The
practice of public folklore involves interaction with a constellation of
possible positionings and choices regarding the representation of groups and
shared expressive culture. Some of these issues are examined in the context of
an urban community-based folklore collection and archiving centre, the Cork
Folklore Project. The Project engages with questions of community
representation and identity through its working methods and dissemination of
material, and follows an opportunistic and open research agenda that dovetails
with and is shaped by its duties and concerns as a training unit and a
community member in its own right. What is the place of such a centre in a
context where expectations of the focus and scope of folklore practice are
somewhat limited, yet where there is more space than ever in the public, social
scientific, artistic/creative and media imaginations for material generated by
listening to the everyday?