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Archive: January 2019 (12 Posts)

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

American Folklife Center Fellowships and Awards 2019

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

2019 Proposals due March 12, 2019 The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress offers three competitive awards in 2019 to support  scholars working with ethnographic collection materials at the Library of Congress and for fieldworkers on folklife and related topics. This year, the American Folklife Center’s Archie Green Fellowship, Parsons Fund Award, and …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Rahim AlHaj Trio

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with The Rahim AlHaj Trio, an ensemble based in New Mexico playing Arabic and Persian music. The trio is led by Rahim AlHaj, an …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

In Their Own Words: Mapping the Contours of Muslim Journeys, Identities, and Triumphs in the United States

Posted by: John Fenn

This is a guest post by two staff from the Muslim American Leadership Alliance: Ahmed Omar (Deputy Director) and Andrew McDonald (Program Associate). In 2017 the American Folklife Center hosted staff from the Alliance along with contributors to their “Muslim American Journeys” project to participate in a public listening session at the Library of Congress, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Folklife at the International Level: The Roots of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ Part IV, the 1989 Recommendation

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

In the last post, we made our way to UNESCO’s 1989 Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore, tracing some key changes in precursor definitions for what is now called ‘intangible cultural heritage’ (ICH). I will return to the ICH concept’s development, but let’s make a pit stop to look more closely at …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

On the Folklife Today Podcast: “Kumbaya”

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Episode four of the Folklife Today Podcast is ready for listening! Find it at this page on the Library’s website, or on iTunes, or with your usual podcatcher. Or, hear it in the player below! Our latest podcast episode, “Kumbaya: Stories of an African American Spiritual,” presents some of the background to this classic old song, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

An Unexpected Opportunity

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest blog post by Brandon Lithalangsy, a student at the University of Central Arkansas, and former intern in the office of Senator John Boozman (AR). Being in the military, there are times we forget about those who have left the service.  It is important to remember their stories and the lessons …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Alabama Folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

If asked her about her profession, Ruby Pickens Tartt (1880-1974) would say that she was a painter. In an era when Alabama women rarely attended college, she graduated from the Chase School of Art in New York and painted and taught painting for much of her life. But folklorists consider her one of their own. She was …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Yvette Landry Trio

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with the Yvette Landry Trio, a trio from Louisiana that plays Cajun Music and Louisiana Honky-Tonk. The group is led by Yvette Landry from Breaux …