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- Convenors:
-
Kristinn Schram
(University of Iceland)
Dagrún Jónsdóttir (University of Iceland)
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- Format:
- Poster
Short Abstract
Poster session for ISFNR2026
Long Abstract
Submit your poster presentation for ISFNR2026. During the application process, you do not need to upload a finished poster design. We will request final posters a few months before the conference.
Accepted posters
Session 1Paper long abstract
I will be presenting my PhD dissertation on the narrative moment at which humans turn plant in contemporary coming-of-age stories.
Instead of growing up in their environment, young adults that turn plant choose to grow with their surroundings: (be)coming of plant thus presents another mode of becoming, an alternative coming of age. This inter-species transition blurs traditional boundaries separating humans from plants, which in turn allows these humans coming of age to engage in a life of entangled symbiopoiesis with their surroundings. Although their hybrid futures remain unwritten in any past, their new-found vegetality allows for multiple potential futures to be imagined simultaneously, grounding them in the present. A (be)coming of plant thus proposes a new coming of age, one that is not limited to the conventional ways, or indeed temporalities, of growing (up).
My dissertation project approaches this phenomenon of popular culture from a queer studies perspective, specifically examining the temporal change(s) that accompany such a taxonomical transition, and how this in turn affects the narratives of such examples at large. Narratives on humans turning plant thus provide insight into how the two can relate, which especially concerns our current understanding of how we may shape our entangled future(s) together.
Paper long abstract
In 2023, a new survey of Icelandic folk beliefs and experiences of the supernatural was carried out with the help of the Icelandic Social Sciences Institute and grants from the University of Iceland Research Fund and the Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademie in Sweden. This survey builds on previous surveys from 1974 and 2006-2007, and received answers from over 2,500 people of varying ages and genders and varying backgrounds. The poster will give an introduction to the survey and its findings, which indicate not only the fact that folk beliefs (and beliefs in God) in Iceland seem to be fading but also that interesting difference exist between not only the old and young, and those living in urban and rural areas but also between genders. See https://fel.hi.is/sites/fel.hi.is/files/2024-02/Folkbelief_2023_en.pdf
Paper long abstract
What can just and sustainable futures look like and what metaphors can help reconsider the role of natures in narratives of transformation? We would like to open up a space for mutual learning, reflection, and co-creation to explore the current and potential future uses of metaphors of nature-culture. Among the many elements that characterise narratives and discourses, we focus on metaphors since several heuristics and models highlight their role in and for deep transformations. Metaphors underpin worldviews and mental models, and are fundamental to interpreting the world, organising cognitive landscapes, and structuring societal systems. In particular basic, core, or root metaphors can influence the perception and interpretation of reality by providing basic assumptions to shape a world hypothesis or by forming a comprehensive analogy to give meaning to life. Building on previous research on metaphors of change used to explore and enact desirable futures in prefigurative efforts, our poster will offer an overview of how natures are represented and reproduced by alternative movements within the pluriverse. We would also like to invite participants to engage with our research in interactive and experiential ways, reflecting on the natures-metaphors they currently use or hear in their surroundings environments, as well as exploring new root metaphors of nature-culture and of human and more-than-human entanglements which can inspire transformative ways of thinking, acting, and narrating.
Paper long abstract
This poster was derived from bibliographic research and from research into primary sources at the Folklore Archive and Museum of the University of Athens. Its purpose is to present the course of the symbol of the "walnut tree" over time in the course of greek folk tradition. It will focus mainly on the magical power of the tree and its connection with death. In this context, myths and legends are presented regarding the magical power of the tree and its effect on the life of the one who plants it. The walnut tree (“karydia”) originated from the transformation of the “Karya”, daughter of Diona from a woman into a tree. Karya was transformed into a tree by Dionysus, who was in love with her. The goddess Artemis taught this myth to the Laconians and they honored Artemis as the "Caryatid." The young girls who formed the dance in honor of Artemis were called Caryatids and today adorn the Acropolis. However, the magical association of the tree's haunting was not lost over the centuries. Greeks believe that "the shadow of walnut tree is heavy" and that whoever plants a walnut tree will die…In this poster, we will take a brief journey through the ages and illuminate the dark side of the tree through legends and myths of folk tradition.
Paper long abstract
This poster discusses ongoing research into the ways in which the rural past and present are shaped in a podcast called ‘de Nedersaksen’ (The Low Saxons). The podcast, hosted both in Dutch and the minority language of Low Saxon, has hosted over 50 Dutch cultural- and policy makers to talk about the Low Saxon region, its identity, history and language.
In recent years, the (mostly rural) Low Saxon speaking region in the Netherlands has seen increased migrations of people moving in from urban areas. Additionally, political developments regarding emissions and sustainable farming practices in the Dutch countryside led to national farmers’ protests. The rural way of living is perceived to be at stake. Many people living in the region describe a gap between the urban areas in the western Netherlands and the rural regions in the rest of the country. Conversations often steer towards a ‘Low Saxon way of looking at the world’, or a ‘Low Saxon’ nature of the people, which is often presented as distinctly different from the nature of the people in the (mostly urban) west of the country.
This poster explores the way the podcast presents a Low Saxon identity, both as what it is, but also as what it is not. By doing so, this research seeks to understand the way perceived boundaries between the ‘authentic’ rural and the ‘modern’ urban, global and local, nature and culture, center and periphery, all are employed in shaping a new identity; that of the Low Saxon.
Paper long abstract
The poster examines how the Swan Maiden tale-type (ATU 400) has adapted milieu-morphologically to the Faroese context in the form of the Kópakonan legend. It explores how the legend’s human-animal transformations, skin motif, and shapeshifting narrative interact with the cultural, social, and environmentally remote context of the Faroe Islands. The work emphasizes the legend’s etiological and moral functions, highlighting its embedded commentary on gender, autonomy, and social roles, as well as its role in sustaining communal memory, ecological reciprocity, and human-nonhuman boundaries. Attention is also given to the liminality of seals, whose ability to move between land and sea, as well as human and nonhuman forms, reinforces the narrative’s ecological and social boundaries, illustrating the Faroese understanding of interdependence between humans and the natural world. The legend’s didactic and cautionary dimensions are closely tied to its remote island setting, where rough weather conditions and maritime livelihood shape cultural narratives and reinforce social norms. Methodologically, the poster combines classification through motif indices (Boberg 1966; Thompson 1975) with contextual interpretation, demonstrating how folktale structures are adapted locally to produce a distinctive narrative ecology. This ecology reflects Faroese worldview, landscape, and intergenerational values, showing how oral traditions negotiate human, nonhuman, and environmental interactions. By situating the Kópakonan legend within the framework of critical remoteness studies, the poster highlights how geography influences narrative form, content and function, offering insights into the interrelation of folklore, cultural memory, and environmental ethics in remote communities.
Paper long abstract
Large-scale digitisation of folklore collections has created a strong but still fragmented landscape of digital infrastructures for folk-narrative research. This poster surveys the current state of these resources in Northern Europe, where extensive digital platforms now provide access to vast bodies of narrative material, though coordination across them remains limited. We show how these infrastructures support comparative, multilingual, and cross-border studies, and why closer interoperability is a pressing priority.
We highlight major digital platforms, such as samla.no (Norway), dúchas.ie (Ireland), Folke (Sweden), garamantas.lv (Latvia), hiddenheritage.ai (Scottland/Ireland), sagnagrunnur.arnastofnun.is (Iceland), Kivike (Estonia), and the Danish Folklore Nexus. Related initiatives, such as the Dutch Legend Database and wossidia.de in Germany, illustrate how digital infrastructures of folklore archives expand the range of accessible materials and enable new opportunities for comparative and computational research. Building on such infrastructures, projects like ISEBEL (multilingual legend search) and FILTER (analysis of Finnic/Estonian song variation), together with recent NLP/ASR work on Scottish/Irish Gaelic storytelling corpora, demonstrate how digital tools can extend cross-collection analysis and comparative approaches in folk-narrative studies.
The poster provides a curated set of core digital platforms and tools, a comparative overview of their content, functions, and research workflows they support, and selected examples of how they open new perspectives on research of narrative traditions, including nature-culture entwined storytelling. The poster closes by indicating pathways toward merging national initiatives into more interoperable and sustainable infrastructures for folklore research.
5 more co-authors:
Line Esborg, line.esborg@ikos.uio.no
Tiber Falzett, tiber.falzett@ucd.ie
Angun Sønnesyn Olsen, angun.olsen@uib.no
Ida Tolgensbakk, ida.tolgensbakk@norskfolkemuseum.no
Mari Väina, mari@haldjas.folklore.ee
Paper long abstract
This paper presents a study on how digitally-mediated interactions with intangible cultural heritage may support psychological wellbeing and intergenerational connectedness. As part of the INT-ACT project, we engage three participant groups: young adults (18–30), older adults (60+), and individuals with mild cognitive impairment, in immersive interactions with the Calanais megalithic landscape on the Isle of Lewis.
Building on research into the therapeutic potential of heritage, we examine how participants engage with a bespoke XR tablet application that facilitates sensory and narrative interaction with Calanais through images, stories, sounds, and interactive components linked to the natural landscape. The tool acts as a digital mediator between personal stories, cultural narratives, and ecological presence, extending how people encounter and share heritage. Participants use the tool in intergenerational pairs and reflect on their experience through interviews and dialogue.
Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyse interviews, mood diaries, psychological questionnaires, demographic data, and physiological measures to explore how digitally facilitated access to heritage may impact connection to nature, place, memory, and others, and how this varies across age and cognitive profiles. We examine how these engagements may reshape narratives of self, belonging, and wellbeing.
The Calanais site is presented as a dynamic space where nature, culture, and technology converge. This study offers insight into how digital tools facilitate an interplay between human experience, nature and heritage, by fostering multisensory, socially engaged, and emotionally resonant forms of cultural participation.