Creating International Understanding: UNESCO's Folk Festivals

Unesco, as the United Nations agency devoted to construct “the defences of peace” in the minds of humankind, has been discussed by historians mostly in relation to education and to its battles with “politicization” in the context of the cold war.  But the organization also developed programs designed to foster understanding among people from different countries by displaying highlights from different cultures at a variety of festivals. This paper will examine Unesco’s approach to folk festivals as a tool in its mission to facilitate peaceful relations between peoples.  First, I will briefly discuss how folk music and festivals made their entrance into the Unesco agenda and how Unesco staff as well as protagonists from the collaborating international folk music organizations envisioned folk festivals to work.  Second, I will examine the implementation of the program and and analyze two the folk festivals (Basel, 1947 and Sao Paulo, 1954) to see how they were commented upon by Unesco staff, by professional folklorists, and the press.