed " traditional history" as a concept formation of a national coalition for community, which is at odds with the that recognizes vernacular perceptions cultural conservation, and tasks for mission of state humanities councils to and uses of the past and reconciles this coalition were identified in abun­ place scholars within the community. them wi th " the western, academic, dance (see " Resolutions and R ecom­ Scholars in all arenas of conservation analytical historical tradition, which is mendations"). A constituency remains identified and described a wealth of the conventional basis for decision to be well defined , and professional ve rnacular resource systems, propos­ making in historic preservation. " ranks broadened to include far great­ ing ways in which official efforts might Other presentations demonstrated er involvement of minority groups and

6 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS people of color. A Journal of Cultural selected." "R-selected" or "weedy Affairs would provide a forum for rais­ species," he explained, are oppor­ Conference Advisors tunistic, pioneer species that thrive in ing and debating the sorts of issues Elaine Eff that dominated the conference. Sever­ disturbed areas. Kudzu, starlings, Director, Maryland Ojfice oj al speakers addressed the need for cul­ house sparrows, Norway rats, and Cultural Conservation white-tailed deer are familiar exam­ tural conservation curricula targeting Eugene Hunn students at secondary as well as post­ ples. These tend to outcompete the Curator oj Ethnobiology, secondary levels. A coalition for cul­ more sensitive "K-selected" species, Anthropology Department, tural conservation could serve to like warblers and spotted owls, which University oj Washington strengthen links among separate net­ do not fare so well in disturbed areas. Benita Howell works in the arts, humanities, his­ Parallels come to mind for the realm Anthropology Department, toric preservation, environmental pro­ of cultural advocacy, where sweetgrass University oj Tennessee tection, and planning and design. It basketmakers, family farms, and Chester Liebs would provide support for educators Navajo toponymies exemplify "K­ Director, Historic Preservation Program, seeking to develop such curricula, as selected" species, while replicas, University oj Vermont well as for public programming in revivalists, commercial strips, and Setha Low parks, museums, libraries, and other condominiums may be seen by some Departments of Environmental settings. It would also monitor and cultural advocates as weeds that can Psychology and Anthropology, report on developing legislative take care of themselves. However, City University oj New York proposals. several initiatives described at the con­ Patricia Parker Deputy Chief for Preservation Planning, In a closing keynote address entitled ference suggest that we think of ways to press the weedy species into the Interagency Resources Division, "Raven, Mallard Duck (Decoy), and National Park Service Spotted Owl: Conservationists' Flights service of the K-selected ones. George Gary Stanton of Passage," folklorist Archie Green Reiger, for instance, proposed that we release the captive California condors Historic Preservation Department, focussed on issues related to the for­ Mary Washington College mation of a cultural conservation coa­ into the condor habitat that abounds Shalom Staub lition. In this reincarnated and around the Grand Canyon and feed them on carcasses culled from the fe­ Executive Director, transformed"CCC," three different Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs species of bird symbolize the issues fac­ ral burro population there, borrowing David A. Taylor ing those who converge: Raven, Mal­ a successful strategy employed in Afri­ ca (see "Keynote Excerpts"). In the Folk/ife Specialist, lard, and Spotted Owl. While these American Folklife Center, realm of folklife those who choose to birds are emblematic of the common Library of Congress ground shared by those interested in inherit and perpetuate traditions are protecting living, environmental, and not always relatives or members of Acknowledgments the traditional community, but for historic legacies, they also stand for This conference was made possible in part differences in expertise that will re­ tradition-bearers at a loss for students, by a grant from the L.J. and Mary C. main vital to the enterprise. He urged these may be vital to the survival of Skaggs Foundation, and with support from the American Folklife Center's Raye Vir­ conferees not to take a restricted view traditions. ginia All en Fund. of their materials or their regions, but Where there are weeds-which are to become aware of the broader polit­ simply plants that are out of place­ ical and ideological structures that there are systems. And, as anthropol­ Conference Publications sustain or threaten the resources rep­ ogist Stuart Marks reminded the con­ resented by the birds. The spotted owl ference, it is important to keep in mind Plans are underway to publish a represents the natural environment, " that all resource systems are sociall y volume of essays based on presenta­ the mallard duck decoy, the crafted constructed. What matters is who con­ tions given at the conference. If you environment, and the raven-featured structed them, for what purpose, are interested in knowing when the volume appears, please send us your in Anglo-American balladry and Na­ where they are located-both spatial­ name and address. For a copy of the tive American trickster tales-the ly and socially, and who monitors and conference program and a mailing list meanings assigned by communities to legitimizes them." Our systems are of participants, please write to The their surroundings. not givens in the world, but are rather American Folklife Center, Library of In his remarks, Robert]. Smith, an socially constructed and maintained Congress, Washington, DC 20540, environmental scholar for the CATO by us. Keeping that in mind should and enclose a check for $4.00 (to cover Institute, drew attention to the distinc­ help us to be more flexible and im­ postage and handling), payable to the tion between species that are "R­ aginative in developing and imple­ American Folklife Center. D selected' , and those that are "K­ menting heritage policies. D

SUMMER-FALL 1990 7 RECONFIGURING THE CULTURAL MISSION: Excerpts from the Conference

Conferees attending a keynote panel entitled "Categories of Thought and Units of Action: Funding, Legislation, and Networks." At the podium is Jamil Zainaldin, director, National Federation of State Humanities Organizations. (90-186-35)

Funds for Cultural Programs Remember the Arts be taken lightly, partly because they have been placed in a realm of so­ Studies have shown time and time Art has to do with the schematic ren­ cial irresponsibility-" that's just a again that funds spent on cultural pro­ dering in a myriad complex ways of game," or "that's only a sketch of it," grams, particularly for youth, vastly the ethical and value standards of a or "all artists are crazy, everybody improve the probability that program particular group-their goods, their knows that. " . . . participants will escape the clutches of bads, their complex in-betweens. Thus You see, if something isn't very the criminal justice system down the artists-whether commercial, tradi­ important, a certain freedom to ex­ road, resulting in huge savings to the tional, avant garde, idealistic, realis­ periment may flourish. If it isn't im­ society at large. This is an argument tic, op, pop, or conservative-are portant, a number of possibilities can you have to make again and again to essentially concerned with making be explored and mapped out. Ifit isn't people until they finally get it. We public the values ofa particular group important, the spirit can soar to need to work together to enlighten fund­ of people. These values may be pre­ univestigated heights-or depths. The ers and legislators about the true costs sented negatively or positively, important thing is that it doesn't mat­ and benefits of all the programs we through content or style, in a myriad ter. Ifit mattered, the budgetary limits hope to develop. of permutations, but the point I cen­ of the grant, or the political appropri­ trally wish to make is that art-like ateness of the topic, or the stupidity or Jillian Steiner Sandrock, play-is essentially a very serious mat­ the venality of the glory of the total Skaggs Foundation ter. Neither art nor play should ever concept could affect the outcome in

8 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS many drastic ways. secondary importance. What is of for inclusion, excluding for the mo­ So, in the battle between conflicting primary importance is their value, ment legal and moral grounds, is to values within a complex society such their potential, their need, primarily recalibrate, if not in some instances as ours, the arts- those trivial and as a housing resource. To make that overturn reigning assumptions, criter­ above all unimportant decorations­ potential a reality requires another ia, expectations, standards, canons, may indeed play vital roles. They kind of integrated approach, one that even epistomologies, to engage per­ elaborate and specify. They highlight brings together such disparate and spectives and criteria historically and parallel. They evoke and con­ often warring factions as housing evolved by other cultures-cultural verge. They discourage and rally. authorities, politicians, citizens of all equity .... They outrage and mollify. Hopefully, economic levels, building inspectors, As we proceed, we must guard they make matters a bit clearer. They financial institutions, neighborhood against the real possibility that new are of especial importance because organizations, preservationists, plan­ terminology (pluralism, diversity, out­ they are linked, not to a group's specif­ ners , federal and neighborhood reach) can become static and reify cul­ ic way of handling a problem (a par­ organizations, preservationists, plan­ tural differences without alteration ticular judicial code, for example) but ners, federal and state agencies, etc., of the power relations (definitional to its overall concept ofjustice. Thus, etc., etc. This is not an interdisciplin­ and budgetary) that now underlie they are especially suitable for trans­ ary team as that term will be used Eurocentric hegemony. Recognizing ference into new social milieux, new during the next few days, but, none­ pluralism or "reaching out to minori­ social relationships- in other words, theless, it is one that demands an ties," without the aforementioned fun­ into the future .... enormous amount of energy, creativi­ damental changes, can result in the May I urge all the participants in ty, and fl exibility. delusion of progress where our hu­ this conference to remember the Ellen Beasley, manity is still defined based on differ­ arts-in their broadest range- in their Preservation Planning Consultant ence without regard to commonalities planning. Remember that the weave among the human family. of a basket- as our South Carolina Engaging New Perspectives African-American fi ber artists have James Early, shown us- can enclose more than rice, Inclusion of culturally diverse people Acting Assistant Secretary it can contain the proud history of an (people of color) in policy positions is Jor Public Service, entire people. Remember that our a prerequisite toward full reconfigura­ Smithsonian Institution cowboy/vaquero ranch laborers who tion of our mission. T he basic purpose once exalted their fierce loneliness in countless ballads of romantic grief and tragedy now utilize the same poetic forms to recount the ravages of their ranges by strip mining coal opera­ tions. Remember that the dances of California tribal peoples still keep the earth level for us all, the steady pound­ ing feet quieting and stabilizing the restless earth when done at the proper times, in the proper season and in the proper spirit. T he doing of art, the making of art, the active ongoing work of artists is not just important, it is es­ sential. Bess Lomax Hawes, Director, Folk Arts Program, NEA

Preservation for Housing Jillian Sandrock, a program director for the L.J. and Mary C. Skaggs Foun­ T he preservation of these areas [the dation, and James Early, acting assistant secretary for Public Service at th e everyday mix of rural and urban hous­ Smithsonian Institution, participating on a key note panel entitled " Categories ing like that in Galveston, Texas] be­ of Thought and Units of Action: Funding, Legislation, and Networks." cause of their cultural val ue is of (90-186-F-12)

SUMMER - FALL 1990 9 Flexible Handling of the Law many cities and rural areas-eastern And what we stand for in this room Kentucky comes to mind in this really does genuinely have the power When traditional attitudes are not country-in our public schools we to change that and turn that around, taken into consideration, the best of have a dropout rate of over 50 percent. and we can do that if we just have the attempts at positive environmental That's millions of kids without a high will. solutions fall apart. Good intentions school diploma. And many of those Eliot Wiggington, must relate to practical reality or do kids are members ofethnic groups that Director, Foifire more harm than good. Today in Ver­ those of us in this room care very deep­ mont as elsewhere recycling is a big ly about, and whose dignity we're Issue .. . . talking about preserving. And we An Invention of the Present We also see the same concept at represent as a group I think one very work in the recycling of garbage to the powerful opportunity of several to en­ It seems to me we need to understand hogs. Pig food has traditionally been gage those kids and turn that situation ourselves not only with regard to the "slops." Recently a USDA official around. And I know it can be done, particulars of our historical situation shut down an unofficial but effective I 've seen it work. I've watched the here, but also to recognize that we find recycling effort at a school in Strafford, percentage at our rural school, for ourselves in this position of advocacy because as a nation of restless people Vermont. A farmer was taking home example, who go on to college move we have not had any regard for places school lunch leftovers for his hogs. He from 21 percent per year to 71 percent and spaces of significance, but are was informed by "the government per year. I've personally witnessed finding our way to regard for such man" that he and the school were that. We represent one chance as a things as an act of nostalgia, and those violating federal law. "Trafficking in group, I think, that those kids have to who know about the history of men­ pig slops is against USDA regulations. see that their experiences and their tal health know that nostalgia is a very Violators can be punished by up to a families and their knowledge can be an deep disease and one for which we year in jail and a $10,000 fine. " Ap­ open door through which they can therefore have to look for potential parently this regulation is on the books enter a wider world. We have one of cures or at least antidotes at any given because of" African Swine Disease," the answers to this dilemma. But time. What I'm getting at is that the something found in hogs in Haiti and teachers-those few who even try to reason why we find ourselves in a sig­ nificant position in the United State the Dominican Republic. The stu­ utilize culture and folklore, et cetera, vis a vis culture is that the people who dents and school officials find this an as a catalyst for engaging those kids­ came to the United State were in the ironic twist when the school bulletin have this uncanny means of taking a main already tied to the international board headlines' 'Trash Facts " and pedagogical canon and beating it into market place, they were agricultural­ teaches the new three R 's: " reduce, a pea-shooter, and folklore becomes ists, but they were not agriculturalists reuse, and recycle." Now the leftovers Paul Bunyan, and oral history be­ that had a deep regard for the land, of chopped suey, peas and carrots, and comes a little family tree done with and we can't forget that. They were pieces of whole wheat muffins end up kids who don't know who their fathers agriculturalists who wanted to move in the garbage- a waste that must be are, and we have the ability to do on to the next place as soon as they dealt with at some expense, while the something about that. The conse­ depleted the land, and what this meant was that as they moved on they looked farmer is now forced to buy grain for quences of all of this are literally a back, they recognized, our pioneer his hogs. An understanding of tradi­ matter of life and death, and like the foreparents, that the very act of pro­ tional attitudes and a more flexible Inuits before them who were watch­ gress and of moving across the coun­ handling of the law would have ing people be destroyed, the message try was also an act of dramatized loss , benefited all concerned. Instead the is to these kids, "Ifyou aren't like the and that the whole sense of home was government does damage to its pro­ white middle class you're cast into out­ constantly under negotiation. What motion of the concept of recycling by er darkness and they sit and laugh at we're doing at the moment is trying failing to accommodate its form as a us." And until we address that, a lot to create homeplaces after six, seven, fundamental tenet of traditional Ver­ of what we're talking about is like dust and eight generations of really idealiz­ mont life. in the wind. And we are turning out ing the notion of home but not creat­ Jane Beck, Director, now generations of kids that are ab­ ing those nesting places in any kind of profound way. What this means is that Vermont Folklije Center solutely immune to the influence of we're investing in the sense of space, any of our college courses, absolutely or spaces, of specific objects and immune to the influence of any histor­ places, some sense of dignity and some Engaging the Kids ic sites or any museums, absolutely sense of long-time and heritage that immune to the influence of any fes­ really is an invention of the present. There' s a situation in America that we tivals or any celebrations except as op­ It's not something that truly comes cannot overlook in good conscience. In portunities to drink and deal drugs. down to us-it is a putative past,

10 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS rather than a real past, and we have of how the people we're trying to tures, or of traditional knowledge to continue to remind ourselves of this. influence are impacting these within cultures undergoing rapid It's important for our present mental resources, and finally a plan on how change, is a problem which is at least health to engage in acts ofthis sort, but to protect these resources or mitigate as serious for humanity as is the loss we shouldn't kid ourselves that this is unavoidable impacts. Perhaps all of species. All who follow will share the anything more or less than cultural in­ documentary studies of folklife in the loss of traditional knowledge about the vention and re-invention. Important, future should contain a chapter on local environment. Crucial knowledge but nevertheless fiction-making. And preservation, how to plan to meet about how that environment might be I think that is a radical position that threats and enough information to used to provide benefits on a sustain­ we have to maintain, because among make decisions in a crisis. able basis may be lost forever, along other things, the restlessness of the Community-based: The HP pro­ with the species that have supported past has not been lost. We remain an gram is very much a grassroots, human welfare for thousands of years. incredibly restless people. And so what bottom-up program. It started that The consumer culture will not last is being established through placing way, and I think it continues that way. forever, but the earth abides. The such a heavy emphasis upon dignify­ To a large extent the number and numerous local cultures which are ing places and spaces and objects and types of properties which can be saved adapted to sustainable use of locally cultures that are rooted to that sense is dependent on the number and types available resources may well provide of place, is we are creating our own of people who get mad, and it really the resilience which will enable our stations of the cross, our own places comes down to that. Folklife programs species to adapt to whatever changes where we can make some kind of need to better identify their constit­ the future may bring. spiritual obeissance to some putative uency. Jiffrey McNeely, past, and that this is an act ofour own Activism: if a more formal structure Chief Conservation Officer, for our own present sense of regener­ or new federal laws are required, then International Union for the ation. This is , in other words, our own there has to be an accompanying com­ Conservation of Nature and culture that we're talking about, it is mitment to make them work. The Natural Resources, not the cultures of the past, really. We proponents must become activists. Gland, Switzerland are serving our present needs, and in­ They must be committed to go to sofar as we project ourselves upon our hearings, to read [environmental im­ children and our grandchildren, I sup­ pact statements1, to take and give Generalized Landscapes pose we're also acting in their benefit statements, and become politically ac­ too- I would like to think so . But it tive at all levels of government, and I wish to speak a word for generalized seems to me that we can't resign our at the federal level it is crucial to have landscapes, not those used for specif­ intelligence to some sense of nostalgia an agency which is willing to go head ic purposes, whether a wilderness for that says we have to obtain some sense to head with other agencies in that Thoreau, a mall for shopping, a sub­ of place here in the United States that area of responsibility. Preservationists urb for sleeping, or a beltway of office makes us feel at home. are very scrappy people, and it 's ab­ buildings for working: but those land­ Roger D. Abrahams, solutely essential, because no one else scapes that contain sweetgrass, frogs , Professor of Folklore, is going to be an advocate for your fish , mosquitoes, trees, and people, University of Pennsylvania resources. You're the voice and no one all of a piece- those which one can­ else is going to do it for you. And I not describe well except through nar­ stress that this commitment has to be rative, so that one comes to know the continuous, because these regulations place over time and through stories. Environment, Community, and laws which you might get passed For that reason I often prefer the Activism don't work by themselves. If they're mixed landscapes of a dilapidated neglected they will fall very rapidly rural area or the changing neighbor­ Three words recurring at this meeting into disuse. And it'll be like you didn't hoods of a large city to a Wall Street, deserve further discussion: empower­ have them at all. So preservation and a bedroom community, or an official ment, community-based, and activ­ conservation is like mowing the lawn. wilderness area. And I wish, further, ism. These three words are also key to speak a word for open or limited words for the Historic Preservation Eric Hertjelder, Director, access to those resources that we find movement. National Conference of State in generalized landscapes . . . . Empowerment: Ifwe are concerned Historic Preservation Officers Such places are valuable because with the effect of public and private ac­ they are rich in actual and potential tions on folklife and the kinds of cultural resources. Let me don my hu­ resources we're interested in protect­ The Loss of Cultures manist hat to ask some intriguing ing, then we must get a seat at the ta­ questions about them: What are the ble where decisions are made. But to Part of the richness of human life histories of this place? Where do the get a seat and hold onto it we must around the globe is due to the inter­ people come from? What kinds of have a clear definition of the resources relations between people and their communities are there and how have we are trying to protect, a clear idea local environments. The loss of cul­ they changed? How many different

SUMMER-FALL 1990 11 ways are there to relate to the place? What can become of it? As an advo­ cate for the communities living in such a landscape, my principal questions deal with how I can help empower the local residents to retain some measure of control over their landscapes (and, hence, their lives) and how I can help ease the negative impacts of change. Now I don my planner's hat and find that I have a new pair ofeyes and a different kind of brain. The commu­ nities with whom I work become a more amorphous thing called the pub­ lic , and through a series of interviews and public hearings at the local and regional level I identify interest groups through which I determine the eco­ nomic and political power structure and from which I derive and try to Jamil Zainaldin, director of the National Federation of State Humanities mesh conflicting goals-development Councils, at a session of the Arts and Humanities roundtable. On his left is versus preservation, infrastructure Maurie Sacks, associate professor of anthropology at Montclair State College. needs, water, soil and ecological con­ (90-186-H-3) siderations, and so forth. I have in my kit bag a set of tools, such as zoning whole lot of official room for culture. The Spotted Owl as Symbol and capital expenditure programs, But as we look around ourselves in the that may fit, depending on the legis­ twentieth century, we find that even The spotted owl, more dramatically lative and regulatory constraints in ef­ though we occupy a small part of the than any other symbol, pits conserva­ fect. I want to know where to place economic pie, and in some cases, a tionists, naturalists, and humanists high- and low-density residential small part of the political pie, that cul­ against the lumber trusts, and the units, conservation areas, and com­ ture is tremendously important in so­ workers who work for the lumber mercial and industrial zones. Further­ ciety. Witness the attention given just trust .... Here's the problem, see, more, the ordinances I develop must to NEA [over the funding of con­ forty, fifty , sixty, a hundred years ago be able to withstand court chal­ troversia
artists and projects]. The the loggers in the Northwest were lenges . . Notice how my vocabu­ budget involved in NEA-175 million wobblies. They were militant, they lary and style have changed! I am now dollars, compared to the serious eco­ were committed to conservation, they an efficiency expert and am ready to nomic issues facing the society-tells were libertarians in their ideology, and solve problems. In so doing I have us something else about what this de­ they were heroic. Wesley Everest, a stripped the place, with its communi­ bate is about. I don't think it 's about logger, was lynched at Centralia. John ty, of its most important elements­ just an attack on arts; it is also about Dos Passos turned Wesley Everest into its heart and its potential to explore a defense of arts and humanities. I a hero in a prose poem in USA. There unforeseen possibilities. think that culture comprises a very sig­ was a marvelous, marvelous, tradition John Sinton, nificant component of modern life to­ of resistance. But through changes in Projessor oj Environmental Studies, day, in that, in a sense I think of it as the economy and changes in the struc­ Stockton State College a mansion with many rooms, we all [of ture of American life , those men who us here at the conference] occupy some gave their lives and struggled then are of these rooms, but the hallways are the enemies of conservation today. Lighting the Hallways dark, not lighted, and we need to work That is , they are the genuine un­ the hallways more, and we need to Americans today. They are allied with In reflecting about how we [heritage light those hallways so that we're more those forces destroying our planet. and conservation professionals] are aware of ourselves as a cultural com­ And without understanding that, sliced up and categorized into so many munity, and not only in the area of without understanding changes in different areas of interest- even in the cultural conservation, but in every ideology, and changes in the world field of cultural conservation as I 'm area, where most of us who are at economy, we as folklorists interested learning- this way of dividing up the work in our business are all animated in region or occupation are going to world really is artificial. We know that by roughly similar value systems and fail in our work. There is no greater the origins of the United States is an goals. challenge than the challenge posed in origin in political ideology, politics, an Jamil Zainaldin, DIrector, the Northwest woods in terms of the origin in territorial expansion, an ori­ National Federation oj coalition that we're going to have to gin in economics, in business, not a State Humanities Councils build coming out of this meeting. And

12 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS I'm predicting that there will be many done, nor will it likely be done, to per­ air-conditioned comfort overlooking similar symbols in days to come. petuate truly wild condors. Pleistocene-like water holes where Archie Green, Folklorist, By contrast, in South Africa, the huge birds plane down to feed on excerpt from his keynote address, only public money used to save that culled antelopes and even old farm "Raven, Mallard Duck (Decoy), country's endangered vultures came in horses provided for their delectation. and Spotted Owl: Conservationists ' the form of a grant to find out why the Local Boy Scouts earn merit badges by Flights of Passage" birds were failing. A British research­ smashing the carcasses' bones with er discovered that the vultures were sledge hammers to make the calcium declining primarily because farmers available to the vultures. This is all Feeding the Vultures and ranchers had wiped out the hye­ done without public subsidy. Con­ nas that formerly crushed the bones in trived, perhaps, but South African It's interesting to note the difference carcasses, a process that made these "condors" are more likely to be fly­ in the way Americans have respond­ fragments of concentrated calcium ing free well into the next century than ed to the decline of our largest vulture available to the birds. Young vultures the heavily subsidized and now eco­ and the way South Africans have to were crashing to the rocks below their nomically irrelevant California con­ the decline of theirs. Americans tend natal cliffs due to insufficient calcium dor. to make any threatened or endangered in their wing bones. species a public ward. This goes back The South Africans then did a very George Reiger, to a time when we could afford such practical thing. They built "vulture Conservation Editor, luxuries, but it also arose to counter restaurants" where tourists can sit in Field & Stream Magazine the fundamental human attitude that creatures good to eat should be killed because they're good to eat, while creatures that are not good to eat should be killed because they're not good to eat. Inedible California condors were taken into captivity because concerned people feared that some fool with a firearm would shoot the last one. Unfortunately, by taking the condors into captivity at considerable public expense, former condor habitat has become much more susceptible to de­ velopment than it was while protect­ ed under the aegis of the Endangered Species Act. It is questionable whether this habitat will still be suitable for condors when the first captive-bred birds are ready for release some years hence. Meanwhile, appropriate condor habitat exists in abundance on public lands in and adjoining the Grand Canyon. This area also has feral horse and burro populations which could oc­ casionally be culled to feed the birds. California, however, doesn't want to give up proprietal interest in the con­ dors called Californian; the pilots who earn money by taking tourists over the Grand Canyon don't want to give up their flights in order to protect condors from possible aircraft collisions; animal preservationists don't want " their" burros and horses shot; and state officials in Arizona and Utah want the federal government to pay for Archie Green, a folklorist who for ten years led the national campaign to enact whatever is done but put them in the American Folklife Preservation Act, delivered the conference keynote ad­ charge. As a result, nothing has been dress. (90-186-J-31:)

SUMMER-FALL 1990 13 ROUNDTABLE RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESOLUTIONS

The Historic Preservation roundtable, chaired by Patricia Parker (standing at easel), deputy chief for preservation planning in the Interagency Resources Division of the National Park Service, and Gary Stanton (seated, bottom center), a folklorist who teaches in the Historic Preservation Department of Mary Washington College. (90-186-G-21)

Each afternoon jollowing the jormal panels and presentations, con­ ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ferees participated in roundtable groups in order to develop recommen ­ dations and resolutions for reconfiguring the cultural mission. Out Benita Howell of their deliberations emerged a set of recommendations and resolu­ and Eugene Hunn, Co-Chairs tions, some directed at particular agencies, others at kinds oj agencies and projessionals in general. Though the recommendations and reso ­ 1. The American Folklife Center (AFC) should serve as a lutions were presented to the conference in a final plenary session, they central exchange for information on cultural conservation were not formally ratified by the conference, and therefore should be efforts, such as: recognized as recommendations oj the roundtable groups rather than (a) lists of local, regional, national, and international organizations already working to enhance and protect oj the entire conjerence. cultural and natural diversity;

14 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS (b) publications dealing with cultural conservation; HISTORIC PRESERVATION (c) bibliographies on cultural conservation. Conference participants should develop agreements Patricia Parker between their respective institutions and the American Folk­ and Gary Stanton, Co-Chairs life Center to support internships for work related to these information exchange activities. The Historic Preservation Roundtable found that existing 2. A member of Congress should be approached to re­ review and decision-making systems (for example, under the quest a study by the General Accounting Office to assess National Environmental Policy Act [NEPAl, the National the effectiveness of federal procedures, programs, and re­ Historic Preservation Act [NHPA], and state environmen­ sources to implement provisions of National Environmen­ tal and historic preservation statutes) are not sufficient to tal Policy Act (NEPA) that relate to cultural conservation. ensure adequate opportunity for cultural continuity. The 3. The report Cultural Conservation: [he Protection oj Cul­ roundtable therefore makes the following recommendations: tural Heritage in the United States (Library of Congress, 1983) 1. Federal, state, tribal, and local governments should should be reprinted with an updated addendum. provide opportunities to preserve cultural continuity. This 4. In order to better enhance and protect ecologically sus­ does not mean requiring that cultural systems be preserved tainable lifeways, a task force should be created to explore unchanged, but: the feasibility and means of organizing a cultural conserva­ (a) ensuring that the identification and documentation tion coalition to establish alliances with existing diverse net­ of folklife as defined in the American Folklife Preser­ works identified through the proposed AFC central vation Act are adequately provided for during plan­ information exchange. ning for actions that may affect cultural continuity; and 5. Environmentalists should be enlisted as allies in the (b) providing the opportunity for those who value the defense of cultural diversity locally, nationally, and inter­ continuity of a given cultural system to participate in nationally. decision making about activities that cause cultural 6. We urge the conference to recognize the importance change, and to have their concerns taken into con­ of cultural diversity and its relationship to biological diver­ sideration. sity by adopting the following statement of principles: 2. During the next three years the National Park Ser­ Cultural diversity sustains and is sustained by biological vice, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the diversity. Biological diversity is recognized as a critical mea­ American Folklife Center, and the State Historic Preserva­ sure of the health of ecosystems and is granted legal protec­ tion Officers should give special emphasis to the develop­ tion by NEPA. Cultural diversity should be recognized ment and dissemination of information relating to cultural equally as critical to the continuing vitality of our national conservation. and global social and economic life. 3. The American Folklife Center should establish a for­ • Human cultural diversity is a natural consequence of lo­ mal interdisciplinary advisory team composed of represen­ cally and regionally specific adaptations to the environment. tatives from disciplines related to cultural conservation to There is no dichotomy between culture and nature: There­ serve as liaison between Congress and federal , state, tribal, fore, the protection and enhancement of cultural diversity and local agencies, and the professional community. This will lead to the development of ecologically sustainable team should: lifeways. (a) gather data about pertinent laws, regulations, poli­ • The cultural and ecological processes that connect local cies, standards, and guidelines that are currently in to regional and global levels of activity may either threaten place and their effect upon the opportunity to preserve or enhance the vitality of local bioregions: Therefore, it be­ cultural heritage; comes a moral imperative to enhance as much as possible (b) make recommendations to federal, state, and lo­ those processes and activities that contribute to cultural cal governments concerning implementation ofchanges vitality and, hence, diversity. to such laws, regulations, policies, standards, and • Cultural diversity is continuously shaped, modified, and guidelines; disrupted by global and regional economic, social, and po­ (c) monitor projects and programs that may impact litical forces that tend to favor uniformity: Therefore, it is cultural heritage; necessary to understand and engage dominant power struc­ (d) monitor pending environmental, historic preser­ tures, social relations, and paradigms. vation, housing, tax, social, and other legislation that • The empowerment of local culture groups is essential to may impact cultural heritage; and the processes that encourage and sustain cultural vitality: (e) when appropriate, advocate or propose changes in Therefore, empowerment must involve advocacy, education, such legislation. litigation, and action-oriented research . American Folklife Center Staff should be increased to a level 7. We affirm the principle of cultural self-determination necessary to accomplish these tasks . and, in particular, in the spirit of the U .N . draft Declara­ 4. The National Park Service, the American Folklife tion of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, affirm the right Center, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the of indigenous peoples of the world to preserve their cultural State Historic Preservation Officers, tribal cultural heritage identity and traditions and to control their own cultural de­ programs, the National Endowments for the Arts and Hu­ velopment. manities, and others should work together to promote a wide range of pilot projects designed to test the effectiveness of

SUMMER-FALL 1990 15 interdisciplinary approaches to preserving the opportunity PUBLIC EDUCATION for cultural continuity. 5. The American Folklife Center in cooperation with the Chester Liebs and National Park Service, and in consultation with represen­ Ormond Loomis, Co-chairs tatives of federal, state, and local governments, public and private organizations, Indian tribes and ethnic communi­ PREAMBLE: We celebrate America 's ethnic and cultural diversity. ties, should: Given the fact that the study of culture (that cultural conservation (a) establish procedures and guidelines for the con­ education): sideration of cultural heritage and cultural continuity • has profound implications for a peoples' economy, survival and in federal, state, and local undertakings, and mental health; (b) develop professional qualifications standards for • has the potential to prepare us for positive, productive lives in a conducting cultural conservation activities. multi-cultural twenty-first century; 6. American Folklife Center should request that the Office • has the power, when used wisely in public schools, to instill with­ of Personnel Management establish an official federal job in our students curiosity, a passion for learning, a commitment to description for folklorist and folklife specialist, and work with self and family and community, a deep sensitivity to and empathy the Office of Personnel M anagement to establish such a with people of diverse backgrounds and ethnic heritage, a resolve to description. live within the earth 's resources, a willingness and ability to identify 7. The General Accounting Office or Office of Technol­ and solve political, economic, environmental and societal problems, ogy Assessment should undertake an analysis of the National a global perspective-and above all, wisdom. Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and related legislation to determine whether they have GENERAL RECOMMENDATION: been effective in providing opportunities for cultural con­ We therefore urge both that this potential not be lost through tinuity in accordance with the purposes of the American lack of foresight, and that the study of culture be: Folklife Preservation Act and the recommendations of the • interdisciplinary 1983 report Cultural Conservation. • not just restricted to traditional lecture/text methods of 8. Recognizing the direct relationship between the reten­ instruction, but should include a style of teaching that is col­ tion and use of languages other than English and protect­ laborative, interactive, problem-solving, student-centered, ing the integrity of cultural identity, Congress should take and democratic. steps to protect and enhance the multi-lingual heritage of • accomplished through means other than commercially the nation. parlayed curriculum materials and bits that would rob the students and teachers of the opportunity of devising their own learning strategies and producing their own materials and activities and tangible end products. ARTS AND HUMANITIES • the opportunity for all students-no matter what their race or background-to participate equally and without prejudice Elaine Eff in their own education and to validate, build upon, clarify, and Burt Feintuch, Co-Chairs and set into context what they already know and have ex­ perienced. 1. Members of traditional communities and cultures must • by bringing the student to the study of history as be involved at every level of decision making, from policy historians, folklore as folklorists, literature as authors, to programming, in public arts and humanities organiza­ preservation as preservationists, environment as environ­ tions and agencies. mentalists-rather than confining them to the classroom for 2. Arts and humanities agencies, programmers, and months before they experience. researchers should develop codes of ethics that define obli­ We also recommend that when students from culturally gations and responsibilities toward traditional communities homogeneous backgrounds examine their own heritage, they and their members. simultaneously study at least one other culture to begin to 3. Arts and humanities agencies must collaborate with build a sensitivity to others, and to prevent an attitude of each other and other cultural agencies to create ongoing and superiority and provincialism from taking root. integrated programs to ensure that the diverse forms of cul­ As for learning outside the classroom, we urge museums tural expression and practice in our society maintain their to engage in a new generation of active collaboration with continuity, vitality, and integrity. the public schools. Rather than creating exhibits for students, 4. Professionals in cultural conservation fields-in pub­ for example, they should consider planning, researching, and lic agencies, academic institutions, the private sector, and designing exhibits with students. Rather than producing pub­ communities-should develop means of collaboration and lications and learning aids fo r students, they should consider communication to enable them to work jointly as advocates helping students research, write, and design publications for of the goals of cultural equity, integrity, continuity, and vi­ other students. Rather than regarding students as passive tality. recipients and future users of their archival collections, they 5. The American Folklife Center should develop a broad­ should consider students as co-workers, as has happened at ly representative planning group to implement these reso­ the Atlanta Historical Society, who can conduct interviews lutions, moving as expeditiously as possible. and take photographs that can be added to those archives.

16 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS A museum might consider adopting a pilot public school and ricula from allied fields. demonstrate an expanded range of active interventions, as • Collect evaluations of existing programs and encourage is happening now with the Smithsonian and the Duke El­ the evaluation of future efforts. lington School of the Arts. Patterns are forming; models are We finally request that: being created. We would urge museums to participate in • The AFC should report on this conference at the 1990 this exploration. The group felt that to ignore the magic and American Folklore Society meeting. power of these new opportunities inside and outside the class­ • The proceedings of this conference should be disseminat­ room would be criminal. ed in press release form to the Chronicle of Higher Education) We further recommend that federal , state, and local Museum News) History News) etc. governments adopt the following policies: • To foster/strengthen a connectedness and responsibility to place and community. • To equip learners with "the tools " necessary to live PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT responsibly in a multi-cultural, global society. • To introduce learners to the multiplicity ofculturally based Setha Low and Shalom Staub, bodies of knowledge, teaching strategies, and learning styles. Co-Chairs • To assure that cultural conservation professions attract ethnically and racially diverse individuals. Participants on this roundtable divided up into groups to focus on Within government, we recommend that: the areas ofcommunity) empowerment) planning) mitigation) cultur­ • Allied education programs in fields and disciplines that al tourism) and training and education. Each group worked to define deal with tangible/intangible heritage to include cultural con­ its area) articulate its goals) and develop a set of objectives) struc­ servation perspectives. tures) and policies related to those goals. • The Department of Education and the American Folk­ life Center work together to produce a report that includes Community other public and private views, as appropriate, on cultural heritage education, with recommendations for action to in­ RECOMMENDATION: In planning, development, and volve communities in the preservation and encouragement mitigation actions, the following definition of community of regional, ethnic, occupational, and familial traditions. should be used: Communities evoke a sense of shared iden­ • The AFC and other relevant federal agencies (NEH, NEA tity, and they provide protection and security through the Folk Arts, Smithsonian, National Park Service, Dept. of development of maintenance systems. Communities pre­ Education) establish a coordinating body to support and en­ sent themselves to themselves and others through symbolic courage research and educational activities in the field of systems and through their representatives. All communities cultural conservation. involve a diversity of perspectives, which engender an­ • The National Endowment for the Arts and the National tagonisms and competition as well as cooperation. Endowment for the Humanities examine their current poli­ cies and programs for regional, ethnic, women's, and POLICY OBJECTIVES: minority programs and seek to increase the support for such 1. IdentifY key groups within the community- ethnic, oc­ programs, thereby actively fostering cultural pluralism. cupational, class, religion, politics. We also urge that educational institutions be encouraged 2. Collect ethnographies of community groups to under­ to: stand their values and identify appropriate methods for • Use an experimental approach to involving youth with presenting information. cultural heritage. 3. Seek out and take account of negative feedback from • Develop sample curricula across all content areas in cul­ community groups about nascent planning projects. tural conservation for teachers, folklorists , historic preser­ 4. Involve representatives of community groups in the vationists, anthropologists, ecologists, planners, cultural planning process. administrators, and others. 5. Train and employ local people. • Establish minority fellowships and scholarships. 6. Develop procedures to adapt and modify projects to • Actively seek ethnically and racially diverse teaching per­ changing needs of community groups. sonnel. 7. Adjust procedures to provide for the maximum eco­ • Form a coalition that would include membership of or­ nomic benefit of local groups. ganizations and individuals at the professional and grass­ 8. Work to shift power from institutions to local people. roots levels (a "cultural conservation coalition") whose 9. Establish teams for post-project evaluations. responsibilities might include: a liaison to other organiza­ tions and individuals, serving as a voice to and for the field Empowerment of cultural conservation, supporting advocacy efforts in cul­ tural conservation, coordinating efforts in public education RECOMMENDATION: Cultural conservation aims to ef­ and media. The opening agenda of the coalition would in­ fect a societal transformation that achieves personal and clude encouragement oflocal and community access to elec­ group dignity through acknowledging cultural diversity. Em­ tronic and print media. powerment means access to, participation in, and influence • Collect and disseminate information about successful cur- on decision making.

SUMMER- FALL 1990 17 POLICY OBJECTIVES: 2. Ongoing "reconnaissance" surveys in every commu­ 1. To increase cultural communities' decision-making in­ nity, with priority going towards those whose resources are volvement in participatory planning for development and/or most threatened. Surveys should from the outset include redevelopment at all levels. meetings with community representatives of the various Actions: groups being surveyed, with assistance from allied groups. (a) Identify the decision-making structure within each Reports in the form of written summations, photos, and planning and development organization/body/ entity. drawings should be distributed and publicized. More indepth (b) Assess each entity's current policy and practice surveys would then follow. Environmental impact statements with reference to including representatives of diverse (EIS) would incorporate findings , so that informed decisions cultural viewpoints in decision making. could be made. Surveys should be funded by community (c) Establish community review process of such enti­ development agencies, private businesses, historic preser­ ties to encourage broader cultural representation with­ vation offices, and environmental agencies. in them. POLICY OBJECTIVES: 2. To make planning and development bodies, organi­ 1. Utilize existing legislation at all levels of government zations, or other entities more responsive to the continually through which cultural conservation concerns can be includ­ evolving needs and values of diverse cultural communities. ed. If deficiencies are found through a public process, Actions: changes/additions/amendments should be made. (a) Identify existing laws at each level of government 2. Develop an ongoing public participatory process focus­ that acknowledge and require cultural diversity and ing on the quality of life. require broad representation and participation. (a) Identify all potentially affected communities, their (b) Assess their provisions requiring the inclusion of values, vulnerabilities, etc. diverse cultural perspectives in decision making. (b) Establish ways to involve these communities/ (c) Recommend amendments to legislation and/or new groupslindividuals. legislation/rules, such as: Structure: (i) amend current guidelines to include a requirement (a) Identify and encourage participation of private in­ for cultural diversity in decision making as a criterion dividuals and organizations-create coalitions, if for planning and (re)development allocations. necessary. (ii) offer incentive funding: (b) Coordinate interagency activities. • for special projects to enhance planning/develop­ (c) Relate technical analyses to quality-of-Iife needs ment entities' responsiveness to diverse cwtural groups (people planning). within their planning area; • for technical assistance from cultural conservation Mitigation specialists to these planning/development entities, to document traditional skills and values of the diverse RECOMMENDATION: Cultural conservationists are cultural communities within their planning areas; responsible for interacting with mainstream policy and de­ • for training of people from the diverse cultural cision makers so that the impacts of outside intrusions are groups within the planning area in skills needed to con­ not overlooked and underemphasized. By and large, main­ tinue planning and development activities. stream decision and policy makers seek to make decisions Structures: which are fair and equitable. To do so , however, informa­ (a) Agencies such as national, state, and regional folk­ tion must be made available to decision and policy makers life offices can work in partnership or teams with coun­ which can be understood and acted upon by them. Cultur­ terpart cultural agencies (historic preservation offices, al conservationists are in a position to provide the informa­ environmental agencies, and others). tion and perspectives decision makers must have to forge (b) Non-governmental "cultural conservancy co ali ­ equitable and informed policies. tions" could be formed to facilitate diverse cultural We feel that mitigating the negative impacts of develop­ communities' participation in planning and develop­ ment is most effective when people are able to exhibit self­ ment at all levels, aligning with the environmental determinism. The very act of self-determinism, however, will movement where possible. be shallow and ever counterproductive unless people can make informed decisions. While cultural conservationists Planning have no right to unduly influence the decisions people should make, they do have a strong responsibility to provide peo­ RECOMMENDATION: W e recommend that cultural con­ ple with the information they need to make informed de­ servation review be added to the planning process at all lev­ CIsIOns. els. Each state and local government should require: POLICY OBJECTIVES: Cultural conservation mitigates 1. A review of cultural resources alongside an architec­ in a number of specific and recurring ways. Means of miti­ tural and archaeological review. Such a cultural review gation include but are not limited to: should proceed with an interdisciplinary team approach . • Interacting with mainstream decision m akers to provide Cultural resources to be examined should include ethnic, perspectives and orientations th at would otherwise be ig­ occupational, gender, and religious traditions, both tangi­ nored or underemployed. bl e and intangible. • Enhancing self-determinism of people by providing them

18 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS with the perspectives and orientations needed to make in­ Education/Training formed decisions. • Predicting and responding to the change wrought by out­ RECOMMENDATION: In order to succeed in planning, side intrusions caused by economic development, popula­ developing, and implementing cultural conservation pro­ tion stress , and other changes in the social and grams around issues of community maintenance, indivi­ environmental fabric of society. This may take the form of dual and group empowerment, mitigation of harmful advocating for particular cultural sites. development, and cultural tourism, an educational process Because of the significance of mitigation, such activities for participants should be a mandatory component of the should be more than a mere response to developed plans: process. they should be, when appropriate, made a part of the plan­ POLICY OBJECTIVES: nmg process. 1. To inform and sensitize professionals to cross­ Guidelines: disciplinary perspectives; to inform/educate participants • Assert that the impacted community has a role in the plan­ about case-specific history and ethnography; to develop ning process, through the agency of the cultural conserva­ processes for effective participatory cultural conservation tionist or through community representation. project planning; to suggest ways to affect changes in insti­ • Assert that policy decisions consider community lifeways tutions and policies. as having a tangible value comparable to economic consider­ 2. This educational process should be implemented in ations. such a way as to bring together at the beginning the • Work with communities to assess and demonstrate the specialists, professionals, and local "tradition bearers." Edu­ values of their traditionallifeways to policy makers and de­ cation does not cease at the level of these specialists and velopers. professionals. There should be a post-project evaluation, the Structure: Amend current legislation at federal, state, and results of which would become integrated into the overall local levels to include cultural resources both tangible and educational process. intangible in the review process. Specify agencies to be Structure: responsible, and identify important missing terms and defi­ Educational facilitators should in themselves represent nitions in legislation and guidelines (i.e. "anthropologist," many disciplines and experience with cultural conservation "folklorist," and "preservationist") and incorporate them. efforts. Local government and representatives oflocal agen­ cies and businesses and social organizations must be included and must support these efforts. The structure of each pro­ Cultural Tourism gram should reflect the needs of the communities involved. Public seminars on cultural conservation should be conduct­ RECOMMENDATION: Cultural Tourism arises from a ed as part of the EIS process. situation in which people seek cultural experiences outside We recognize that cultural conservation language between their own, as well as a return to their own roots. In this disciplines, and with the general public is not consistent and process, local cultural resources are recognized as having is a stumbling block that must be addressed for successful exchange value. incorporation of these recommendations. POLICY OBJECTIVES: From a cultural conservation We recommend that the American Folklife Center point of view: through its continuing efforts to promulgate this conference's 1. Those with closest association with the resources should recommendations also develop a glossary of key words with receive the greatest benefit. definitions (and multiple definitions where necessary) to 2. For new development there should be locally derived facilitate interdisciplinary communication and public out­ guidelines consonant with the resources. reach and education. 0 3. Guidelines should recognize the front-stage/back-stage duality as a tool for conservation. 4. The development of cultural tourism should take into account the interests of people and place. Structure: FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Channels for implementation could include ordinances and regulations, taxation, and direct action. James Hardin, Editor David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor (a) Development should be "values added" based on local cultural resources. This could take the form of Folklife Center News publishes articles on the programs and activities a tax on development, dedicated to self-improve­ of the American Folklife Center, as well as other articles on traditional ment. Reference: Iowa self-improvement District Tax. expressive culture. It is available free of charge from the American Folk­ life Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540. Folklife Center (b) Create cultural resource overlays over current zon­ News does not publish announcements from other institutions or reviews ing that requires resources documentation and guide­ of books from publishers other than the Library of Congress. Readers lines derived from the resources for all development who would like to comment on Center activities or newsletter articles projects. may address their remarks to the editor. (c) Require that zoning recognize culture as well as land use and population density. R eference : Europe­ an models.

SUMMER- FALL 1990 19 Nguyen Ngoch Bich, president of the Vietnamese Culture Association in the United States, in discussion with Ann Rynearson, director of Cross-Cultural Services (St. Louis, Missouri) and Amy Skillman, director of Folklife Programs for the Pennsylvania Heritage Commission, during a forum entitled "Advocacy, Empowerment, and Authenticity: Issues in Conserving Traditional Arts of Southeast Asian Refugees." (90- 186- D-26)

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