WKU News

Students from Brent Bjorkman’s study away course, Public Folklore Practice and Policy in Washington, DC, presented their research on Friday to students and faculty in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology. On their trip last month (pictured here), students explored career opportunities and formed relationships with professionals at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the American Folklife Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Student participants in the course were Eleanor Miller, Joel Chapman, Delainey Bowers, Maria Lewis, Aaron Kiser, Hunter Bowles, and Hannah Wilcutt. In their presentations, they shared research that stemmed from their trip, investigating public policy and practice related to the documentation, preservation, and presentation of expressive culture. Topics included, for example, digitization of audiovisual materials in folklife archives; historical trends in federal funding and defunding of the arts; and the relationships between safeguarding of traditional culture (as by UNESCO) and legal protections of intellectual property (as by WIPO). 

Mr. Bjorkman, who is Director of the Kentucky Museum and the Kentucky Folklife Program, regularly offers this course in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology, and it provides students who are preparing for careers in applied and public folklore with opportunities to connect with future potential employers.