Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 27 – 29, 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON/Canada
Keynote speaker: Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University
In accordance with the theme of “From Far & Wide: The Next 150” for the 2017 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Folklore Studies Association of Canada/l’Association canadienne d’ethnologie et de folklore has selected “Cultures and temporalities” as the theme for the 2017 annual conference.
As disciplines historically concerned with quests of origins and traditions, Ethnology and Folklore have been seemingly indifferent to the passing of time and to the concomitant notion of time as change and process. However, social constructions of time have been at the heart of their recent preoccupations, most notably through research in intangible cultural heritage, material culture, food studies, new media, museum studies, tourism, transnational cultures, contemporary myths and rituals. Moreover, the forceful return of ethnographic methods and the rise of cultures of ethnic and/or authentic consumption are testimonies for the diversity of temporal articulations of cultures and many ways to consider the cultures of the time.
By selecting the theme of Cultures and temporalities, the organizers invite scholars of all fields across the social sciences and humanities to explore the evolution of ethnological ideas and knowledge across time, and the temporal articulations of cultural practices, know-hows and cultural representations. This conference aims to trigger critical reflections on the challenges of new conditions of ethnographic fieldwork in a context of globalized cultures and diversified temporalities. Slow culture, fast culture, rhythms, the time of urgency, menacing times, quests of origins, cultural transmission, time that flies, times of dreams, etc. are only but a few illustrations of the rich vocabulary of time that articulates and structures daily life and sociocultural discourses and practices. How do the objects of ethnology, folklore, museology and cultural heritage adapt to changes across society and the world at large? How should we conceive the future of our research objects in the context of an accelerated temporality, rendered unpredictable and diversified by technological innovations and the creation and extension of new infrastructures of mediation? What are the meaning and implications of these sociocultural changes for the relationship between fieldwork and scholarship, or research and society?
The organizing committee welcomes paper proposals in French or English that address the conference theme.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Fast food, slow food,
- Teaching ethnology and folklore: what future?
- Folklore, past and present
- Time and intangible cultural heritage
- The temporalities of museums in a digital age
- Indigenous temporalities
- Memory and difficult knowledge
- Future quests: material cultures of success
- “Real” and “fictional” times: culture and new technologies
- Time and fairy tales
- Time and temporalities of popular and traditional cultures
- Religious temporalities, time and religion
- Time travelling: tourism and heritage
As usual, proposals on any other topic in the fields of Folklore or Ethnology will also be considered.
Proposals shall be sent by email to the ACEF/FSAC President, Daniela Moisa by November 15, 2016. They must include a 100 word abstract (title included) with your name, department, institutional affiliation and contact information. Abstracts of over 100 words will not be accepted.
Panel submissions are encouraged. For panel submissions, please submit a 100-word panel abstract, a list of all participants, as well as separate 100-word abstracts for each presenter. Please identify and provide contact information for the panel organizer. Proposals for other session formats including roundtables, film screenings, performances and poster sessions are also welcomed.