Behind Closed Doors

What typifies Baton Rouge? In what traditions, landmarks, material culture, or geography does the city's identity lie? As the director of the Louisiana Folklife Program, housed within the state Division of the Arts, Maida Owens may be the person best positioned to help answer this question; and she intends to put the resources at her disposal to work in answering that question by commissioning a folklife survey of the city.

“Baton Rouge has struggled with such an identity problem for so many years because it's sandwiched between Lafayette and New Orleans, both of which have such strong cultural identities. People tend to look at Baton Rouge as having nothing. I contend there's a whole lot more here that is simply not recognized or celebrated,” said Owens.

The Folklife Program, which has been in existence since 1979, has been a force behind many documentation projects throughout the state, from the North Louisiana Delta to the Florida parishes and, of course, New Orleans and Acadiana. But, according to Owens, the program has “spent almost no time in Baton Rouge.” She added, “We've travelled all over the state; it's time to look at the Capital City.”

In the process of conceiving and designing this survey project, whose first year has since been successfully funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and which is now known as the Baton Rouge Folklife Survey, Owens learned that Baton Rouge suffers an identity crisis that stems from certain mid-century characteristics that many other cities of its ilk similarly suffer: capital cities of a certain size that boomed during the 60s and 70s all over the nation are also weighed down by what amounts to suburban invisibility.

“There's a lot here; the problem is [the traditions] are not visible. They are behind these suburban homes and inner city cottages. You drive around these neighborhoods, and it's not easy to see what's behind closed doors,” explained Owens.

Funded through the spring, the first step of the project involved hiring two professional fieldworkers with an outsider's perspective—Douglas Manger of Austin, Texas, and Laura Marcus Green of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Both will be arriving between February and April in order to begin documenting previously identified traditions as well as discover new ones that need attention. Owens is particularly intrigued with outdoor cooking equipment and metal workers who work with industrial scrap, making everything from barbecue pits to belt buckles. She also thinks that altar guild traditions in the various faiths is a rich trove of as-yet undocumented culture.

Beyond that, Owens suggests there are many, many possible areas of investigation. She has several areas of interest listed on a webpage dedicated to the project, louisianafolklife.org/batonrouge, such as marching clubs, music jam sessions, doll-making, cemetery workers, prayer gardens, homes adapted for fishing and hunting, street performers, etc.

Owens is asking for the public's help in identifying practitioners. Take a look at the list and see if you know anyone who might be a candidate for documentation or can add potential subjects to the ongoing list.