March 19 Guha Shankar:"Work of Native Knowledge in the Age of Digital Reproduction"

THE FOLKLORE PROGRAM'S “NEW DIRECTIONS IN FOLKLORE”
COLLOQUIA SERIES PRESENTS:

"Work of Native Knowledge in the Age of Digital Reproduction"
A Presentation by Guha Shankar
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Place: Toy Lounge, 4th Floor Dey Hall, UNC

This presentation focuses on the national library’s collaborative projects with Native American and other indigenous groups in the area of knowledge repatriation and access. Examples will be drawn from the American Folklife Center’s decades-long efforts to care for, preserve and return archival documentation to local communities. The presentations and following discussions will illustrate the range of social, political and technological challenges inherent in the preservation and management of community cultural history and heritage.

Guha Shankar is Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Among other duties, he conducts workshops in ethnographic research methods and skills-based training in field documentation in a range of local communities and institutional settings. At the Center he helps produce public outreach and education programs such as lectures, symposia, and concerts. Along with Center colleagues he is helping develop digital technology solutions to the challenges of maintaining, preserving, and providing access to multimedia collections. Shankar's research interests and publications include cultural politics and performance in the Caribbean and developments in the field of ethnographic film. He has produced and edited films on material cultural traditions and community life in a variety of cultural contexts. Shankar earned his Ph.D. in 2003 from the Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration in Folklore and Public Culture. Prior to undertaking graduate studies at the University, Shankar was Media Production Specialist and documentary film producer at the Center for Folklife Programs at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1985-1993).