International Folklore Studies Center Hosts Symposium on Material Culture and Heritage Safeguarding in Southwest China

The International Folklore Studies Center will host an online symposium on safeguarding heritage and material culture in Southwest China. The two-part symposium from 8:00-9:30 A.M. EST/8:00-9:30 PM China Standard Time (CST) on September 16 and 17, 2021 will offer research reports on material culture and heritage policies.

Building on the longstanding partnership linking the American Folklore Society and China Folklore Society, several participants in the museums sub-project of theChina-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage Project will present on their research in an online symposium being held on September 16 and 17, 2021. The event, titled Material Culture and Heritage Safeguarding in Southwest China, will take place from 8 am to 9:30 am Eastern Time. There is no cost to addend, but preregistration is required.

Drawing on six years of ethnographic investigation pursued collaboratively by U.S. and Chinese folklorists, museum professionals, and local cultural groups, presenters in this two-part symposium will offer research reports on material culture and heritage policies in Southwest China. In keeping with the larger binational project from which the papers derive, some presentations will consider the intersection of these two topical domains. Cultural groups or nationalities whose circumstances will be discussed include the Baiku Yao people of Nandan County (Guangxi), the Dong people of Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County (Guangxi) and Liping County (Guizhou), and the Bai of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture (Yunnan).

Presenting research from a Henry Luce Foundation-supported research project during this two-day event are: C. Kurt Dewhurst (Michigan State University), Fan Miaomiao (Anthropology Museum of Guangxi), Carrie Hertz (Museum of International Folk Art), Jason Baird Jackson (Indiana University), Jon Kay (Indiana University), Marsha McDowell (Michigan State University), Wang Yahao (University of Leicester), Wuerxiya (Indiana University) and Zhang Lijun (George Mason University).

Commentators on the presentations will be Peng Mu (Beijing Normal University) and Thomas DuBois (Beijing Normal University).