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The Folklore and Heritage volume of the Missouri Folklore Society Journal, edited by Gregory Hansen and Michelle Stefano, contains 23 works by 18 professionals in fields related to Heritage Studies. It grew out of a consortium held in 2017 in Jonesboro, Arkansas–Connecting (to) Heritage Studies in the U.S.–which Hansen and Stefano organized. In Stefano’s words, Heritage Studies examines questions like these: What is the official cultural heritage of a nation, and how is it constructed? How and where do we come to learn this official narrative? Who is in control of shaping that narrative–whether historically or currently? … Who is involved with identifying, designating, interpreting and disseminating heritage? And who is not?
Heritage Studies is intrinsically interdisciplinary, including everything from arts and brownies to video games and zero-tolerance policies. The essays in the volume were chosen to address heritage questions using particular disciplinary skill sets. They explore contributions which might be made by anthropologists, architects, creators of digital museums, environmentalists, geographers, students of local history. Where does–and where should–the funding go when a state or a nation wishes to celebrate (or simply to accept) its heritage? Particular essays focus tightly on particular fields. How does photojournalism, for example, shape a viewer’s sense of heritage? Gabriel Tait explains how his photo of a single shopper provides a microcosm of St. Louis’s affluent, socially progressive, and trendy Central West End. Kirstin Erickson explores how foodways in New Mexico affect and are affected by the state’s tourist economy–and much more. Ruth Hawkins studies how five specific heritage sites were chosen, developed, and promoted; she outlines challenges for each of the chosen sites, and sketches some of the practices which heritage studies professionals engaged in to address those challenges.
The volume particularly celebrates the work of Barry Bergey, who founded the Missouri Friends of the Folk Arts, served as the state’s first folk arts coordinator, and went on to head the National Endowment for the Arts for many years. Bergey’s four included essays demonstrate a lifetime’s expertise in promoting traditional arts, practicing inclusivity, valuing cultural diversity and exploring what Heritage Studies professionals recognize as intangible cultural heritage.
