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- Convenors:
-
Vesna Vucinic-Neskovic
(University of Belgrade)
Klaus Roth (Institut für Volkskunde/European Ethnology)
- Stream:
- Disciplinary discussions
- Location:
- A128
Short Abstract:
Based on the recognition that there are historical overlaps and common current concerns between anthropology, ethnology, and folklore, the panel will examine whether there is communality between them in various spheres of professional practice as well as in sharing a common disciplinary identity.
Long Abstract:
In this panel, we would like to examine whether there is a sense of community among anthropologists, ethnologists, and folklorists today. Based on the recognition that there are historical overlaps and common current concerns between these disciplines, this question would assume multiple layers of communality in professional practice.
First, it would assume active communication within institutional, national, and trans-national settings, such as partnership in common educational and research projects, organization of conferences where research results are shared, and engaging in critical public discussion of existing and novel thematic, methodological, and theoretical trends.
Second, it would assume a feeling of involvement in and concern for one's local or sub-disciplinary community, and for the anthropological, ethnological, and folkorist community as a whole. This would include articulation of its interests and problems, thus engaging in actions towards promoting but also defending the discipline once its existence is challenged.
In the end, we can ask whether there is a common disciplinary identity and agreement on what values and assets anthropology, ethnology, and folklore should never give up, but also to what extent they should open up to other disciplines and transform in order to survive in the increasingly complex and challenging political, economic, educational, and scientific local and global environment.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Vesna Vucinic-Neskovic (University of Belgrade) Klaus Roth (Institut für Volkskunde/European Ethnology)
Paper short abstract:
The paper relates WCAA activities to national and regional networks in ethnological sciences, in particular to the International Association for Southeast European Anthropology (InASEA), and draws on contemporary trends in ethnological sciences brought to light in its journal, Ethnologia Balkanica.
Paper long abstract:
The paper will start by presenting the motives for organizing this panel, and will give an overview of how national and mega-regional networks and activities in ethnological sciences may contribute to the world anthropologies mission and the activities of the World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA). It will then deal with the process of creation and working of a disciplinary network in Southeast Europe through the activities in and around the International Association for Southeast European Anthropology (InASEA). It is an account of how anthropologists, ethnologists and folklorists from the region, and from the West studying the region, formed an intellectual network through common conferences and publications. At last, it will draw on major contemporary trends in ethnological sciences, which were brought to light and published in the most recent thematic issue of Ethnologia Balkanica, the InASEA journal.
Michael Vimont (University of Akron)
Paper short abstract:
This paper critically examines critiques of the folkloric and ethnological character of Czech anthropology by Czech authors of the British school.
Paper long abstract:
Comprising the vast majority of academic literature available in the English language on the nature and history of Czech anthropological traditions, Czech authors within the British school such as Vaclav Hubinger and Josef Kandert have levied robust critiques of the folkloric and ethnological nature of the discipline, citing such methodologies as negatively 'positivist' and invariably a 'willing servant of ideology'. Further, the Czech tradition has been presented in contrast to the ostensibly objective tradition of British anthropology, the former's service to ideology being characterized as more or less particular to the Central and Eastern European context. From my view as an outside observer, I analyse central works of the Socialist period, namely those of Olga Skalnikova, Karel Fojtik and Otakar Nahodil. While certain ideological elements are indeed problematic, particularly with Nahodil, I argue they can hardly be characterized as a unique component of folkloric and ethnological methods alone, Malinowskian methods being equally given to ideological motives as illustrated by Talal Asad, Ursula Sharma and other authors on Orientalism. Further, I attempt to illustrate the manner in which the folkloric 'urban ethnography' of Skalnikova and Fojitk provides certain methodological advantages compared to the Malinowskian Anglo-American School.
Ignacio Fernandez de Mata (University of Burgos)
Paper short abstract:
In Castille and Leon, heritage is conceived an important pillar of economy. But, what happened with ethnographic heritage? Is it well protected and studied? Surprisingly, the regional government does not want to hear the community of anthropologists. Can be an Ethnology against Anthropology?
Paper long abstract:
The Junta de Castilla y León considers patrimony so fundamental to the region's economy, that one of the most recent slogans of its tourism agency is "Castilla y León: the largest museum in the world". Indeed, the region has eight UNESCO world heritage sites and various monuments (castles, cathedrals, etc.) that are considered "Bienes de Interés Cultural" by the Spanish government and are therefore protected by strict national legislation. But the region's own laws and policies regarding the conservation and protection of cultural heritage—including historical, architectural, and ethnographical elements—are surprisingly incoherent and ineffectual. Ethnographic heritage constitutes a sort of "enemy" for the regional government because it is inherently associated with identities that the mammoth political entity has been unable to thread into a single regional identity. This papaer will address these paradoxes, analyzing the management and definition of Castilla y León's ethnographic heritage in particular in view of the political and cultural tensions that it generates in the third largest region of the European Union.
Vassiliki Chryssanthopoulou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Paper short abstract:
This paper refers to the paths that folklore and anthropology have followed in Greece. It examines differences and exchanges between them during the past 30 years and focuses on the current state of their mutual relationship as illustrated through their engagement with intangible heritage.
Paper long abstract:
First this paper deals with the different historical, political and social factors underlying the academic establishment of folklore and anthropology in Greece in the early 20c and in the mid-1980s respectively. While folklore was seen as supportive of Greek national identity, anthropology aspired to social rather than national issues mainly within Greek society and culture. The two disciplines have developed separately and are still viewed as the opposite of each other despite similarities and exchanges in their thematics, theories and methodologies over the past 30 years.
We then look at the uni-directional impact of anthropological theories and research methodologies upon folklore and examine the lack of interest in folkloric production by Greek anthropologists. "Hybrid" scholars, folklorist anthropologists, in particular, have been influential in bringing about a renewal of folklore. The majority of Greek anthropologists, however, have turned their backs on an indigenous scholarly tradition that offers considerable insights into matters of oral transmission, the study of Greek culture over time, and into academic engagement with the public. As regards the latter, I analyse the public role of folklore in Greek education and in local identity formation and its relationship to the lay or folk base in Greek society. The distinct features of the two disciplines are also examined vis-à-vis international folkloric and anthropological trends regarding both academic and public functions of these disciplines.
The different ideologies and practices of the two disciplines are illustrated through the analysis of folklorist and anthropological handling of documentation of intangible heritage in Greece at present.
Laurent Fournier (University Cote d'Azur)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper I will especially focus on the recent history of the fields of anthropology, ethnology and folklore in France. I will present different models of possible cooperation and I will try to reflect on the heritages and utopias which can be shared today.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper I will speak as a board member of SIEF, but also as a member of several French and French-speaking associations, both in the field of anthropology and in the field of ethnology and folklore.
I will especially focus on the recent history of these fields in France, insisting on the foundation of the AFEA (Association Française d'Ethnologie et d'Anthropologie, a member association of WCAA) and trying to find out how this new association manages (or not) to bring together anthropology and folklore since its foundation in 2009.
Using this French example, I will also try to shed light on more global discussions going on between folklorists, ethnologists and anthropologists worldwide. I will present different models of possible cooperation between anthropologists and folklorists, ranging from unitarism to federalism. I will also question the relevance of dualist schemes: is it relevant to have dualist organizations in our fields?
The discussion will eventually lead me to use the notions of heritage and utopia in a self-reflexive way. Considering that the sense of community usually comes through shared heritages and utopias, I will try to reflect on the heritages and utopias anthropologists, ethnologists and folklorists can share today.