Below are my notes from the keynote address of Eduardo Diaz, Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center, for the 8th Annual James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities. The conference, entitled “Public and Private Memory: Understanding a Collective Past,” is organized each year by the UNL History Graduate Students’ Association. The program for the conference, which takes place tomorrow, March 9th, can be found here.

Address preceded by showing of a brief clip from video: “Culture Clash – A Bowl of Beings”

• asks his audience to consider his talk a “report from the field“
• Smithsonian = one of the largest cultural institutions in the nation, is a multi-faceted institution with many functions

• “Willful Neglect” = 1994 Smithsonian report
  • documented the Smithsonian’s negligence of the role of Latin Americans in the development of the U.S.

• re: clip from “Culture Clash”
  • decided to start with clip from skit “Bowl of Beings” because it lays out some foundational issues re: identity
  • clip also addresses misogyny & notion of extinction – notion that there is no more indigenous presence in the Caribbean
  • first contact between Spaniards and indigenous peoples = part of who we are as a community
  • difficult to manage the complexities of who we are at our core – so much diversity

Another video clip from Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program of Joe Bataan speaking about his life and calling.

• what was happening in New York City and the country in the 1960s shaped Bataan’s music
  • uses multiple music genres, multiple influences on his music
  • “Latin soul comes straight from the streets of Harlem.”
  • this was Diaz’s music when he was beginning law school in 1973
  • follow your instincts and your personal sensibilities in your career: it’s important to collaborate
  • Joe Bataan = an American music maker, quintessential American music; needs to be seen that way and appreciated as such
  • there are many stories that we can all tell that are quintessentially American

• fluidity of people moving to and from the U.S. = fluidity of stories, music, folkways – both here and there
• tradition & vernacular come together in a culturally-negotiated reality

• slideshow of altars and tributes in Day of the Dead celebrations
  • many show wide variety of influences in materials used in altars & offerings
  • creative works evidence cultural negotiations between country of origin + communities we live in

• How do our institutions address these^ issues?
  • must pay attention to origins & consequences of these cultural negotiations in the communities we are bound to serve
  • Smithsonian Young Ambassadors Program
  • Latino Museum Studies Program
  • inclusion more important to Diaz than diversity –> Latinos serving American
  • place = also very important
    • visit the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum
  • National Museum of the American Latino
    • recommended by the 1994 “Willful Neglect” report
    • long time in the making
    • Diaz hoping this will finally move forward via legislation & come to the Smithsonian
    • temple versus forum issues = very important here; need less rigidity, more collaboration, flexibility, and interactivity

• problem of some communities not having level of cultural engagement & participation  – feel disengaged & disenfranchised
  • need to find way to go the extra mile & bring these people into the fold
  • institutions must abide by 4 key values:
    • work must meet high scholarly rigor
    • work must be relevant to the U.S. Latino experience because  they are part of the American experience, not an “other” – part of the American story
    • diversity & inclusion – need to respond to diversity; it’s all part of the American story
    • accessibility – “speak English” – your audience needs to be able to understand the work that scholars do

• Smithsonian aims to create a model of diversity & inclusion for other institutions to follow and need help of academics and graduates to do it

• Why do you do what you do? Why study what you study? Who and what are you working for?

Question & Answer segment:

• with the Smithsonian, there is an assumption that people will come – because it is the Smithsonian
  • outreach efforts of Smithsonian are great, but also take a lot of effort & inventiveness in marketing
  • patterns of cultural participation = different; may need to convey a more welcoming environment than others see it as currently
• How will the museum take into account regional differences among Latinos?
  • members of the board are diverse – some issues “play out” and others don’t (e.g. Cuba, use of term Latino versus Hispanic)
  • wide range of political, racial, religious views in our community – difficult to manage but matter of being open
  • mission of Smithsonian = to tell stories, not spin stories, wherever those stories lead
• Do Smithsonian festivals reflect culture or shape culture?
  • “if you just do the music and don’t do anything else to contextualize” would have done a really bad job of presenting what subject of festivals mean
  • festivals are vehicles for understanding the subject matter: (e.g. music) where it comes from, what it says, what it means –> the good festivals tell stories, are living museums, explosions of culture
  • come to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
  • festivals = roundtables, mini-workshops
• 12,000 objects in the Smithsonian from Central America & impact of exodus of Central Americans from the civil wars
  • “we get really good papusas in D.C. Have one before you die.”
  • need to create an environment where these people’s traditions are respected, a negotiated reality
  • merengue tipico was dying out in the Dominican Republic – rebounded in Washington Heights
  • pay attention to how these cultures move back and forth with fluidity
  • cultural institutions need to create space for these groups to explore issues related to their own identities
• thoughts on museums of specific racial/ethnic groups being separate spaces
  • Diaz: this is a VERY difficult issue – difficult to think of having a separate Latino Museum since we are all part of the American story BUT the whole story wasn’t being told SO people had to take the initiative
  • even as a separate museum, it can promote relationships
  • but the negotiation is a serious one
  • way we work with museums now requires us to work on this issue – need to welcome people IN