Post-Secondary Education and TAI

TAI Fieldwork Workshop for Folklore and Ethnomusicology students
April 11, 2008, at Indiana University in Bloomington

Downloads for fieldworkers:
Audio log blank
Photo log blank
Personal information sheet blank
Consent form
TAI letterhead

Previous workshops and programs
Ethnography Workshops
TAI in the University Curriculum
Educators Web Bibliography
Ideas for Educators compiled by TAI

Based at the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, TAI is involved in educating undergraduate and graduate students by integrating practice into course curriculum, by offering internships, and by facilitating student-initiated practica. F402/802 Traditional Arts Indiana was added to departmental course offerings to highlight possibilities for learning cultural documentation and public programming skills in Indiana. Folklore graduate students signed up in unexpectedly large numbers for a semester-long series of Saturday workshops, Arts of Ethnography, which presented the skills of photography, videotaping, and technological analysis of recorded data.

Folklore undergraduate student Maria del Pilár Muriel poses with traditional artists she identified as an intern with TAI. Photo taken at the 2001 Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Columbus, Indiana.

Students in a number of fields have found that aspects of TAI provide a stimulating project for class assignments. Senior Telecommunication majors have produced videos for TAI to use at the Indiana State Fair, while students in arts administration classes have helped TAI identify strategic directions.

Students also contribute significantly to the body of collected information about Indiana's traditional arts and to intellectual discussions of many thorny conceptual issues. Through internships or practica, students have conducted fieldwork in Indiana communities (Columbus, Otwell, Bloomington, Gary). In Columbus, Maria Muriel, an undergraduate folklore major helped to plan the Columbus Area Arts Council and Su Casa's annual Cinco de Mayo Celebration, based on artists she identified through fieldwork. In Monroe County, a Folk Arts Survey class sent students out into the field to gather materials about folk artists.

TAI in the University Curriculum

Folklore seminar at Indiana University critiques fellow classmates' slideshows. Photo by Ilze Akerbergs.

Indiana University's Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology's senior capstone folklore seminar (F497) teams up students to prepare slide shows for TAI's website. Guided by co-teachers Inta Carpenter and Sandra Dolby, students select a traditional artist to feature, then comb through transcripts, fieldnotes, and slides, as well as listen to interviews and CDs to find compelling audioclips.

Students draft scripts for TAI's technical assistant, Ilze Akerbergs, to use in putting together the final slide shows. In doing this hands-on work, they put their folklore knowledge -- about concepts like genre, tradition, performance, and creativity -- to work. But most importantly, they developed affection for the creative individuals they meet.