The annual conference of The Folklore SocietyFriday 29–Sunday 31 March 2019University of DerbyUnited Kingdom
Call for papers—first deadline Sunday 9 December, 2018The
nation surges with newfound rhetorical power. The last 25 years have
seen parliamentary devolution, the Scottish independence referendum and
the proposed withdrawal from the European Union, all within the UK
alone. Yet this is a global drive, manifesting also in diaspora (St
Patrick’s Day is now a global celebration) and the everyday, local acts
that constitute our reality. In England, for example, it is no longer
remarkable to see the St George’s Cross flying outside suburban
houses. We are living through a popular move towards
national ideologies.
This
conference asks how, why and when folklore has been deployed in the
context of national ideologies and ideas of nationhood. For some, the
lore of the nation has been an instrument to build consensus; for
others, a means of excluding. Signs of cultural identity have served to
both unite and divide separate polities, whilst diasporas live within
two nations at once, the state of residence and the (sometimes imagined)
homeland. The conference accommodates the use of folklore
in exclusionary and disciplinary deployments of nationalism,
whilst remaining open to flexible definitions of nationalism, in the
form of solidarity, ethnicity, diaspora and nations within nations.
Of
course, folklore has always been connected with the discourse and
development of the nation, as demonstrated by collections such
as Timothy Baycroft and David Hopkin’s (2012) Folklore and nationalism
in Europe during the long nineteenth century. Whilst the
folk were considered cultural survivals, of low status in the ranks of
civilization, folklore was symbolically important to many national
struggles. Ambiguous feelings about tradition—whether it was the
authentic voice of the people or a quaint echo of the primitive—drove
the historical development of nationalism just as it contributed to the
development of the academic discipline of Folklore. Custom, legend and
tradition played their part in progressive, Romantic nationalism, as
much as they did in promoting the nationalism of totalitarian states.
What, then, is traditional about the place of folklore in nationalism,
and nationalism in folklore?
This conference
welcomes perspectives from Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Ethnology,
Ethnomusicology, History, Literary Studies, Sociology and
other disciplines. We welcome contemporary and historical understandings
of the many connections between folklore and the nation. Contributions
might look at the local and the national, links and similarities between
nations and the role of gender and sexualities. We are, of course,
interested in traditional forms such storytelling, folk song, dance and
costume, amongst others. We hope to explore, but are not limited to:
- Literary and artistic uses of folklore in relation to national ideologies.
- Relations between ethnicity, nationalism and folklore.
- Folk heroes.
- The use of folklore against the nation.
- The heritage industry and its relationship to nationalism and folklore.
- The mobilisation
and reception of folkloric motifs, items and folkloristics itself, by
extremists, both historical and contemporary.
- Disciplinary questions of resistance. How can, or should we, as folklorists, respond to its uses in such contexts?
- Vernacular ideologies of myth and narrative in national popular culture.
- The relationship between nationalism, folklore and media, including the role of the internet and social media.
- The relationship between folklore, Gramscian ‘common sense’ and hierarchies of knowledge in relation to nationalism.
- Folklore and Brexit.
- Folklore, asylum and immigration.
- The relationship of folkloristics to nationalism and the nation.
The conference
is kindly hosted by the University of Derby at its One Friar
Square campus in the centre of the city. There will be a tour of Derby
and opportunity to visit the Peak District.
On
the Friday evening, at 11pm, the United Kingdom is due to leave the
European Union. Whether or not this happens, we invite traditional and
creative practitioners to contribute responses to the themes of the
conference. In the evening, we will hear them in a public house as
last orders approaches.
The
first deadline for papers is Sunday 9 December, 2018. Proposals of
100–150 words, for presentations of 20 minutes, should be emailed to:
thefolkloresociety@gmail.com and copied to
enquiries@folklore-society.com. Please include a brief biographical note, including contact details.
Both members and non-members of The Folklore Society are warmly encouraged to offer papers at this conference.
