American Folklife
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m ^^^^d: 1990 J Festival OF American Folklife Smithsonian Institution/National Park Service On the front cover: Felicia Cciines iivaves hoopri)ie lo niiike a Si. John niark'cl huskcl under ci tamarind tree in St. John. i'S. \'iriiin Islands. (Photo hy Betz Rohh) On the back cover: In a Senegalese market, this ivoiiuni displays waist heads Cjaljali; and a variety of hairstyles braided into wigs. Tliese elements oftradilio)ial feminine personal adornment have contributed to the Senegalese reputation for elegance. (Photo by Andrea Snyder) 1990 Festival of American Folklife June 27-July 1 / July 4-July 8 Smithsonian Institution / National Paik Service Contents Cultural Pluralism: A Smithsonian Commitment hy Robot McC. Adams 5 National Parks: A Home for Cultural Expression by fcinics M. Ridoioiir 7 Folklife in Contemporaiy IVlulticultural Society by Ricbcinl Kiih)i 8 U.S. Virgin Islands Folklife of the U.S. Virgin Islands: Persistence and Creati\ity by Olivia Cadaval 18 Rounding the Seine /;!' Guy Beiijanii)! 11 Folk Architecture by Myron D. Jackson 28 Saxanne by Ruth M. Mooloiaar 30 Tea Meeting by Eulalie Rivera 32 Coal Carriers by Arena Peterson 33 About Man Betta Man, Fission and Fusion, and Creole, Calypso and Cultural Sur\ival in the Virgin Islands by Gilbert A. Spranve 34 Were There Giants? by Gilbert A. Spranve 36 Senegal Tradition and Cultural Identity in Senegal by Diana N'Diaye 38 Teranga Among the Wolof People by OniarMarone 48 Social Beliefs and Craft Practices by Abdoti Sylla SO Traditional Education and Circumcision Among the Diola in Rural Senegal by Fulgence Sagna 53 Musics of Struggle Musics of Struggle by Anthony Seeger 56 Songs and Stories of Stmggle: Music and Verse as Ethical Discourse byJacquelin C. Peters 58 Festival of American Folklife ©1990 by the Smithsonian Institution Editor: Peter Seitel Coordinator: Arlene L. Reiniger Designer: Carol B. Hardy Assistant Designers: Jennifer Nicholson, Andras Goldinger Typesetter: Harlowe Typography Printer: Peake Printers Inc. Typeface: ITC Garamond Paper: Patina Matte Insert: Sundance Notefrom the Editor: The Festival helps make some of the many ways of knowing tnith and embodying beauty a part of our national cultural dialogue. This year, we have tried to project that many sided dialogue into the Program Book. The sections of articles about the U.S. Virgin Islands and Senegal have statements from two sets of authors. One article in each section is a general, inclusive statement written by a member of our curatorial staff. Employing a point of view generally defined by Smith- sonian imperatives for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge," the author engages in the characteristic practices of the Festival. These include: identifying and valorizing traditional cultural practices; explaining them primarily in historical, economic and social terms; replying to popular stereotypes and supplanting them with empirically derived characterizations; representing geographically and historically bounded cultural wholes. The other statements are written by authors from the geographic areas featured — the U.S. Virgin Lslands and Senegal. These articles are more richly detailed. They address a variety of audiences, reply to a variety of im- plicit and explicit assertions, and are couched in a variety of styles. They have, of course, been solicited, selected and edited — processes which are ineluctably based in our Institutional practice. We hope that in spite of this practice, and also in some degree because of it, these short critical pieces do incorporate a variety of voices speaking on noteworthy aspects of folklife. In this sense, the organization of this year's Program Book represents the practice of the Festival as a whole. The dialogue of viewpoints, of understandings and of cultural styles strengthens the disccuirse of our national cultural Institution. Cultural Pluralism: A Smithsonian Commitment Robert McC. Adams Secretaiy, Smithsonian Institution the United States today there is increasing old areas enhances the process of creating new Inawareness and debate about questions of cul- Lmderstandings, new paradigms, new- visions. This is ture. The terms "multicultural" and cultural especially true when research is translated into exhi- "diversity," "equity," "conservation," "sunivai" bitions and programs. Scholars and others versed in and "pluralism" are becoming part of public discourse the culture of those represented must have a \oice in as national and local institutions evaluate their mis- how that representation is accomplished. Including sions, audiences and constituencies. The Smithsonian \oices of the "studied" does not diminish the respon- Institution has made cultural pluralism a high priority sibility of curators and researchers to use their knowl- for the decade ahead in its research, exhibits, pro- edge. Rather it challenges them to engage in a dia- grams, staff and audience. This is a complex goal and logue or even multilogue, so that different types of this year's Festival, as those in the past, helps us to knowledge and understanding may emerge. Broaden- pursue its many facets. ing our staff to include researchers and lay scholars of In its original charter, the Smithsonian is dedicated diverse backgrounds is not onlv ethically correct — it to the broad dissemination of knowledge. More than is also good for scholarship. 25 million people visited the Smithsonian museums The Festival of American Folklife, the annual exten- last year. Millions more read books published by sion of the Smithsonian onto the National Mall of the Smithsonian Institution Pre.ss, watched "Smithsonian L'nited States, is a long lived national and international Worid" on television, listened to Smithsonian Folk- model for the research and presentation of living ways Records, attended Resident or National Associate culture. It is an example of cultural pluralism in re- programs, visited SITES exhibits in local museums or search, exhibition development and public education. read Smithsonian magazine. One aspect of cultural This year, programs on the folklife of the U.S. Virgin pluralism is the democratization of access to knowl- Islands, the cultures of Senegal, and the Musics of edge: the Institution's audience should not be limited Struggle present people who have much to say about by cultural, economic, and geographic boundaries. the cultures they represent, but whose voices may not We must be everyone's \nsX\\.u\km. be frequently heard in national or international cul- But pursuing cultural pluralism invtjlves more than tural fonims. Field research to develop these programs indicating a willingness to admit ever>'one or encour- was conducted largely by academic and lay scholars aging wider audience development. Our exhibits need from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Senegal, and the featured to reflect adequately the many American stories, communities, and usually in close collaboration with songs, works of art, technological developments and local cultural institutions. Program interpretation is bodies of wisdom created by the populace of the multi\ocal, as tradition bearers, local scholars and nation, and those of the world as well. People need to Smithsonian curators speak for themselves, with each see themselves, their communities and their histories other, and to the public. Together they create a rich, in our museums often enough to have confidence that pluralistic and knowledgeable perspective. their voice is being heard and understood in a national, The U.S. Virgin Islands is a U.S. territory and a even international forum. multicultural American sociery in the Caribbean Sea. The pursuit of cultural pluralism reaches beyond Its culture reflects the continuity of African and Euro- exhibitions and programs to the ways in which they pean traditions, their creolization, or amalgaination, are conceived. In the humanities, social and even into new forms in the cmcible of intense political and natural sciences, new or alternative perspectives brought economic interaction, and the influence of more by scholars from traditionally under-represented na- recent immigrants from Puerto Rico and the eastern tions and cultures make major contributions to our Caribbean. Yet within this cultural diversity. Virgin Is- collective knowledge. Focusing new perspectives on landers recognize a unity born of intimate island community life. People in the U.S. Virgin Islands Carolina they are told in GuUah, a language with West understand one another and the complex ways in African roots that provides the grammatical basis for which their roots are entwined. Rich traditions deriv- Black English. And there is a Senegalese tale about the ing from home life, the market, plantation slavery and Manding King Aboubacar 11 who set off westward resistance to it, fishing, local and international trade across the Atlantic with two thousand canoes several inspire pride in Virgin Islanders. These island-born tra- hundred years before Columbus. Whether or not his ditions are of increasing importance in a world pene- fleet arrived is unknown. But that spirit of exploration, trated by an impersonal mass culture not of their ow^n which aKso placed Senegalese in a network of trade making. But Virgin Islanders have also projected their routes through the Sahara to the Mediterranean, today skill and knowledge beyond their shores. Because of motivates a generation of Senegalese-American immi- their relatively early struggles for freedom (emancipa- grants to enter U.S. universities, participate in the tion from slavery was won