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Benjamin Filene, Ph.D. Director of Public History/ Associate Professor of History at UNC-Greensboro Greensboro, NC W: (336) 334-5645
Travel regions: 5, 7, will consider others
About Benjamin Filene: Benjamin Filene is Associate Professor and Director of Public History at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Filene received his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University, and is the author of Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music, which was named a notable book of the year by the New York Times Book Review. Prior to UNC-G, Filene was Senior Exhibit Developer at the Minnesota History Society (1997-2006). He served as lead developer on exhibitions including Open House: If These Walls Could Talk, winner of a WOW! Award for innovation and an Award of Merit by the American Association for State and Local History. Filene serves as contributing editor for the Journal of American History’s exhibition review section. His next book project, Passionate Histories: Renegade History-Makers and What They Know, sets out to understand where history is alive and well beyond the domains of universities and museums.
Lead Belly, the Lomaxes, and the Construction of America’s Musical Heritage
Today, African American music is exalted as fundamental to American culture—the roots of rock and America’s premier cultural export. But it wasn’t always so. In the 1930s, John and Alan Lomax, a father-son team of folk song collectors for the Library of Congress, took their 350-pound “portable” recording machine to southern prisons, gathering songs from inmates cut off from the pop sound of the day. Their prize find was Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, a convicted murderer with a vast repertoire of songs that astonished the Lomaxes. Upon Lead Belly’s release, the Lomaxes took him to New York City and promoted an astonishing claim: this was America’s finest music. Why did the Lomaxes’ claims for Lead Belly strike such a chord in urban America? Why did Lead Belly’s criminal past (the Lomaxes preferred he perform in convict stripes) enhance his appeal? How did the Lomaxes create a “cult of authenticity” that shapes how we understand American music today? Filene will explore these issues, drawing on musical examples and inviting discussion.
Requirements: LCD projection system (optional), cd player (optional)
O Brother What Next? Making Sense of the Folk Fad
The movie O Brother Where Art Thou brought musical history alive for millions of Americans, introducing them to “folk” or “roots” music genres. For many, the movie and soundtrack album offered a first refreshing taste of “traditional” music, which was presented as more “authentic” and “real” than the commercialized sounds of today. But how did the filmmakers and album producers define “authentic” and “real”? What vision of traditional music did they present, and what do their assumptions reveal about how Americans remember the country’s musical past? How can Americans today usefully and responsibly draw on folk traditions in a modern commercialized world? Filene will explore these issues, drawing on musical examples and inviting discussion. Requirements: LCD projection system (optional), cd player (optional)
Small Stories in the Big Picture: How Can Museums Bring Ordinary People’s History to Life?
Museums preserve culture, but equally they shape it, determining not only what gets saved for future generations but how we understand and value our collective past and present. Traditionally, museums told stories about elites—founding fathers and socialites—and reinforced these elites’ position in society. In recent decades, though, museums have set out to give voice to ordinary people’s stories, hoping to contribute to a more egalitarian world view. Do the stories we tell about the past matter? Can museums contribute to civic life? Drawing on his decade-and-a-half career in museums (including at the Minnesota Historical Society, where he was senior exhibit developer), Filene will show examples of cutting-edge museum work and discuss the present-day dilemmas they attempt to resolve. Requirements: LCD projection system (optional), cd player (optional)
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