Kategoriarkiv: Konferenser

Artefacta conference 2023: CFP Extended deadline to 18 September

Calls for abstracts, Konferenser,

The Call for Papers for the 3rd International Artefacta Conference: Agency Conference is now open. And the deadline to submit a proposal has been extended to 18 September 2022!

The Third International Artefacta Conference will be organised in Turku, Finland on 16–17 February 2023. The theme of the conference is agency and objects.

The University of Turku, and the Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

 

Conference Theme

Agency has become one of the most debated and productive concepts in the study of artefacts and material culture. Basically, it refers to the capacity to create an action or intervention and produce a particular effect, whether physical, emotional, social or cultural. The Third International Artefacta Conference focuses on this multifaceted concept and the recent advances and innovations in the field of artefact studies that it has inaugurated. What are the limits and abilities of objects to exert power over each other, to humans and their environment? What does it imply to acknowledge the agency of things, both in the past and the present?

In parallel with the conceptual re-evaluation of agency in the humanities and social sciences, new scientific and conservation methods of analysing the material properties of artefacts have transformed our understanding of things, humans and their interactions with the environment. They allow seeing technology as well as the production, use and material change of artefacts in more detailed and fascinating ways. Similarly, novel methods of artefact analysis have revolutionised our approach to cultural transmission, or the experimentation, decision-making, and choices related to material culture.

The Third International Artefacta Conference will discuss agency in relation to objects with a very wide and inclusive understanding of the concept.

We call for papers which examine and explore various aspects of the agency of artefacts in the field of the humanities as well as natural and social sciences. The papers can range from individual case studies to methodological considerations and theoretical reflections.

The topics may include, but are not limited to, to the following:

– How an artefact or artefact group affect humans and/or the environment?
– How is the agency of artefacts created by materials, living creatures, and/or the environment?
– Is agency a useful and/or appropriate concept when analysing artefacts and material culture in the past or in the present?
– The agency of artefacts as a cultural, material, and/or sociological phenomenon
– The expressions and conceptualisations of the agency of artefacts in different historical and prehistoric periods, cultures, and academic disciplines
– The methods and theories of examining the agency of artefacts
– Considering the multitude of human and non-human agents involved in conservation, to whom are conservators preserving cultural heritage?

Confirmed keynote speakers

Prof. Tine Damsholt, University of Copenhagen
Prof. Bjørnar Olsen, University of Tromsø

Huom! Suomenkielisiä esitelmäehdotuksia hyväksytään

Voit lähettää myös suomenkielisen esitelmäehdotuksen. Niistä kootaan konferenssiin oma sessionsa. Suomenkielisistä esitelmistä pyydämme (myöhemmin) lyhyen englanninkielisen abstraktin.

Important Dates

The call of papers closes on 18 September 2022.

The acceptance of papers will be announced on 3 October 2022.

Registration for the conference closes on 16 December 2022.

The conference takes place on 16–17 February 2023.
 

Submit a paper proposal

Please, submit your proposal for a paper using this form: https://sites.utu.fi/artefacta2023/call-for-papers/

Inquiries

Please, email all inquiries to artefacta2023@gmail.com

CFA: European Ethnology and Baltic, Central and Eastern European Studies: Where do we come from and where are we going?

Calls for abstracts, Konferenser, ,

Call for abstracts:

Panel at the CBEES Annual Conference, Södertörn University: Where are we now? Perspectives on East European Area Studies today

1-2 December 2022, Stockholm, Sweden

DEADLINE for abstract 22 August 2022

Panel description:

European Ethnology and Baltic, Central and Eastern European Studies: Where do we come from and where are we going?

The discipline of Ethnology has, for as long as it has existed, been inextricably intertwined with national and regional politics. In the wake of romantic nationalism, its role in documenting, analysing and even reconstructing ‘authentic’ national culture was seen as essential. Already from its ‘founding period’ in the first half of the 20th century, however, international connections were central for establishing European Ethnology as a scholarly discipline, not least with regards to formulating common scientific theories, central concepts, and scientific ways of working. Before the Second World War and during the Cold War, international cooperation was also significant for maintaining scholarly work, despite political limitations posed by dictatorships.

For a few decades now, ethnological knowledge about the region has been produced against the geopolitical backdrop of the end of the Cold War, often labelling it post-socialist (e.g. Burawoy 2000; Chari & Verdery 2009; Hann, Humphrey & Verdery 2003). Ethnographic thick descriptions and the focus on everyday culture were regarded the discipline’s advantages in order to capture the real-life consequences of the economic transformation, compared to quantitative and macro-approaches. More recently the conceptualisation of the region as postsocialist has been criticised for, among other things, reproducing the epistemic hegemony of the West, for orientalising the region, for its inherent connection to the economic transformation, and for situating very different societies in the past and exaggerating the impact a common socialist past has had on the region (e.g. Cervinkova 2012; Müller, 2019).

Against this background, and considering the vast geopolitical changes and crises Europe is undergoing – including the massive impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war – this panel seeks to explore the changing face of European Ethnology, paying particular attention to geopolitical context, both historically and in the present – and to discuss its future. A central question of the panel is how ethnological knowledge is produced and how this knowledge production is related to the political frameworks and to the current geopolitical ‘backdrop’. With what can European Ethnology contribute to increase the knowledge and understanding of the consequences of current political polarisations, multiple crises and ongoing war in Europe? After February 24: How can we continue to work together scholarly if we are once again politically divided – and what can we learn from the discipline’s past about the conditions for, and advantages and potential pitfalls of such collaborations?

We welcome papers on topics such as:

  • Collaboration, exchanges, and power relations in the region and in academia beyond Cold War geographical imaginaries and the West-East axis
  • Critical interventions on the usage of postsocialism in ethnographic theory and applied research
  • Critical examinations of – and power relations connected to – the way scholars conceptualise the region
  • New ways of defining and conceptualising the region, in particular related to ethnographic Area Studies
  • Discussions on the past and future relationship between European Ethnology and Area Studies, considering current geopolitical events
  • Discussions on current and future impact of European Ethnology and ethnographic Area Studies post-24 February 2022

Conveners:

Associate Professor Petra Garberding (Department of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University)

Professor Jenny Gunnarsson Payne (Department of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University)

Dr. Florence Frölich (Department of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University)

PhD-student Aleksandra Reczuch (Department of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University)

 

We welcome contributions that address one or more of the themes outlined above.

The proposals should include the title of the paper, an abstract (max. 400 words), and a short bio of the author(s) including the contact details (name, email address, affiliation). Please send your proposal to jenny.gunnarsson.payne(at)sh.se by 22 August 2022. The accepted proposals will be announced by 27 August 2022.

Artefacta conference: Call for papers

Calls for abstracts, Konferenser

Arbetsgruppen för nätverket Artefacta efterlyser nu abstrakt för konferensen som ordnas i Åbo 16-17 februari 2023. Temat för konferensen är Agens (i alla tänkbara former) i den materiella världen. Konferensen ordnas som samarbete mellan Åbo Universitet och Åbo Akademi. Deadline för CFP 4 september 2022.

Keynotes av:
Prof. Tine Damsholt, University of Copenhagen
Prof. Bjørnar Olsen, University of Tromsø

Även studenter, t.ex. graduskribenter kan delta i egna rundabordsdiskussioner (kolla närmare i CFP).

Webbsidor: https://sites.utu.fi/artefacta2023

Hela Call for Papers samt  och inskickning av abstrakt på:
https://sites.utu.fi/artefacta2023/call-for-papers/

Why (queer) History Matters. The Politics of History. International, interdisciplinary conference, Bergen 29–30 August 2022.

Konferenser

Why (queer) History Matters. The Politics of History.
International, interdisciplinary conference, Bergen 29–30 August 2022.

Neglect and erasure of queer history has been the norm in all national histories until quite recently. In this conference we address how this highly problematic practice of history can also enable the eradication of LGBT+ rights in contemporary societies. For, in some places LGBT communities are seen as a national threat while in others, homo-tolerance is instrumentalized to build national self-identity. In both cases, interest in and knowledge of queer history is usually absent. In this conference we therefore ask: How are national histories cleansed of unwanted elements? What role does ignorance and censorship play? Can the lack of knowledge of queer history be fundamental to contemporary oppression of queers? If so, what can be done to preserve and disseminate queer histories?

In this conference we will be offered reflections and examples on how and why queer history matters in different contexts. Norway officially opened its national queer archive in Bergen in 2015, and queer cultural history is slowly starting to appear as a legitimate academic field in line with other academic fields of research also in Norway.

It is also possible to register to follow the conference online.

https://www.uib.no/en/queerhistorymatters

Save the date: Artefacta conference in Turku, 16-17 February 2023

Konferenser, , ,

The 3rd International Artefacta Conference: Agency

The University of Turku, and the Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

The Third International Artefact Conference will be organised in Turku, Finland on 16–17 February 2023. The theme of the conference is agency and objects.

Agency has become one of the most debated and productive concepts in the study of artefacts and material culture. Basically, it refers to the capacity to create an action or intervention and produce a particular effect, whether physical, emotional, social or cultural. The Third International Artefacta Conference focuses on this multifaceted concept and the recent advances and innovations in the field of artefact studies that it has inaugurated. What are the limits and abilities of objects to exert power over each other, to humans and their environment? What does it imply to acknowledge the agency of things, both in the past and the present?

In parallel with the conceptual re-evaluation of agency in the humanities and social sciences, new scientific and conservation methods of analysing the material properties of artefacts have transformed our understanding of things, humans and their interactions with the environment. They allow seeing technology as well as the production, use and material change of artefacts in more detailed and fascinating ways.
Similarly, novel methods of artefact analysis have revolutionised our approach to cultural transmission, or the experimentation, decision-making, and choices related to material culture.

The Third International Artefacta Conference will discuss agency in relation to objects with a very wide and inclusive understanding of the concept.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Prof. Tine Damsholt, University of Copenhagen
Prof. Bjørnar Olsen, University of Tromsø

A Call for Papers will be published later in spring 2022.