Mission:
The purpose and mission of Southern Ohio Folklife is to research, support, document, and network folklife within the southern Ohio region, focusing specifically on Clermont, Brown, Highland, Adams, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Vinton, Jackson, Lawrence, and Gallia Counties. Southern Ohio Folklife engages community-centered participatory approaches and collaborative methodologies in order to center local perspectives and knowledge in complex, equitable, and inclusive representations and decision-making processes that impact local life.
About:
Folklife refers to the ways in which people’s cultural histories and innovations inform their behavior and beliefs in the present as well as shape their visions for the future.
Programs and Services:
- Conducting collaborative ethnographic fieldwork in partnership with southern Ohio residents.
- Providing/facilitating/collaborating to produce educational programs and materials (workshops, internships, field schools, exhibits, publications, etc.) for the general public that showcase folklife practices and facilitate critical discussions about folklife.
- Providing/leading/collaborating to produce dialogue about enduring and emerging cultural topics.
- Leveraging folklife to create and test collaborative, participatory approaches and methodologies and to advocate the role of local knowledge in systemic change for social and environmental justice.
Current project:
Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio shares oral histories and contemporary lifeways of Guatemalans, Hondurans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, Venezuelans, and individuals from other Latin American countries residing in southern Ohio through the launch of the inaugural Southern Ohio Folklife podcast. Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio draws on the Southern Ohio Folklife digital bilingual oral history archival collection of Latine folklife at the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University.
Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio comparte las historias orales y vida contemporánea de personas de Guatemala, Honduras, México, Perú, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Venezuela y otras personas de Latinoamérica que viven en el sur de Ohio, a través del lanzamiento inaugural del podcast de Southern Ohio Folklife. Las culturas del Sur de Ohio se basa en la colección digital bilingüe de historias orales sobre Latine folklife en el Center for Public History at Shawnee State University.
https://www.southernohiofolklife.org/las-culturas-del-sur-de-ohio
Contact Info for Southern Ohio Folklife:
E-Mail: southernohiofolklife@gmail.com
Address: #237 Masonic Temple Building, 602 Chillicothe St., Portsmouth, OH 45662
Website: southernohiofolklife.org