Tag: Smithsonian Institution

Mother Tongue Film Festival 2023 (USA)

Intercultural PedagogyThe Smithsonian Institution’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world. This year’s theme is Coming Home.

The Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world, highlighting the crucial role languages play in our daily lives. In 2023, the festival returned in person, in Washington, DC, February 23 to 26, but many of the films are now available to stream in full on their website.

A few examples of the films available to stream:

Definition of Resilience is a four-episode radio and video documentary series highlighting the dynamic stories of Native American hip-hop MCs. Episode 2 considers the topic of identity.

Witch is a collaboration between Apashe, a Canadian dance and electronic musician, and Alina Pash, a Ukrainian rapper and musician. The music is described as “creepy orchestral with dance flavor,” and Pash’s rap vocals are reminiscent of spellcasting. Shot in Pash’s hometown of Kyiv, the music video weaves the story of a witch burner who reaps what he sows.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2023: Many Temporary Positions (USA)

“JobMultiple temporary positions for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2023, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. Deadline: 2 December 2022.

The Smithsonian Institution holds a Folklife Festival every summer in Washington, DC, as a way to encourage dialogue across cultural groups from around the country and the world. They are currently hiring dozens of temporary positions for the 2023 Folklife Festival. Just to list a few of the positions, those in media and communications:

  • Social Media Coordinator
  • Graphic Designer
  • Graphic Design Assistant
  • Marketing & Media Relations Manager

Other positions are in administration, visitor services, marketplace, documentation, production, technical operations, etc.

In addition, they are looking for interns year-round, although the bulk of the work is in the summer. In the fall, winter, and spring, interns assist with research and planning for the upcoming Festival’s programs—best suited for students in anthropology, ethnomusicology, and language studies as related to the program. In the summer, they also seek interns to work on event production, technical crew, the Festival Marketplace, social media, web production, graphic design, foodways, curatorial team, the Festival Blog, public relations, accessibility, participant and volunteer coordination, video production, and administration.

Backtalk: Artists on Native, African & African American Stereotypes

Intercultural Pedagogy

Backtalk: Artists on Native, African, and African American Stereotypes, Online exhibit, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.

Backtalk: Artists on Native, African, and African American Stereotypes is part of a collaborative, broad-reaching examination on the persistence of racial and cultural stereotypes. Following the vision of Johnnetta Betsch Cole, director emerita, National Museum of African Art (NMAfA), to examine stereotypes across cultures, this online exhibition explores how select visual artists interrogate and engage racial and cultural stereotypes in their creative practice. The curatorial team chose to focus on a diverse group of artists from various backgrounds, geographies, and contexts who are represented in Smithsonian Institution collections and have addressed intersecting themes and subjects relevant to the impact of cultural and racial stereotypes. Backtalk features works by nine 20th- and 21st-century artists who capture, reflect, and/or speak back to the stereotype.

The project began as an examination of the ways in which artists are rewriting historical narratives that reinforce racial, cultural, and gender stereotypes through appropriation and subversion of the images traditionally used to stigmatize them. The pieces chosen are each in a Smithsonian collection and represent a range of strategies, including satire, parody, humor, and masking, in response to colonialist depictions of “the Other.” Audiences are invited to view the portrayals of race, gender, and culture in canonical Western paintings through a different lens—one in which the spectacle becomes the spectator and the passive subject becomes the agent. In the process, the power of artists to unveil and respond to social and cultural norms that perpetuate stereotypes is brought to life.

Related materials: KC55: Stereotypes provides a basic introduction to the topic intended to be accessible to undergraduates. This online exhibit would be a great extension of the topic for students.

How Sound Challenges Stereotypes

Applied ICD

Liu, Yuer. (2022, August 25). Soundscapes of the UAE: How Sound challenges stereotypes. Smithsonian Folklife Festival Blog.

A photographer uses their camera as a way of seeing the world. The audio recorder is my tool for hearing and understanding the world…A big part of the soundscape is about challenging people’s thinking and breaking down the barriers of misunderstanding.

-Diana Chester

The Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival in 2022 presented the sound installation, “Living Landscapes, Living Memories.” It was created by the artist Diana Chester and her team to present the sounds of the United Arab Emirates. Chester’s argument is that “careful listening can break down stereotypes.”

Multiple soundscapes are presented in the article as examples. Most of the sounds are based on the recordings by Chester and team, but “sound recordings act like time capsules,” as Al Jneibi, one of the team members, told the Festival audience, and so recordings of locations that no longer exist have also been included. “We perceive sounds through a cultural lens,” as pointed out by Al Blooshi, a third team member.

 

Smithsonian: Director, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (USA)

“JobDirector, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. Deadline: 8 July 2022.

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a research, collection, and public education unit of the Smithsonian dedicated to the understanding, preservation, and sustainability of diverse cultural traditions. The Director oversees the Center’s programs including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, the Cultural Sustainability Program and other activities as well as its administrative and financial affairs.

NOTE: There is a second position, for Director of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, with the same deadline. Both positions are open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States.

Smithsonian: Curatorial Internships in African/American Crafts (USA but Online)

Professional OpportunitiesCuratorial Internships in African-American and African crafts, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. but virtual, January-April 2022. Deadline: November 20, 2021.

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is pleased to announce two new virtual internship positions as part of the African American Craft Initiative (AACI) and the Crafts of African Fashion (CAF) project. Beginning this winter, the internships will run from January to April 2022 and are part-time.

Working under the supervision and mentorship of curator Diana N’Diaye and project coordinator Sloane Keller, interns will have the opportunity to listen and learn from experiences of African and African American artists and artisans in their own words and participate in activities to amplify these powerful legacies for generations to come. The primary assignment will involve working as part of the initiative team, conducting research, and helping to coordinate programming activities. The interns will also learn about the Crafts of African Fashion project and assist with the development of funding proposals and programmatic activities. Selected applicants will receive a stipend of $1,500.

Mother Tongue Film Festival (Online)

Intercultural PedagogyThe Smithsonian Institution’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world in Washington, DC, until May 31, 2021.

Through digital storytelling, the festival amplifies the work of diverse practitioners who explore the power of language to connect the past, present, and future. Since 2016, the annual festival has celebrated International Mother Language Day on February 21. The sixth annual festival will take place via a monthly online screening series from February 21 to May 31, 2021.

Many of these films would be valuable in teaching about cultural differences, if not intercultural dialogue explicitly. The theme this year is The Healing Power of Storytelling.

Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage: Tibetan Cultural Heritage Practitioners (Online)

“Job3 Positions for the Tibetan Professional Exchange Program, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (remote). Deadline: January 8, 2021.

1. Facilitator for Tibetan Professional Exchange Program

This contractor supports the planning, development, and facilitation of five virtual workshop discussions with individual curators as part of the Curator Digital Lecture Series. The contractor will lead the sessions in Mandarin and facilitate between Mandarin-speaking participants and English-speaking curators. An additional translator will participate to support for both Mandarin and Tibetan translations.

2. Translator for Tibetan Professional Exchange Program

This contractor will provide Mandarin and Tibetan written translation for five thirty- to forty-five-minute recorded lectures from curators for the Professional Exchange for Tibetan Cultural Heritage Practitioners Program. The contractor also provides consecutive translation in Tibetan for five one-hour facilitated workshops for participants to ask questions of the curators.

3. Videographer for Tibetan Professional Exchange Program

This contractor works with the project team to plan and facilitate video production and editing of five educational video resources which will be used for the Professional Exchange for Tibetan Cultural Heritage Practitioners Program. The lecture series will feature individual curators giving virtual presentations including supplementary materials and media (PowerPoint slides, images, and video clips), with a follow-up workshop to conclude the series. The contractor will use their own equipment to capture the video lecture and edit to include supplementary media provided by the curator.

Smithsonian Institution Fellowships (USA)

FellowshipsThe Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Deadline: November 1, 2020.

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program offers opportunities for independent research or study related to Smithsonian collections, facilities, and/or research interests of the Institution and its staff. Fellowships are offered to graduate students, predoctoral students, and postdoctoral and senior investigators to conduct independent research and to utilize the resources of the Institution with members of the Smithsonian professional research staff serving as advisors and hosts.

Parts of the Smithsonian that might be of specific interest to CID followers include: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Office of International Relations, and there are Fulbright-Smithsonian Awards for those outside the US to travel to work with the Smithsonian collections.

Mother Tongue Film Festival

Intercultural PedagogyThe Smithsonian Institution’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world in Washington, DC.

Through digital storytelling, the festival amplifies the work of diverse practitioners who explore the power of language to connect the past, present, and future. Since 2016, the annual festival has celebrated International Mother Language Day on February 21. The fifth annual festival took place February 20–23, 2020. Many of the shorter films are available to stream in full on their website.

Many of these films would be valuable in teaching about cultural differences, if not intercultural dialogue explicitly. Just the easily accessible short films range from Pire, a music video with lyrics in Mapuzugun, the Mapuche language of Argentina, to Grá & Eagla, following an Irish bilingual comedian using Gaeilge [Gaelic], to Puhi Toprao / To Be Happy, telling the creation story of the Yanomami in Venezuela in their own language.

 

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