Cultural Sustainability

This question keeps knocking around in my head, and I would like to start a conversation–not just a flurry of posts–about it. This conversation is part of what draws me to the Goucher program. Most of what I have learned about cultural sustainability as a whole, I have learned my colleagues in the program, especially [...]

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For several months now, I have been toying with the idea of writing a post about Cittaslow–Slow Cities. Related to Slow Food but a bit less developed, Slow Cities is a full-blown part of the Slow Movement. They have guidelines, they offer memberships, and they even have a charter that they sometimes call a manifesto. As [...]

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http://www.stockholmresilience.org/newsandvideos/generalnews/elinorostromawardedeconomicsnobel.5.1fe8f33123572b59ab800030085.html
The video on this page is remarkable. In some ways Ostrom makes a cornerstone argument for the importance of culture in sustainability, culture as a collectively created and negotiated process.

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An interesting post from Tierneylab at the NY Times on the Non-Tragedy of the Commons. A quote from the piece, which shares the work of recent Nobel Prize Recipient in Economics Elinor Ostrom:
International donors and nongovernmental organizations, as well as national governments and charities, have often acted, under the banner of environmental conservation, in a [...]

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Goucher College will host a catered information session lunch on the Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting in Boise Idaho from 12:15-1:30 on Thursday October 22. We will share information about the Goucher program and have a chance to further discuss cultural sustainability and its relationship to folklore. [...]

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Come to our information session on 9/23 from 5-7 pm in the Rosenberg Gallery here on Goucher’s campus. Meet faculty and program staff, speak with other prospective students, and get a feeling for our campus.
We hope you will join us for a informal and fun gathering to meet the faculty and staff of Goucher’s Masters in [...]

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In 1992, I underwent a ritual initiation to become a priest in Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion. In deciding to do so, I changed my social life forever.
With these words, I started my book, Living Santería, long before I ever thought about cultural sustainability, but they do encapsulate something very true: Having entered this world deeply, having made [...]

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Over and over I hear it, and over and over again it surprises me. I hear colleagues at the Smithsonian and elsewhere say, “I am a museum anthropologist: I study collections.” I am surprised because for me, being a museum anthropologist means I make exhibits so visitors can learn about other communities and cultures, times and places. [...]

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An interesting, reflective, personal piece on connection in travel, in this case in  Hawaii . I like this quote:
“The connection I offer here is to support the reconnection of youth at risk in the islands with the timeless wisdom and values of their native culture. To help them heal through the process of interaction with [...]

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The term “sustainability” has become a trope for a set of concerns and initiatives that are centered on survivability and “quality of life” issues in the modern age. The concerns of “cultural sustainability,” at least on the surface, are more focused on these latter and are sometimes associated with “soft” disciplines (and qualitative research), while [...]

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