DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE PROGRAM FROM THE 3RD CHINA-US INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE CONFERENCE (NOVEMBER 2012)

The American Folklore Society (AFS) has received funding from the Henry Luce Foundation to lead the first phase of the China-US Forum on Intangible Cultural Heritage (FICH), which will bring together academic and public education institutions in China and the United States in an effort designed to:

• Chart, compare, analyze, and communicate widely about tradition-based cultural expressions, and efforts to document, support, and sustain those expressions, in our two countries
• Build lasting and sustainable partnerships among cultural professionals and institutions in both countries through a varied program of collaborative activities
• Generate permanent products of lasting value, in hard-copy and online media, documenting the ecology of extant activities and best practices to sustain tradition-based culture, to be disseminated among academic, arts, cultural, government, and public policy communities in both countries

This initiative will use the lenses of the field of folklore studies to compare and analyze a wide range of activities in China and the US—supported by government, the private sector, and community-based organizations—intended to sustain tradition-based culture through research, documentation, education, presentation, and conservation.

The China-US Forum on Intangible Cultural Heritage consists of four interrelated activities that will be carried out by institutions from China and the US in collaboration, all coordinated by the AFS. Two of these (Public Policy and Professional Development) will be implemented during the first, 2011-2013 phase of the project; the other two (Museums and Undergraduate and Graduate Education) will be planned during the first phase and implemented in what we hope will be a second, 2013-2015 phase.

Public Policy: In 2011-2013, Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou and Vanderbilt University in Nashville are producing four conferences—two in China and two in the US—comparing and analyzing Chinese and US cultural policy regarding tradition-based culture. Many scholars and public humanists from China and the US will be invited to participate in or attend these gatherings.

Professional Development: In 2011-2013, AFS is collaborating with the China Folklore Society and other FICH partner organizations to support the annual international exchange of 6 folklore scholars and public humanists (3 from each country) from a variety of backgrounds and interests for a series of professional development and networking opportunities.

Museums: In 2011-2013, the Yunnan Nationalities Museum in Kunming and the Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing will plan an anticipated 2013-2015 project that will compare and analyze best practices in public education about tradition-based culture through museum activities, and to create a bilingual online exhibition on the folk textile traditions of China and of the US.

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: In 2011-2013, Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and the folklore programs at Beijing Normal University and Central China Normal University in Wuhan, will plan an anticipated 2013-2015 project that will compare and analyze best practices in both countries for undergraduate and graduate teaching about tradition-based culture.

Each of these activities will produce bilingual reports, proceedings, best-practice descriptions, and other descriptive and analytical documents, in both online and hard copy versions.

We have established a Steering Committee with representatives from all the partner institutions. This committee will meet twice each year—once in person and once online—during the course of the project. Its members are:

American Folklore Society: Timothy Lloyd, Executive Director

Beijing Normal University: Wan Jianzhong, Director, Folklore Program

Central China Normal University: Huang Yonglin, Vice President

China Folklore Society: Zhu Gang, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Michigan State University: C. Kurt Dewhurst, Senior Fellow for Outreach and Engagement (and 2010-2011 President, American Folklore Society)

Michigan State University Museum: Marsha MacDowell, Curator of Folk Arts

Sun Yat-Sen University: Song Junhua, Department of Chinese Language and Literature and Institute of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage

Vanderbilt University: Bill Ivey, Director, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy

Willamette University: Juwen Zhang, Associate Professor, Department of Japanese and Chinese

Yunnan Nationalities Museum: Xie Mohua, Director