January 30, 2013, 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Whitthall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building
101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington DC

Diana Baird N'Diaye will present on The Will to Adorn: Reflections on African American Identity and the Aesthetics of Dress as part of the Benjamin A. Botkin Foklife Lecture Series at the Library of Congress. Diana, who is a cultural heritage specialist and curator at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, will share stories, observations, and insights from The Will to Adorn, a community-centered research and public presentation project, which explores and examines the diversity of African American cultural identities as expressed through traditional arts of the body, dress, and adornment. The project, which includes the work and perspectives of researchers and cultural practitioners across the United States, challenges notions of a monolithic African American community at the same time that it explores the ways that dress and body adornment are powerful expressive art forms grounded in the history and experiences of people of African descent in the nation.

Through the Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series, the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress presents the best of current research and practice in folklore, folklife, and closely related fields. The series invites professionals from academia and the public sector to present findings from their research. The lectures are free and open to the public. In addition, each lecture is recorded for permanent deposit in the Archive of Folk Culture, where researchers can access them.

For more information, contact the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress: (202) 707-5510.