
Curatorial Conversations
Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
University Press of Mississippi
Published on 4. April 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-4968-1473-9 (ISBN)
Description
Since its origins in 1967, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has gained worldwide recognition as a model for the research and public presentation of living cultural heritage and the advocacy of cultural democracy. Festival curators play a major role in interpreting the Festival's principles and shaping its practices.
Curatorial Conversations brings together for the first time in one volume the combined expertise of the Festival's curatorial staff-past and present-in examining the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's representation practices and their critical implications for issues of intangible cultural heritage policy, competing globalisms, cultural tourism, sustainable development and environment, and cultural pluralism and identity.
In the volume, edited by the staff curators Olivia Cadaval, Sojin Kim, and Diana Baird N'Diaye, contributors examine how Festival principles, philosophical underpinnings, and claims have evolved, and address broader debates on cultural representation from their own experience. This book represents the first concerted project by Smithsonian staff curators to examine systematically the Festival's institutional values as they have evolved over time and to address broader debates on cultural representation based on their own experiences at the Festival.
Curatorial Conversations brings together for the first time in one volume the combined expertise of the Festival's curatorial staff-past and present-in examining the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's representation practices and their critical implications for issues of intangible cultural heritage policy, competing globalisms, cultural tourism, sustainable development and environment, and cultural pluralism and identity.
In the volume, edited by the staff curators Olivia Cadaval, Sojin Kim, and Diana Baird N'Diaye, contributors examine how Festival principles, philosophical underpinnings, and claims have evolved, and address broader debates on cultural representation from their own experience. This book represents the first concerted project by Smithsonian staff curators to examine systematically the Festival's institutional values as they have evolved over time and to address broader debates on cultural representation based on their own experiences at the Festival.
Reviews / Votes
Touting democracy rhetorically is different than steadily working to make it happen. For fifty years, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has been celebrating, recognizing, and documenting the many local-global cultures that make life richly expressive of what's real, everyday, and worthwhile. In an era of shrill, divisive posing, this book is an oasis of thoughtful and thought-provoking reflection on sustained organizing work. This engaged dialogue-driven public curating is cultural democracy in action."" - John Kuo Wei Tchen, historian and co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in AmericaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Jackson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
71 black & white photographs
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
613 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4968-1473-9 (9781496814739)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Olivia Cadaval | Sojin Kim | Diana Baird N'Diaye
Curatorial Conversations
Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
E-Book
05/2016
Princeton University Press
€29.49
Available for download
Persons
Olivia Cadaval, Washington, DC, is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Sojin Kim, Washington, DC, is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Diana Baird N'Diaye, Washington, DC, is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Sojin Kim, Washington, DC, is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Diana Baird N'Diaye, Washington, DC, is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.