Call for Papers:  We are the Folk: Rethinking Folklore in the Twenty-First Century

 Lisbon: 22, 23 and 24 October 2014

 Anthropologist and folklorist Alan Dundes would turn eighty this year. Inspired by this date, the Instituto de Estudos de Literatura Tradicional (IELT), at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, is organising an international conference that will take his proclamation “Who are the folk? Among others, we are!” at face value and explore its implications from a wide range of disciplines, from science to humanities and the social sciences, to the visual and performative arts, philosophy, and politics, amongst others.

 The manner in which folklorists study what they see as the creativity and richness of the ways people put meaning in their existence has often been taken as too static and decontextualized. The notion of “folklore” carries profoundly contradictory meanings and connotations. In Portugal, it has particularly been the case as a result of the interest in “popular culture” for propaganda purposes associated with the Estado Novo regime. Nonetheless, folklore’s appeal on the public is undeniable. Its presence in everyday life takes on many forms and appears in the vitality and diversity of social practices that call for renewed, less reductive approaches. This conference wishes to confront different perspectives and terminologies associated with the studies of culture, evaluating the practicality of the concept of folklore, the multiplicity of its meanings and its capacity to integrate interactions between traditional and contemporary expressions and appropriations in particular social, cultural and historical contexts.

 Drawing on the growing interest cultural heritage has raised in the public sphere, and, simultaneously, on recent advances in the study of the uses of culture and memory, it is crucial to rethink the concept of folklore as well as the complexity of its manifestations and its impact on an increasingly interdisciplinary and participatory research.

 Keynote Speakers: Alison Dundes Renteln, Christian Bromberger, Jorge Freitas Branco, Mário Correia, Pertti Anttonen e Tok Thompson.

 We welcome proposals in Portuguese or English dealing with all aspects of Folklore, focusing on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Folklore Genres: Tales, Proverbs and Legends
• Folklore and Identity
• Folklore and Popular Culture
• Folklore and Cultural Heritage
• Folklore and Modernity
• Folklore Materialities
• Folklore and Tourism
• Folklore and Literature
• Folklore and Music
• Folklore and History
• Folklore and Environment
• Folklore and Law
• Human/animal bond in Folklore
• Gender and Folklore
• Children’s Folklore
• Folklore and the Contemporary Arts
• Transgressive Folklore
• Monstrosity in Folklore
• Editing Folklore
• Folklore and Translation
• Folklore Archives
• Folklore in the Digital Age

Please include the following information with your proposal:

• the full title of your paper;
• a 250 word abstract;
• your name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and position;
• a short 150 word bionote;

The deadline for proposals is 30 June 2014. Participants will be notified of acceptance by 16 July 2014.

Registration Fee (includes materials, coffee breaks and Thursday lunch):
– until 1 October – general public 70€ / students 30€

– from 2 October – general public 80€ / students 40€

Friday lunch: 20€

Attendance is free for unemployed.

Inquiries and proposals should be sent to the following e-mail: wearethefolk2014@gmail.com

Organising Committee

Anabela Gonçalves

Carolina Vilardouro

Oriana Alves

Sara Graça da Silva

Scientific Committee

Ana Paula Guimarães

Jean-Yves Durand

José Luís Grosso

Luísa Medeiros

Sara Graça da Silva

Vera Marques Alves