In 2019, the 9th International Conference of Young Folklorists “(Ir)relevance of Classical Folkloristics in 21st Century” invites folklore students and young scholars to Vilnius (Lithuania). This conference is an international academic event, which annually brings together advanced students and researchers from different countries to come to Estonia or Lithuania, and gives them an opportunity to present their research to an international audience. The conference aims at fostering academic communication, collaboration and research in the field of folklore.

 

The 9th International conference of Young Folklorists invites scholars to investigate the current stage of folkloristics. Although researchers have raised this issue for several decades already, it is still relevant. Different local tendencies or research traditions enrich and widen the scope of the discipline. We do not question the necessity of folkloristics and its research methods in the 21st century. However, constant emphasizing of interdisciplinarity and marginalities leaves one pondering about the situation in the centre of the discipline. What is the focus of folkloristics today? Are classifications and genres still relevant, or are we already dealing with completely new cultural phenomena that do not necessarily comply with the classical approach? How can balance between classical and innovative research methods help us understand the human ways? What problems or destinations can we gain form interdisciplinary research practices? Is it possible already to define old and new schools in folklore research?

 

Focusing on the situation in folkloristics, the topics for the conference include (but are not limited to) the following:

 

• current situation and possibilities for classical folklore studies in the 21st century;

• new methodologies vs. classical approaches;

• decline or development of classifications in contemporary scholarly context;

• life story as the 21st century’s genre;

• interdisciplinarity as a “new discipline”;

• digital challenges: methodological approaches related to choosing the internet as a place for field work;

• revitalizing concept of tradition;

• challenges of ethno-centred research approach;

• folkloristic approach as a way of understanding the contemporary society.

 

The programme of the conference can be downloaded here, abstract book can be found here. 

"Facebook" event can be found here.

 

 

Venue: The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Antakalnio 6, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania

Organized by: The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore in Vilnius, Lithuania, Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Archives of Latvian Folklore of Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia; National Conference of PhD Students in the Field of Ethnology "Veritas Ethnologica". 

Sponsored by the Research Council of Lithuania