International Conference of Young Folklorists 2014
The Informant in Folklore Studies
Place: The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Antakalnio 6, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania
Date: June 5-7, 2014
Abstract submission deadline: March 1, 2014
Organizers: The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore in Vilnius, Lithuania;
Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Tradition is the key concept in folkloristics. We are happy to be the immediate creators, bearers and transmitters of a very important tradition – organizing the annual conferences in Vilnius and Tartu, to which we invite all the young folklore researchers. We welcome you to the 4th conference, and this time it is held in Lithuania.
The main goals of the International Conferences of the Young Folklorists are:
• Bringing together students and young researchers of folklore from different countries and continents to present and compare different ways in folklore research.
• Fostering academic communication between the young folklorists.
• Encouraging young scholars to raise and tackle theoretical research questions and discuss them.
There are many questions that concern young scholars and ignite discussion, prompting to rethink, analyze or contemplate the concepts which are essential in folkloristics. Nothing is self-contained in the humanities, although we persist in seeking the truth, the system and the explanation of the immense human world. Definition is only one manifestation of the scientific work, while the breathing and the “real” work begins with the questions. This time we invite our young colleagues to the laboratory of folklore focusing on the primary source in our discipline: who is the informant in folklore studies?
The conference consists of two main parts. One part is the usual paper presentations followed by discussion; and another part is topic-related workshops. Thus we invite you to submit your abstract on one of the topics below; however, different interpretations of the theme are very welcome:
• Extending the definition: traditional informant vs. modern one;
• Phenomenological approach to the source of folklore;
• Genre-based interviewing methodologies;
• Balance between scientific and subjective approach to the informant;
• Methodological strategies in choosing/finding the informant;
• Time, space and other parameters in personal narrative;
• (In) sanity and marginalities within certain culture/locality/community;
• Making the dialog: essential conditions and possible outcomes.
Practical information:
Please submit your abstract (max 250 words) by March 1, 2014 by e-mail: youngfolklorists2014@gmail.com. Please include your name, affiliation, position and e-mail address.
• You will be notified by the organizers regarding the acceptance of your proposal by April 1, 2014.
• The organizers reserve the right to decide which papers are going to be presented during the conference sessions, and which at the workshops.
• Initiative of both the young or the senior scholars to give the keynote talks or lead the workshops are very welcome.
• The working language of the conference is English. Each paper will be given 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.
• The conference program will include sessions, workshops, keynote talks, excursions, etc.
• There is no registration fee but we kindly ask the participants to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.
For any queries, please contact:
Lina Leparskienė or Julija Ladygienė
youngfolklorists2014@gmail.com
‘Steppin Steens o Knowledge’ Folklore, Ethnology, and Ethnomusicology Conference (Aberdeen)
Place: Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Date: 4–6 July, 2014
We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the inaugural Folklore, Ethnology, and Ethnomusicology Conference (Aberdeen). FEECA aims to answer the need for an academic forum for postgraduate research students and early-career researchers and to strengthen relations between relevant scholars and institutions in the UK, Ireland, and elsewhere.
‘Steppin Steens o Knowledge’ (Stepping Stones of Knowledge) refers to a life philosophy of the late Stanley Robertson, a Traveller and former research associate at the Elphinstone Institute. Drawn from the incremental nature of Stanley’s ballad and storytelling traditions, the concept encapsulates both the initial career steps being taken by conference-goers, as well as the new ‘stepping steens’ being created through each participant’s research.
Small by design, this conference of around thirty presenters is open to papers touching on any aspect of folklore, ethnology, or ethnomusicology. Each presenter will be given twenty minutes for their paper, followed by ten minutes for questions. Proposals for themed sessions are also welcome, and there will be space for research poster presentations.
Registration will be on Friday afternoon, followed by a keynote address. Saturday and Sunday will have morning and afternoon paper presentations followed by possible excursions.
Please submit proposals by e-mail to feeca2014@gmail.com with the following by 31 January, 2014:
1) An abstract of up to 250 words;
2) A brief biography/career description of no more than 200 words;
3) Author name, e-mail address and affiliation, if any.
All applicants will be contacted with the results of their submission by 10 February, 2014.
For moreinformation as it becomes available, please visit the conference website: www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/events/feeca2014
What´s up folklore? (Role of folklore in the contemporary world)
Call for the next issue of Slovak Ethnology / Slovenský národopis, volume 62, number 2/2014, focused on the role of folklore in the contemporary world
Hosting editor: Eva Krekovičová
Folkloristics has undergone a process of quite substantive change since the middle of the 20th century. On the one hand it has brought new topics and research issues, deepened the interdisciplinary character of research approaches and methods. This development has largely extended the research field. On the other hand the scholars have continued in synthesizing of the traditional folklore, understood gradually as cultural heritage, which was tied to a certain stylish and historical period. The inclination to this “double-track” character of the discipline is certainly not the result of the development in the last decades only. But at the turn of this century the border between both research lines comes forth and deepens. This situation relates, to a certain degree, to inter-generational shifts in the approach to the object of the research and, inter alia, to the ever stronger anthropologisation of humanities in general (Kuligowski, 2012). It relates also to breaking away from grand theories, “a plea not for grand but for humble theory” in folkloristics as Dorothy Noyes suggests (Noyes, 2008). The changes of theoretical approaches, the shifting research focuses from the “image of the past” to “contemporary processes” thus become new and appealing challenges for the scholars.
The editors of this journal invite analytic, theoretical or synthetic articles, research reports, essays and discussions in the fields of folkloristics, ethnology, social and cultural anthropology and related scholarly disciplines, focused especially (but not exclusively) on the following issues:
Current theoretical approaches in folkloristics, continuities and discontinuities in theoretical thoughts, diversification of theoretical concepts and methods;
Genre theory, the development of folklore genres in history and in the contemporary period, the “new” genres (contemporary legends, rumours, gossip, conspiracy theories etc. );
Narrative, visual, music, dancing and other artistic representations of the social world;
Traditional and “new” music styles (ethno music, world music etc.);
New media (internet, digital media etc.) and their influence on folklore communication;
Global processes and transformation of folklore;
Folklore and power, folklore in societal discourse, folklore and politics; Folklore phenomena as elements of (collective) identity construction, folklore phenomena as distinctive codes for creating social group boundaries.
Submission guidelines: please follow the guidelines for submissions as given on the website of Slovak Ethnologyhttp://www.uet.sav.sk/?q=en/slovak-ethnology
Year round the Slovak Ethnology journal invites, apart from contributions focused on above mentioned issues, also major articles, research reports, essays, discussions, overviews, annotations, book reviews and review essays beyond the thematic call for papers.
Final date for abstracts: 31. 1. 2014.
Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified at the end of January, 2014 and will then be invited to submit a full paper. An invitation to submit a full paper does not constitute a commitment for publication; all papers will be subject to anonymous peer review following submission.
Final date for papers: 15. 3. 2014
Please send your abstract as an e-mail attachment to the editors, at slovensky.narodopis@savba.sk.
