Glenn Hinson Goes Where
The Community Speaks for Itself

This profile originally appeared in the Carolina Alumni Review in the May/June 2002 issue.

We tend to think of classrooms, libraries and labs as the sanctuaries of scholarly pursuit. Glenn Hinson would have us step out of the box, out into the open air -- way out.

The chair of Carolina's curriculum in folklore follows the trail of artists and their stories wherever it may lead him -- anywhere from churches to restaurants to appliance repair shops.

Carolina has a strong tradition of helping communities make statements about themselves through their lesser-known artists, says Hinson, who helped get this recognition for Durham's blues musicians.

At a gospel performance several years ago, Hinson heard a local group called the Branchettes. "Their performance electrified the congregation," Hinson said. "I talked to them afterwards, and that chance encounter resulted in a book and a CD we're now producing."

The book is Fire in My Bones, a collaborative work by Hinson and members of the Durham community that explores performance, artistry and spirituality in African-American churches. The ethnography won the 2000 Chicago Folklore Prize, an international award for the most outstanding folklore scholarship of the year.

On another occasion, Hinson read an article in a newspaper about an appliance repairman who makes sculptures by twisting and shaping 32-strand power cable and bits of freezers, air conditioners, refrigerators and other appliances without using power tools. Hinson called around to find out where the man lived and drove to Gastonia to meet him.

"I thought this guy sounded interesting. I went to his shop and said, 'I want to know about what you do.' And I tried to think about other people I know who can help him."

Hinson and his colleagues helped the artist connect with local teachers to deliver a workshop, which likely will lead to more school workshops. "He's never had a showing of his work, and we're helping him on that, too," Hinson said.

Hinson's work is not about going into a community and taking artistry back to the academy. It's much more service-oriented. "The goal isn't about collecting stories," he said. "It's about creating relationships. Mutuality is very important. We don't record music and stick it in an archive. We ask the community what they want, and we return something back."

While music and art traditionally are studied by academics, the curriculum in folklore includes the study of many non-traditional artistic forms. "Folklore is the ways that people use artistry in their everyday lives to both declare their own identities and to link themselves to their community," Hinson explained. "It encompasses everything from the art of the hip-hop emcee, to the artistry of a fine barbecue cook, to the everyday person who has a gift for words, to potters down in Seagrove."

Building relationships with folklore artists can be difficult and slow. "You're often crossing class lines and race lines. You meet suspicion, but you find ways to get around it. It's about relationships and being open. You ask, 'What skills do I have that might help you?'"

Hinson, who has been at UNC since 1989 and won a Tanner Award for excellence in undergraduate instruction in 1998, teaches courses in both the anthropology department and the curriculum in folklore. His classes include subjects such as Southern style and culture, African-American vernacular music, ethnography and public folklore.

One of the folklore program's current projects involves helping local musicians finance recording projects. The folklore program has helped local musicians write grant proposals for funding, and Hinson has co-produced a gospel compact disc. Now the curriculum in folklore is in the process of producing a second CD and plans to start a record label for more music endeavors soon. Hinson hopes this will train students not only in marketing music projects but also in "fulfilling our public contract" by giving back to the community.

Last fall, the curriculum in folklore worked with the Durham community to have a historic roadside marker installed to commemorate and celebrate the blues tradition in the area. A plaque labeled "Bull City Blues" now stands in front of the historically African-American library in the Hayti area.
The folklore program also is collaborating with the School of Education on the Curriculum, Music and Community project. Teachers in nine fourth-grade classes in the state's public schools, including New Hope Elementary in Orange County, have structured their curricula around regional resources, including local music and history. Students go into the community to interview residents, and community members come into the classes.

Hinson first became involved in folklore studies as a student at Duke working with gospel, blues and old time musicians in the Chapel Hill and Durham area and hearing their stories.
Carolina's curriculum in folklore, the oldest folklore study program in the country and one of only three in the South, started in the early 1940s. But scholars at UNC were studying local arts and artists even before then.

"The University has long provided a supportive environment for looking at the region and at the lives of everyday people," Hinson said. "This is where the community makes its most important statements about itself."

-- Elizabeth Spainhour
Photo by Dan Sears