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

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

Call for Papers: Perspectives on the revitalization of minority languages

November 20-22, 2024
Location: Södertörn University
Organizers: Institute for Language and Folklore and Södertörn University
Södertörn University (SH) and the Institute for Language and Folklore (Isof) invite you to a conference on perspectives on the revitalization of minority languages. Language revitalization is an increasingly urgent issue in our time, both in the Nordic region and in Europe as well as worldwide. During 2022-2024, SH and Isof both have specific government assignments on the revitalization of the national minority languages.

The conference wants to highlight both experiences and research to enable the problematization of revitalization as a concept, idea and practice. We also want to open a discussion on how activism and research can mutually benefit each other.

Please register and upload your abstracts (max 200 words) by May 13, 2024.

See attached pdf for more information

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Call for Papers: Perspektiv på revitalisering av minoritetsspråk

Datum: 20-22 november 2024
Plats: Södertörns högskola
Arrangörer: Institutet för språk och folkminnen och Södertörns högskola

Södertörns högskola (SH) och Institutet för språk och folkminnen (Isof) bjuder tillsammans in till en konferens om perspektiv på revitalisering av minoritetsspråk. Språkrevitalisering är en allt mer angelägen fråga i vår tid såväl i Norden och i Europa som världen över. SH och Isof har båda under 2022-2024 särskilda regeringsuppdrag om revitalisering av de nationella minoritetsspråken.

Konferensen vill synliggöra både erfarenheter och forskning för att möjliggöra problematisering av revitalisering som begrepp, idé och praktik. Vi vill även öppna för en diskussion om hur aktivism och forskning ömsesidigt kan gynna varandra.

Anmälan med abstrakt (max 200 ord) skickas senast den 13 maj 2024.

Se bifogad pdf för mer information!

We warmly invite you to the conference on “Reimagining Europe: Decolonizing Historical Imaginaries, Disciplinary Narratives in Folklore and Ethnology and Beyond” from June 13th to 14th, 2024 in Marburg, Germany.

The conference will take place hybrid and is organized by the SIEF working group Historical Approaches in Cultural Analysis and the Herder Institute for Historical East Central European Research in collaboration with the Chair of European Ethnology/Cultural Studies at the University of Marburg.

The call for papers can be found in here. The deadline for abstract submission is February 29, 2024.

We are particularly pleased about the participation of young scientists. It is possible to apply for travel grants.

Poster HACA Marburg

• Processes of demonisation and alienation in traditional folklore;
• Mythological beings and demons  in archival folklore material;
• Fear, disgust, and other uncomfortable emotions within folklore;
• Historical contexts of collecting controversial or “forbidden” folklore material;
• Political and/or personal censorship of “inappropriate” folklore;
• Negatively charged spaces and places in traditional narratives;
• Decolonization of historical narratives;
• Conspiracy theories, doomsday narratives, and urban legends in (digital) ethnography;
• Rethinking of crime and violence in folklore;
• Tracking of the queer ethnography;
• Taboo topics in contemporary fieldwork;
• Geopolitics, national politics, and folklore.

The call for papers is open and closes on 31 October 2023. The paper proposals should be sent directly to the convenors for the workshop in question. The workshops are presented here. The proposals should include a paper title and name(s) and email address(es) of the presenter(s) plus abstract of no more than 250 words. The abstract and the presentation should be in language used in the call for the workshop. The decisions over the papers proposed will be made by 23 November 2024.

At Ethnology Days 2024, we will reflect on the voices of ethnological research – strong and muted, empathetic and critical, constructive and challenging – both in the past and today.

The XII Finnish Ethnology Days are held in Helsinki 14–15 March 2024.