From the director.
McHale, Ellen
The Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society (AFS)
recently launched an "Advocacy Tool Kit," designed to assist
folklorists and their colleagues to better advocate for themselves and
the field of folklore and folk culture. The development of this advocacy
plan, presented at the 2014 AFS Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was
the Public Programs Section's response to a perceived lack of
readiness by folklorists to move into action when public folklore
programs became threatened by external policies and funding cuts. While
noting that folklorists frequently serve as advocates for the cultures,
people, and communities with whom they work, folklorists' efforts
at influencing policymakers and the public as to the value of folk
culture, traditional arts, and cultural conservation have sometimes been
less successful.
In New York State, advocacy has been an important part of public
folklore scholarship. New York Folklore Society founder and historian,
Louis C. Jones, who became head of the New York State Historical
Association (NYSHA) in 1946 and, at the same time, progenitor of NYFS,
did much to further folklore scholarship in New York. Under Jones'
direction, the folk art collection at the Fenimore House Museum in
Cooperstown had its inception, and by 1948, the "Seminars on
American Culture" became part of programming at NYSHA, presenting
all aspects of folk culture and NY history to attentive audiences. Jones
advocated strongly for the inception of the Cooperstown Graduate
Programs in the early 1960s, and when it became a graduate program of
the State University of New York at Oneonta, this program supported two
academic tracks, one of which was the study of American Folk Culture.
This important program advanced scholarly study of folklore, serving as
the training ground for many distinguished folklorists.
Certainly, folklorists have frequently championed support for folk
arts in New York. The successful formation of the Folk Arts Program of
the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) resulted from a
groundswell of citizen support in the early 1980s. Continued advocacy
for Folk Arts as part of NYSCA is necessary, and advocacy is ongoing to
continue to emphasize the importance of the arts for the cultural life
of the state. Similarly, ongoing advocacy is needed for support for the
"Endowments"--the National Endowment for the Arts and the
National Endowment for the Humanities--especially during times of
particularly drastic federal fiscal belt-tightening. Folklorists and
other champions of traditional culture continue to highlight the
particularities of community expressions and folk culture within the
many diverse communities in New York, finding allies wherever they can
be found. Consummate activist Archie Green summed it up: "In using
plain speech to communicate with others inside and outside our
professions, we undergird analysis, advance action, and step into
coalitions." (1) As we look to the future and ever-changing
political landscapes, folk culture will be best served by multiple
players, trumpeting an understanding of the importance of New
York's cultural diversity and the importance of traditional culture
to the health and well being of all New Yorkers.
Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive Director
New York Folklore Society
nyfs@nyfolklore.org
www.nyfolklore.org
(1) Hufford, Mary, ed. 1994. Conserving Culture: A New Discourse on
Heritage. Published for the American Folklore Society. Urbana and
Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
