Folklorists in public: Reflections on cultural brokerage in the United States and Germany

The 1998 Bad Homburg symposium revealed incommensurabilites in the ways tha t American folklorists and German Volkskundler understand their roles in pu blic life. So different are the histories of American folklore and German V olkskunde that it is virtually impossible to translate the term public folk lore into German. The closest approximation, offentliche Folklore, refers t o public (mis)uses of Volkskunde in the absence of Volkskundler, not the pr ofession of public folklore, as American folklorists understand it. Whereas American public folklorists see themselves as cultural activists, German V olkskundler see themselves as cultural critics. Mindful of the abuses of Vo lkskunde during the Third Reich, the Volkskundler are particularly sensitiv e to the popular misuses of Volkskunde, understood not only as folklore but also as folkloristics. Though Volkskundler have historically worked in mus eums, not only as researchers but also as curators of exhibitions, they ae more likely to analyze public folklore than to produce it. Volkskundler hav e long argued that the very act of studying what we call folklore contribut es to a process of folklorization that brings the taken-for-granted into pu blic view. While some folklorists argue that such visibility is empowering, the Volkskundler, as well as some folklorists, are wary of such instrument alizations of the habitus. They not how cultural celebration can be used ag ainst the best interests of those represented. This essay, a response to th e published Bad Homburg symposium proceedings, explores these incommensurab ilites in relation to entanglement of our professional knowledge and popula r uses of it in the public sphere, the academy, and the museum.