MARGARET CAPILI MAGAT, Cultural Researcher, Cultural Surveys Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i

PhD Folklore, University of Pennsylvania; MA in Folklore, University of California, Berkeley; BA in Humanities, Loyola Marymount University. Advanced training in Section 106 Review, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, July 2011, Advisory Council of Historic Preservation (ACHP), and Historic Preservation in Transportation Project Development, September 2012, Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Publications include essays in journals Western Folklore, Proverbium, Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education; in books including Problemas metodológicos en Antropología and encyclopedic entries including Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Articles in magazines and newspapers dealing with cultural and community issues. Member of Eastern Asia Folklore Section.

As a researcher in the cultural resource management field, I have worked with communities, scholars, officials, and planners and have seen the critical need for folklorists in historic preservation. My work with elders and native-born Hawaiians involves "careful listening” and recording of their cultural practices, resources and beliefs, in order to comply with state and federal laws that guide development. Among the issues that face the Society today is how to harness the strengths of its academic and public sector members and to encourage both sides to be more involved in environmental impact projects and federal as well as state processes. As qualitative researchers, folklorists in particular are positioned to assist in laws like Section 106, which require the identification of historic properties and emphasize TCPs (traditional cultural properties), those special places that are validated through ethnographic interviews and oral history with active bearers of folklore. As a Nominating Committee member, I will work to recruit members who understand the importance of collaboration with a wide variety of groups and individuals in order to guide historic preservation and guard the cultural landscapes that deserve recognition and respect.

In addition, I also hope to promote diversity within the Society especially with regard to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and in recruiting members who are seasoned professionals as well as those who are in the beginning stages of their career. Such a combination would assist the Society’s members in engaging with the local as well as the larger world.