Since its founding in 1986, the South Florida Folklife Center has conducted various field research projects to document the cultural practices, art forms, and traditional knowledge kept alive within the many communities that call Miami home. Using these research materials, SFFC creates educational products to teach the public about the rich folk traditions of our region. Featured here is a selection of research reports and online exhibitions.
Folklife Collection Highlights
What Makes Miami, Miami Project
The What Makes Miami, Miami Project focused on customs and practices that are unique to Miami, particularly the sayings, occupations, musical styles, dance forms, beliefs, rituals, celebrations, and foodways that are quintessentially “Miami.”
Avenues of Expression: Street Traditions in Miami
The Miami Street Culture Project conducted from 2016 – 2018 was an initiative to document and present cultural traditions practiced in the streets of Miami. The 2018 exhibition Avenues of Expression explored the streets as public spaces for expression, highlighting traditions such as street art, parades, protests, vehicle customizing, religious practices, and much more.
The Guayabera: A Shirt’s Story
The Guayabera: A Shirt’s Story documents the changing uses and significance of the guayabera, a traditional piece of menswear worn by Latin American and Caribbean populations.
Haitian Community Arts
For the Haitian Community Arts project, photographers from the Iris PhotoCollective documented the South Florida Haitian community’s expressive traditions between 2006 and 2007. The collection gives special attention to traditional arts in the lives of individuals during religious and festive events. Traditions featured include fe koupe (steel drum sculpture), woodcarving, sewing, cooking, baking, drumming, dancing, singing, poetry, kite-making, and children’s games.
At the Crossroads: Afro-Cuban Orisha Arts in Miami
This online exhibition is based on a 2001 temporary exhibition shown at the museum. It contains information on the Orisha religion and its practice in Miami.
Florida Folklife: Traditional Arts in Contemporary Communities
Florida Folklife: Traditional Arts in Contemporary Communities includes essays along with profiles and photographs of 84 artists whose traditions are organized into four categories: Maritime, Marsh, and Ranching Traditions; Domestic and Decorative Traditions; Ritual and Festive Traditions; and Musical Traditions.
Caribbean Percussion Traditions in Miami
Based on research conducted in the late 1990s, this online exhibition provides information on drumming and related arts from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Trinidad and the Bahamas.
Nicaraguan Folklife in Miami
This field research project conducted between 1990 and 1993 focused on the folk and artistic traditions practiced in the Nicaraguan communities of Miami-Dade County. Project materials include information on festivals, foodways and material culture in the area’s Nicaraguan community.
Traditions: South Florida Folklife
This project provides an overview of the region’s folklife during the 1980s and includes fieldwork that contributed to three folklife festivals celebrated in Miami’s Cultural Center Plaza between 1986 and 1988.
