CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE

Smithsonian Institution, P. O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Richard Kurin, Director

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a research and educational unit of the Smithsonian Institution promoting the understanding and continuity of diverse, contemporary grassroots cultures in the United States and around the world. The Center's staff is culturally diverse, combining interdisciplinary scholars with technical specialists. The Center’s projects have received scholarly, public, and critical acclaim; its work on issues and methods of cultural representation has provided models for other organizations and activities in the U.S. and internationally.

The Center produces the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Smithsonian Global Sound, exhibitions, documentary films and videos, symposia, publications, and educational materials. The Center conducts ethnographic and cultural heritage policy oriented research, maintains the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, and provides educational and research opportunities through fellowships, internships, and training programs. The Center also produces major national cultural events consistent with its mission. In 2004 these included the National World War II Reunion and the First Americans Festival for the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian.

The annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival is a research based, cultural exhibition, which for over the past forty one years has brought many thousands of traditional musicians, craftspeople, and other artists from many countries and every region of the U.S. to the National Mall to demonstrate their skills and artistry. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. Its mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music," spoken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world. The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the Folkways commitment to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, the Center’s archival holdings, document research for and presentation of the Festival and other Center projects. Holdings include films, videotapes, still photographs, recordings, and research reports on thousands of Folklife traditions. Particularly rich materials exist for a full range of traditional American music, family folklore, occupational folklife, Afro American traditions, and Native American performance. The Moses and Frances Asch Collection comprises the largest part of the Folkways Records archive and consists of field, published, and unpublished recordings of world music and oral traditions, fifty years of ethnographic notes and documentation, historically important correspondence, and album cover artwork. Also part of the Folkways Records archive are the recordings, photographs, papers, and objects related to the Cook, Paredon, Monitor, and Fast Folk Record Companies. In addition, the archive includes the papers of Lee Hays, Frederick Ramsey Jr., and Ralph Rinzler. Much of the information is accessible through a central database and the world-wide Web home page.

Opportunities for scholars include analytic studies of cultural representation and cultural conservation, collaborative research in specific areas of staff or programmatic interest, internships, and projects involving archival materials.

RESEARCH STAFF

BELANUS, Betty, Folklorist/Curator/Educational Specialist. B.A. (1977) Smith College; M.A. (1980), Ph.D. (1990) Indiana University. Research specialties: Material culture, folklore and education, public programming.

CADAVAL, Olivia, Folklorist/Curator. B.A. (1972), Ph.D. (1989) George Washington University. Research specialties: Latin American and Latino studies, American cultural history, material culture, folklife.

DEUTSCH, James I., Program Curator. B.A. (1970) Williams College; M.A. (1976) University of Minnesota; M.Ln. (1979) Emory University; Ph.D. (1991) George Washington University. Research specialties: Occupational folklife; veterans of World War II; American film and mass media.

EARLY, James Counts, Director, Cultural Heritage Policy. B.A. (1965) Morehouse College, Spanish; A.B.D. Howard University(1975)Latin American and Caribbean History. Research specialties: Culture and politics, Participatory cultural democracy, cultural democracy statecraft policy, Latin American and Caribbean history, Afro-Latin politics and cultural democracy.

HUNT, Marjorie, Folklorist/Education Specialist/Curator. B.A. (1976) Simmons College; M.A. (1981), Ph.D. (1995) University of Pennsylvania. Research specialties: American folklife, traditional art, occupational folklore, Italian-American folklore, culture and aging.

KENNEDY, Richard, Deputy Director/Curator. B.A. (1969) University of California, Santa Barbara; M.A. (1974), Ph.D. (1980) University of California, Berkeley; LH.D (Hon.) Connecticut College (2007). Research specialties: Asian folklife and cultural history, Asian-Americans.

KIDD, Stephen, Production Manager. B.A. (1991) University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D. (2002) George Washington University. Research specialties: American culture, urban history and urban planning.

N'DIAYE, Diana Baird, Folklorist/Curator. B.A. (1973) New York University; M.A. (1979) State University of New York, Stony Brook; Ph.D. (1997) The Union Institute. Research specialties: Africa and African Diaspora studies, immigrant and transnational culture and ethnicity; ethno-aesthetics; participatory research, cultural representation and cultural policy; culture and disability, multicultural education/social contexts.

PARKER, Diana, Director, Festival of American Folklife. B.A. (1978) George Washington University. Research specialties: Festival production, production of living exhibits.

PLACE, Jeffrey, Archivist. B.A. (1978) Kenyon College; M.L.S. (1987) University of Maryland. Research specialties: Sound archives, archives, traditional musics of the United States, record production, history of sound recordings.

SHEEHY, Daniel E., Director and Curator, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Ph.D. (1979) University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: Public sector folklore and ethnomusicology, regional mestizo music in Mexico, mariachi and its music in Mexico and the U.S.

SMITH, Stephanie, Assistant Archivist. B.A. (1971) University of California, Santa Barbara; M.Litt (1975) University of Edinburgh; M.S.L.S. (1977) University of North Carolina; Ph.D. (1988) University of Edinburgh. Research specialties: English country dance in the U.S., Scottish traditional song and the Folk Revival, comparative British and Appalachian folksong traditions.

SONNEBORN, (Daniel) Atesh, Assistant Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. B. A.(1982) University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A.(1984) University of California, San Diego; Ph.D.(1995) University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: Intentionality in music, Sufi music in the New World, music and mysticism, folk music of the Veneto (Italy), applied ethnomusicology.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

BENOIT, Geri, Research Associate. B.A.(1992), M.A.(1992); Fashion Institute of Technology/CELSA-Paris IV-Sorbonne; MA.(2002) Johns Hopkins' School of International Studies. Research specialties: Cultural Development.

BORDEN, Carla M., Research Associate. B.A. (1970) Barnard College; M.A. (1974) Columbia University. Research specialties: Contemporary (Asian) Indian culture, Balkan folk song and dance, interdisciplinary studies, cultural heritage policy and practice, Alzheimer's and cultural memory.

CHAGALL, Irene, Research Associate. B.A. (1969), University of California, Berkeley; M.A. (1976), Lone Mountain College, University of San Francisco. Research specialties: Foundations and function of music in culture; rhythm games of American children, and their global counterparts; pulse, impulse and synchrony in human and other primate behavior.

FREEMAN, Roland L., Research Associate, Photographer, Curator and Author. Honorary Doctorate (1997) Millsaps College. Research specialties: African-American folklife practices, expressive and material culture.

GROCE, Nancy, Research Associate. B.M. (1974), M.M. (1976), M.A. (1977), Ph.D. (1982) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Folklore; Ethnomusicology; American music; Anglo-Celtic music; musical instruments (organology); urban culture; New York City history and culture.

KURIN, Richard, Director. B.A. (1972) State University of New York, Buffalo; M.A. (1974), Ph.D. (1981) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Indigenous knowledge systems, kinship, religion, ethnicity, cultural policy, cultural presentation and representation, the cultures of south Asia and the United States, Hope diamond cultural history.

LORNELL, Kip, Research Associate. B.S. (1975)State University of New York; M.A. (1976) University of North Carolina; Ph.D. (1983) University of Memphis. Research specialties: 20th Century American Vernacular Music, including blues, country, and gospel & African American music in particular.

PROSCHAN, Frank, Research Associate. B.A. (1980), M.A. (1982), Ph.D. (1989) University of Texas, Austin. Research specialties: Mainland Southeast Asian folklore and verbal arts; intangible cultural heritage policies and practices; ethnographic museums.

REDDY, Sita, Research Associate. B.A. (1985), M.A. (1987) University of Delhi; Ph.D. (2000) University of Pennsylvania; Certificate in Museum Studies (2005) George Washington University. Research specialties: Cultural Heritage and cultural policy; Museology and museum studies; History of medicine and science; South Asia.

SCOTT, Peter, Research Associate, Bhutan Project Advisor. B.A. (1977), J.D. (1980) University of Virginia. Research specialties: Connections between Bhutanese cultural and environmental preservation projects and related institutional, legal and policy developments; preparations for 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

SEEGER, Anthony, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Curator and Director Emeritus. B.A. (1967) Harvard University; M.A. (1970), Ph.D. (1974) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Ethnomusicology, audiovisual archives, music industry, social organization, cosmology, ritual, oral narrative, South American Indians, Brazil.

SEITEL, Peter, Senior Folklorist Emeritus. B.A. (1964), Ph.D. (1973) University of Pennsylvania. Research specialties: Occupational folklife, African folklife, epic, narrative, proverbs, computer applications in folklore, intangible-cultural-heritage policy.

VENNUM, JR., Thomas, Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus. B.A. (1957) Yale College; M. Mus. (1965) New England Conservatory; M.A. (1968), Ph.D. (1975) Harvard University. Research specialties: American Indian music, Haitian music, ethnomusicology.

Introduction

Information for Applying to the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program, including the fields of research

Fellowship and Internship Opportunities

Research Assistance Programs

Smithsonian Research Staff and Affiliated Research Staff E-Mail Directory

Office of Research Training and Services Applications

• Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program
• Smithsonian Institution Latino Studies Fellowship Program
• Smithsonian Institution Molecular Evolution Fellowship Program
• Minority Internship Program
• James E. Webb Internship Program
• Native American Awards Program