Folklore, Heritage, and the Public Sphere: Introduction

Though they tend to occupy separate universes of discourse, public folklore and heritage studies share areas of common concern, including authority and ownership of cultural objects, power asymmetries, safeguarding and sustainability, and the implication of heritage in local economies, politics, and environmental justice. This special issue encompasses multiple domains of public folklore and heritage discourse, including museums, archives, and cultural property issues; culinary tourism; and relations between cultural practitioners, institutions, audiences, and stakeholders. The six essays are based on an online webinar organized by the Fellows of the American Folklore Society that explored a wide range of questions including how communities conceptualize relationships between past and present, remake traditions of the past in the present, integrate heritage and environmental sustainability, and negotiate power dynamics among stakeholders. Following the webinar, small groups assembled in salons to discuss these and related issues. Summaries of the salons follow the six essays. Together, these essays and salon summaries address not only the ways that heritage navigates the past in the present but the temporalities of heritage practice, which imagines the future while considering the ethical and dialogic dimensions of heritage practices and policies.