Kategoriarkiv: Konferenser

Call for Papers: 14th International Conference of Young Folklorists: “Humble Theory and Power of the Vernacular”

Call for Papers:
14th International Conference of Young Folklorists
“Humble Theory and Power of the Vernacular”
September 25–26, 2025
University of Tartu, Estonia

Plenary speakers:

Dorothy Noyes (Ohio State University)
Mariya Lesiv (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

We invite submissions for the traditional conference, encouraging young folklorists to explore and redefine the theoretical frameworks that guide our discipline. This conference seeks to engage participants in a dialogue with “humble theory”, outlined by Dorothy Noyes (2016) as a theoretical and methodological approach, born in the “middle territory between grand theory and local interpretation”. Humble theory prioritizes the ethnographic and practical aspects of folklore research over grandiose theoretical constructs and focuses on studying the meanings driven from the vernacular. It is equally important to address the anxieties and challenges faced by folklorists in positioning their work within broader academic and social contexts. Among many questions, we suggest addressing

·How can folklorists cultivate a theory that is rooted in practice and ethnography?

·In what ways can humble theory help us navigate our disciplinary identity?

·How might our historical and institutional contexts shape our theoretical aspirations and practices?

·How does humble theory hold up in digital realms and realities shaped by algorithms and AI?

We welcome case studies that exemplify the application of humble theory in folkloristic practice, original research findings, and theoretical reflections on the issue. We also encourage papers that address our traditional topics, such as transmission, performance, and differentiation.

Cited:
Noyes, Dorothy. 2016. Humble Theory: Folklore’s Grasp on Social Life. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
We ask you to submit the titles of your papers and abstracts of 200-250 words at the latest on March 15, 2025. Read more here.

 

NEFK2025: CFP deadline extended to January 26!


Call for papers and posters for NEFK 2025

NEFK 2025 – Nordic 2.0 and beyond

The call for papers and posters for NEFK 2025 – is now open!

CFP (papers och posters) till NEFK 2025 är nu öppen!

More information on the website. Mer information på hemsidan.

Theme: Nordic 2.0 and beyond (in Swedish below)

The 36th international Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference will take place 11–14 June 2025 in Turku, Finland.

It is time to meet again at the Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference. The 36th edition of the conference aims to reconnect with the roots of NEFK. We therefore invite all Nordic scholars, and scholars of the Nordic, to Turku/Åbo in Finland to expand our horizons once more.

We invite proposals for panels, posters, workshops, and roundtable discussions that explore contemporary perspectives on culture, cultural identities, representations, and socio-cultural changes in the Nordic region and beyond. How do we approach everyday life, traditions, history, and futures in times of migration, fluctuating borders, environmental change, and artificial intelligence? What is the role of academic scholarship, archives, museums, and art in problematizing identity policies, heritage, and power in contemporary societies? What kind of methodological challenges are we facing as we analyse society, including its values, conflicts, and inconsistencies?

The Nordic region is frequently viewed as a model welfare society. However, what is meant by referring to the Nordic, both historically and presently? Is it a geographic region, an imagined community, a way of life, or a theoretical framework? Finally, what could Nordic 2.0 and beyond be and become? Let us explore these and other questions together!

***

Tema: Nordic 2.0 and beyond

Den 36:e Nordiska etnolog- och folkloristkonferensen äger rum 11–14 juni 2015 i Åbo, Finland.

Det är återigen dags att träffas på den Nordiska etnolog- och folkloristkonferensen och denna gång återknyter vi till NEFK:s ursprung. Vi bjuder därför in alla nordiska kollegor, och de som forskar om Norden, till Åbo, Finland.

Vi välkomnar förslag på paneler, postrar, workshoppar och rundabordssamtal som diskuterar samtida perspektiv på kultur, kulturella identiteter, representationer och sociokulturella förändringar inom och utanför Norden. Hur närmar vi oss vardagsliv, traditioner, historia och framtid i tider av migration, fluktuerande gränser, klimatförändring och artificiell intelligens? Vilken roll spelar akademisk forskning, arkiv, museer och konst i problematiseringen av identitetspolitik, kulturarv och makt i samtida samhällen? Vilken typ av metodologiska utmaningar står vi inför när vi analyserar kulturella processer, värderingar, konflikter och inkonsekvenser?

Vid sidan om denna breda ansats ser vi konferensen som en möjlighet att problematisera Norden som koncept, idé och praktik. Vad menas med Norden, både historiskt och i nutid? Är det en geografisk region, en föreställd gemenskap, en livsstil eller något helt annat? Slutligen, vad skulle Norden 2.0 kunna vara och bli? Låt oss utforska dessa och andra frågor tillsammans!

Call for Papers: Folklore and the Senses

The Folklore Society’s Annual Conference, in collaboration with the Department of Folklore and Ethnology, University College Cork, Ireland.

Friday 20 June to Sunday 22 June 2025

Hybrid conference, online and at University College Cork

We know the world through our senses, but how we sense is inflected by symbolism, tradition and belief—by folklore in other words. What does folklore tell us about our senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and, indeed, second sight?

How does folklore treat the instruments through which we sense—our eyes, ears, nose, skin, fingers, mouth, tongue…? What do tastes, smells and other sensory experiences mean in tradition? What happens when we are deprived of our senses, voluntarily or involuntarily? And what does folklore tell us when our senses stop making sense—experiences of things heard but not seen, seen but not heard? When must we, traditionally, refute the evidence of our senses? And of course what we ‘feel’ can be felt in more ways than one, through the heart for instance. Folklore is communication, but there are many ways to communicate: the kiss, the grip, the sign, the gesture… Can we talk about visual folklore, olfactory folklore, the touch or savour of folklore?

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers of 20 minutes are invited on any topic related to folklore and the senses. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

Folklore of the material world and of embodied experience
Ethnography of the senses, ethnography of the fleeting or ephemeral
The role of the senses in folk custom and narrative
Haptic perception and communication in folklore
The senses, absences and erasures in documentation, archiving and dissemination

Deadline for proposals: Friday 31 January 2025

Read more here

NEFK 2025 – call for panels, round table discussions and workshops now open!

NEFK 2025 – Nordic 2.0 and beyond

CFP (paneler, rundabordssamtal och workshops) till NEFK 2025 är nu öppen!
The call for panels, roundtables and workshops for NEFK 2025 – is now open!

Mer information på hemsidan. More information on the website
https://nefk2025.fi

Tema: Nordic 2.0 and beyond (in English below)

Den 36:e Nordiska etnolog- och folkloristkonferensen äger rum 11–14 juni 2015 i Åbo, Finland.

Det är återigen dags att träffas på den Nordiska etnolog- och folkloristkonferensen och denna gång återknyter vi till NEFK:s ursprung. Vi bjuder därför in alla nordiska kollegor, och de som forskar om Norden, till Åbo, Finland.

Vi välkomnar förslag på paneler, postrar, workshoppar och rundabordssamtal som diskuterar samtida perspektiv på kultur, kulturella identiteter, representationer och sociokulturella förändringar inom och utanför Norden. Hur närmar vi oss vardagsliv, traditioner, historia och framtid i tider av migration, fluktuerande gränser, klimatförändring och artificiell intelligens? Vilken roll spelar akademisk forskning, arkiv, museer och konst i problematiseringen av identitetspolitik, kulturarv och makt i samtida samhällen? Vilken typ av metodologiska utmaningar står vi inför när vi analyserar kulturella processer, värderingar, konflikter och inkonsekvenser?

Vid sidan om denna breda ansats ser vi konferensen som en möjlighet att problematisera Norden som koncept, idé och praktik. Vad menas med Norden, både historiskt och i nutid? Är det en geografisk region, en föreställd gemenskap, en livsstil eller något helt annat? Slutligen, vad skulle Norden 2.0 kunna vara och bli? Låt oss utforska dessa och andra frågor tillsammans!

***

Theme: Nordic 2.0 and beyond

The 36th international Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference will take place 11–14 June 2025 in Turku, Finland.

It is time to meet again at the Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference. The 36th edition of the conference aims to reconnect with the roots of NEFK. We therefore invite all Nordic scholars, and scholars of the Nordic, to Turku/Åbo in Finland to expand our horizons once more.

We invite proposals for panels, posters, workshops, and roundtable discussions that explore contemporary perspectives on culture, cultural identities, representations, and socio-cultural changes in the Nordic region and beyond. How do we approach everyday life, traditions, history, and futures in times of migration, fluctuating borders, environmental change, and artificial intelligence? What is the role of academic scholarship, archives, museums, and art in problematizing identity policies, heritage, and power in contemporary societies? What kind of methodological challenges are we facing as we analyse society, including its values, conflicts, and inconsistencies?

The Nordic region is frequently viewed as a model welfare society. However, what is meant by referring to the Nordic, both historically and presently? Is it a geographic region, an imagined community, a way of life, or a theoretical framework? Finally, what could Nordic 2.0 and beyond be and become? Let us explore these and other questions together!

Call for panels and other formats for SIEF2025: Unwriting, a hybrid congress

The 17th international SIEF congress will take place at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland

The call for panels is open 02 Sep-07 Oct 2024

Theme: Unwriting

Linguistic, discursive, and reflexive writing has long been a core activity for ethnographers, whether in the field or behind the desk. Ethnology, Folklore, and Anthropology were seen as interpreting the oral ’Other’ into the written modern world, with inscription becoming a measure of fact and truth – ’Can I have that in writing?’ These acts of mediation often carry with them an innate sense of superiority over the subject and source, even in disciplines that have lionised the oral and material vernaculars from their inception.

Unwriting is a powerful tool with which to retract, or rewrite, some of what has been inscribed or recorded, allowing us to reshape that which power has imposed and presenting an opportunity for those who have often only been written about.

SIEF2025 invites ethnologists, folklorists, anthropologists, and scholars from adjacent fields to do some unwriting: redo, seek or restore social justice, dismantle hegemonic frameworks which limit us to predetermined paths towards predictable conclusions. We ask for new ways of honouring and ceding space to bottom-up research and analysis, an opportunity for Indigenous and insider scholars to take centre stage, facilitating more equitable scholarly texts for all.

The ’discursive turn’ and ideas of ’writing culture’ helped to deconstruct academic writing, highlighting the politics of text and connections with practices, institutions, and spaces that produce discipline, hierarchy, and power. Unwriting further suggests a constructive, or even activist role focusing on practices, materiality, and life, while supporting decolonial, feminist, and more-than-human perspectives. It asks us to revisit the consequences of casually accepted paradigms, confronting the unseen, unheard, untellable, or untouched. It invites us to explore undocumented social and material practices of unwriting in practice-based, multi-media, multi-sensual research, incorporating the input of valued partners.

Unwriting works in interdependent symbiosis with writing. In a world of surveillance, we examine the forms of our communications – verbal, in small delimited groups, with encrypted messaging – due to fears of being seen (read). Here, unwriting becomes a mechanism of security, safety, control, all the while avoiding outside control, but when can this engender (self)censorship?

Unwriting is a call to action, a call to reflect on how we have been doing things and how they can be done differently. In contrast with the sometimes dark histories of our academic traditions, we have a chance to create new, embedded, and relational visions, distancing ourselves from skewed, hegemonically generated accounts of the past. By unwriting, we consider what it takes to undo some of what writing’s power has imposed, particularly as we cede space to AI and its algorithms.

Ultimately, unwriting challenges us to create anew in multidimensional ways.

We welcome panels, roundtables, workshops, screenings, and innovative formats focusing on topics including but not limited to,

  • How can unwriting redress power relations, colonialism, globalisation, heteronormativity, and other hegemonies?
  • How could we unwrite legal, social, and political understandings of inclusion and exclusion?
  • How does unwriting relate to ethnographic description, inscription, and transcription?
  • How can unwriting knowledges encourage diverse, applied, or artistic interventions and interpretations?
  • How does our digital world unwrite?
  • How do we tell unwritten histories? How do we write the untellable?
  • How can unwriting challenge notions of gender, genre, embodiment, affect, and performance?
  • How does unwriting afford new formations, transformations, and narrations of multivalent cultural knowledge and heritage?
  • In what ways might AI unwrite the process of writing itself?
  • How can Indigenous knowledge unwrite?
  • How might unwriting illuminate multi-species entanglements, human-animal relationships, environmental engagement, and the climate crisis

Read more here

CFP: Artefacta Conference 2025

The Fourth International Artefacta Conference will take place at the University of Helsinki, in Helsinki, Finland, on 13-14 February 2025.

At the core of the Artefacta Conferences are objects and artefacts, as well as the materiality and material culture related to them. The theme of the 2025 conference is “Resolutions”, including all of the various complexities and viewpoints connected with it. This multifaceted term allows us to approach our research topics from various perspectives. Through the theme of resolutions, we can engage in specific and detailed analysis, or approach it with a broader view. Resolutions in museum contexts can be understood as decision-making processes concerning objects and collections, along with the curation of an exhibition – from selecting the display and scope, to the story that is presented to the audience. Resolutions can also refer to the disappearance or easing of, for example, attitudes that currently are addressed in postcolonial research. Resolutions can also refer to the disappearance of habits, heritage or object types. Determination is one synonym for resolution; for instance, how determination is visible in an object or research method, craft or through action. Resolution can also be a solution or an answer to a problem.

The Organising Committee welcomes abstract proposals related to the theme “Resolutions” from all over the world and from interdisciplinary perspectives, including the fields of material culture studies, history, archaeology, anthropology, heritage science, conservation, craft science, art history, museology, ethnology, design and beyond.

The Call for Papers can be found here

Deadline for submission: 2 September 2024