2012 Folklore Summer Workshop

The Folklore Studies Program at George Mason University and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress are pleased to announce the 2012 Summer Field School for Cultural Documentation.

July 9-31, 2012

For four weeks this summer, The Folklore Programs at George Mason University Folklore Studies Program will offer a course on cultural documentation which will be held in Arlington, Virginia as part of the Columbia Pike Oral History Initiative.

The 3-credit course welcomes advanced undergraduates, graduate students and community members to receive intensive hands-on ethnographic training focusing on the documentation of local cultural resources, the preservation of documentary materials, and the public presentation of cultural heritage. Instruction will cover areas such as planning a community-based ethnographic project, research ethics, interviewing and sound recording techniques, ethnographic observation and field note writing. Training will also be provided on the archival organization of documentary materials gathered in the field and the use of documentary materials in exhibitions, publications and other public presentations. Course instruction will include  lectures, hands-on workshops, and discussions form more information and the application (primarily the first week of the course) and supervised team-based fieldwork with the Columbia Pike Documentary Project (during the final two weeks of the course).

 Students will work in groups and conduct in-depth ethnographic research with one of several pre-selected groups on the Columbia  Pike. Possible research areas include historic African-American  neighborhoods, religious and spiritual communities, ethnic  restaurants, neighborhood associations, or one of the many ethnic communities that call Columbia Pike home.

For more information about the course, please see http://folkloreprograms.gmu.edu/fieldschool.  You can fill out the application form on-line following this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHZWdUk2Q3pfS1JuQVM3WG9aM2FBWGc6MQ

Feel free to send your questions to Prof. Debra Lattanzi Shutika at dshutika@gmu.edu.