| Community Research
I have professionally investigated folk
cultural settings at the grassroots level for 25 years. Folklore
Ph.D. training (
Indiana
University
1981) gave me the tools for success in many cultures. My work with
traditional musicians, quilters, decorative painters, cab drivers, bagel
bakers, dancers and wood carvers has resulted in festival programming,
recordings, radio shows, publications and teaching.
I use many strategies in my work, but the
basic one is to make my face familiar in a community, and get involved
with them. In the end, I am able to describe the key reference points of
a community, and portray the community in terms of how members view it.
With
my radio experience, I am comfortable using audio equipment to document
my work, and to produce radio shows. I am adept at still photography and
videography, and I still take notes the old fashioned way, using pen and
paper.
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