Paper short abstract:

Hungarian ethnographers and folklorists have fostered the notion of pristine peasantness as trustees of ancient and national tradition. However, I argue that ethnographic ‘facts’ are not mere copies of earlier lifeways but influence both scholarship and political legitimation.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of turning to and safeguarding tradition originates in the German ('Wandervögel', 'Freideutsche') and English (scouts) movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when elites were increasingly preoccupied with 'old habits' triggering cultural and scholarly activities seeking authenticity and autonomy. Between the two world wars, Hungarian ethnographers and folklorists aimed at galvanizing cultural life according to national and Christian tenets. Similarly, during the height of Kádárist socialism, the revival movement and the populist turn continued to idealize peasants – especially Romanian Transylvanians and their singing, dancing, dress, and crafts - as trustees of ancient, genuine, and pristine national tradition. Based on such ‘classic’ ethnographic data, the concepts of tangible, and intangible aspects of historic peasant tradition continue to cement scientific, and artistic programs while also contributing to state actions and symbols. In my presentation, I ask whether 19-20th-century ethnographic and folkloric data can represent authentic cultural survivals of bygone days and argue against the essentialist notion of vernacular peasantness and specifically Hungarian peasant folklore as they balance on the heritage-invention and tradition-modernity axis. By highlighting their utility and representation for domestic and international consumption (tourism, UNESCO, world music, etc.), I argue that notions of heritage, folkloric and ethnographic ‘facts’ do not simply exist as mere fakes or copies of earlier lifeways but are in constant rupture, renewal, and innovation influencing both scholarship and political legitimation.

Paper short abstract:

This talk surveys a particular tradition in ethnographical research in Hungary, the study of witch-hunting. The latter is based on the functionalist direction of social anthropology, considering witchcraft an „answer” to uncertainty and crisis. The talk analyses the validity of that approach.

Paper long abstract:

This talk will be devoted to a particular tradition in ethnographical research in Hungary, the study of witchcraft and witch-hunting. Being an examination of both recent and historical data, developed in the 1980s and 1990s, this research has been based mostly upon the functionalist direction of British social anthropology.

Represented by anthropologists like Edward E. Evans-Pritchard, Max Gluckman, Alan Macfarlane and others, this direction of research considered witchcraft charges as sort of „answers” to socio-cultural, economic and/or political uncertainty and crisis. It was that direction of research which influenced the study of witchcraft in Hungary the most. The results of those studies – edited collections of witchcraft trial documents, scholarly examinations of recent and historical case studies of witchcraft etc – suggest at least two major points to reflect upon. One is that witchcraft is more than just a form of „superstition”. It is a social way of coping with the problems of everyday life, especially in the time of uncertainty and crisis. And the second is that the technics of coping do not seem to change much from normal to uncertain periods. Witchcraft charges, scape-goating, the social explanation of misfortunes (Evans-Pritchard) remain valid throughout very different periods.

Having been member of a research group of witchcraft and witch-hunting in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, and having published a book and several studies about the historical forms of witch-hunting in Hungary, I will analyse the validity of the functionalist approach in the complex conditions of the current uncertain times.

Paper short abstract:

The aim of the paper is to explore the theory of magical thinking in the early writings of Eugeniusz Frankowski, a Polish ethnologist of the interwar period. The author uses semiotic tools to explore various uncertainties evident in the research, textual and methodological layers of his work.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of the paper is to explore the theory of magical thinking in the early writings of Eugeniusz Frankowski (1884-1962), a Polish ethnologist of the interwar period. Frankowski as a young anthropologist took an interest in archaeology as a discipline that uncovers the very origins of humanity. This interest is reflected in his understanding of folklore as 'folk knowledge', preserving relics of ancient beliefs through which one can study the 'folk soul,' a concept giving insight into magical thinking. This idea would be investigated through the analysis of the work La lucha entre el hombre y los espíritus malos por la posesión de la tierra y su usufructo. The development of Frankowski’s theory of magical thinking could be traced back to his “Spanish” period (1914-1920): the outbreak of the World War I found him in Spain, which resulted in his stay being extended. By analysing La lucha... with semiotic tools proposed by Juri Lotman, the author uncovers various uncertainties evident in the work in its subsequent layers of research, text, and methodology. Author argues that these uncertainties came from Frankowski’s necessity of using different scientific languages and inspiration drawn from various theoretical approaches of classical anthropology (e.g.: E. B. Tylor, J. G. Frazer, J. Lubbock).

Through analysis carried out in the text author argues that Frankowski’s research uncertainties can be viewed as an example of the dynamic theoretical and methodological changes experienced in the Polish and European cultural sciences during the first half of the 20th century.

Paper short abstract:

Mainly based on his diaries and selected publications, the uncertainties in the career and in the scientific findings of this first representative of "Volkskunde" at an Austrian university will be analysed.

Paper long abstract:

Viktor (von) Geramb (1884–1958) was the first person in Austria with a “Habilitation” for “Volkskunde” and consequently the first representative of the discipline at an Austrian university. His political attitude between Catholicism and Nationalism was the reason for problems within his career. Theories regarding the development of vernacular architecture as well as of costumes (two of his main research fields) included lots of uncertainties which also led to discussions and disputes with his fellow researchers. On the other hand, from today's perspective, some certain results from Geramb's research must be described as uncertainties.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing upon biographical, bibliographical, and archival sources, this paper discusses the collaborations between Hayrünnisa Boratav and her husband Pertev Naili Boratav, the doyen of Turkish folklore in the documentation and study of folklore in Turkey.

Paper long abstract:

In 1948, three professors at Ankara University were accused of propagating communism in their classes, among whom stood Pertev Naili Boratav, the founder and doyen of folklore in Turkey. After a long trial, Boratav was acquitted, but the funding of his department was cut off. He left Turkey in 1952 and continued his scholarship in France. During when Boratav could not come to Turkey for seven years, his wife Hayrünnisa collected folklore materials in Anatolia and sent them to Boratav in Paris (Birkalan 2001). This type of folklore fieldwork, husband-wife collaboration, which can be seen as ‘innovative’ today, derived from the uncertainties the family faced at the time. Hayrünnisa Boratav had accompanied Boratav in the field on many occasions and she was by no means a hidden scholar behind her husband’s research and writing. She had undertaken fieldwork, classified materials, gave contexts and pertinent information about dates and events—even prepared documents for the Boratav Archive in Istanbul and Nanterre. Being more than merely the wife of a folklorist accompanying her husband to the field, Hayrünnisa Boratav was the vital force for Boratav’s pathbreaking folklore research from a distance. Interestingly, however, her contributions were overlooked in the literature dealing with Boratav’s scholarship. While themes such as husband-wife fieldwork and writing (Mead 1986; Callan/Ardener 1984), ‘academic intimacy’ (Gottlieb 1995), and ‘two-person, one career’ (Bauer 1998; Papanek 1973) have been well-discussed in anthropology, our case helps us to reevaluate wife-husband collaborations, which can take previous assumptions in folklore-fieldwork into new planes.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the strategies Jakob Hurt (1839-1907) used to resolve the moral dilemmas and uncertainties that worried his folklore correspondences.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of this paper is to touch upon some uncertainties surrounding the folklore collecting campaigns of Jakob Hurt (1839-1907). Hurt is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Estonian folkloristics and the materials collected during his public folklore collecting campaign in the years of 1888-1907 are considered an important part of Estonian national heritage. The campaigns were organised with the help of calls and reports published in newspapers and about a thousand people got involved.

In the public discourse folklore collecting was closely linked with other national and modern phenomena. In newspapers it was often said that Estonians should catch up with the civilised nations and folklore collecting was presented as one aim to gain it. From the letters the folklore collectors sent to Jakob Hurt we can see that for them the link with modernity was often very important – for the lowly-educated collectors it was a rare possibility to show one's modern-mindedness publicly. But from those same letters we can also learn that collecting was often poorly understood by local people. Those people also saw the link between folklore collecting and other new phenomena (newspapers, societies) but they considered them all negatively, as part of moral degradation of the times. Folklore collectors often heard accusations that collecting threatens one’s soul. In my paper I analyse the letters of the collectors where they touch upon the moral uncertainties of their activities, and analyse how Hurt (who was working as a parson) answered to these letters.

Paper short abstract:

The Irish Folklore Commission was formed twelve years after the end of the Irish Civil War. Members involved in the creation of the IFC fell on both sides of the 1921-22 Treaty Debate. Did the uncertainties of a civil war influence Irish ethnographic collections? If not, how was that possible?

Paper long abstract:

The Irish Folklore Commission, now housed in the National Folklore Collection, UCD, was formed in 1935. The foundation of this Commission occurred twelve years after the end of the Irish Civil War. Members involved in the creation of the IFC fell on both sides of the 1921-22 Treaty Debate. The IFC had folkloric, ethnographic fieldwork carried out by full-time and part-time collectors. The collectors worked in areas where they were most likely were reared and raised. They worked at a local and regional level in the name of the national.

The Bureau of Military History Collection, 1913-1921 is a collection of witness statements, photographs and voice recordings that were collected by the State between 1947 and 1957, in order to gather primary source material for the revolutionary period in Ireland from 1913 to 1921. The Bureau's voice recordings were produced with the co-operation of the IFC during the period 1950 to 1951.

In this age of digitisation, previous archival collections can be brought together in ways not previously imagined. Critical engagement with this process reveals the nuances of history. In particular, evidence emerges demonstrating the continued impact of the Irish cultural revolution and revival along with religious identity. This, in turn, allows political ideologies to be surpassed. Assessments of this nature facilitate a thorough examination of the workings and processes behind such organisations. The result allows us to ascertain more clearly how the uncertainties of a civil war may have influenced Irish ethnographic collections.

Paper short abstract:

Before WWII many in Finland dreamt of Greater Finland, with parts of Karelia. During the Continuation war 1941–1944 Finnish ethnologists were, after a long break, able to study Finno-Ugric areas on the Soviet side. What kind of research was funded, how was it communicated? What was the impact?

Paper long abstract:

In 1930s and during the Second World War there was a popular idea that Finland could – and should - (legitimately) expand further east and form Greater Finland due to the Finno-Ugric history of the region. During the war between Finland and Soviet Union in 1941–1944, a wealth of research was conducted on the Finno-Ugrians living east of the 1920 peace border. Ethnological research has rarely – if ever – been in such high demand as it was in Finland at that time. In my dissertation I’ll study the social influence of ethnology and ethnologists in Finland in 1930–1945.

Archive materials reveal what kind of research was funded by major foundations in Finland during that time. Newspaper materials show how the research was then communicated to the public. The archives also hold reports, field diaries and other documents that shed light on the experiences of the ethnologist working under war time circumstances.

Research supports decision-making and deepens understanding in society. It is not trivial what kind of research is granted funding and which aspects of research are communicated to people outside the research community. The analysis can also be of interest in present day’s (mis)information society. Even though the study focuses on the field of ethnology, the results can be interesting in observing the role of humanities, research and researchers in the society at large. Questions concerning scientific freedom and loyalties of the researchers are still just as pressing in today’s society as they were in the 1930s and 1940s.

Paper short abstract:

This paper concentrates on the political, financial, institutional, and disciplinary transition period of the 1980ies and 1990ies on the example of a folklore archive.

Paper long abstract:

At the heart of this presentation is the then folklore department of the Estonian State Literary Museum and its adaptation to a new course of action in a state that just regained its independence. The turn of the decades from the 1980ies to the 1990ies was strongly carried by the national spirit. The transition to independence brought its own problems, but also new opportunities. This meant changes in the directions and conditions on many levels, most prominently politically, but also institutionally, financially, technically, and in the research directions and the archival work. The back-drop of this, however, is the political change of the 1940ies, which in turn determined some of the actions taken five decades later. From the game of name-changing and substantive meaning of the literary museum and the Estonian Folklore Archives itself to the once again rising prominence of research in addition to archiving, what did this time of uncertainty and transformation give to a folklore archive? What was left behind and what was introduced to advance the discipline and the preserving of folkloristic data?

Paper short abstract:

The proposed paper aims at approaching the topic of uncertainties arising from major crises (mainly Covid pandemics and the war in Ukraine), analysing the levels of ruptures and shifts produced in the work of the Cluj- Napoca (Romania) Folklore Archive’s researchers in this context.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I attempt at analysing how and why the new social and political contexts, producing various anxieties, generated new domain approaches, the selection of new topics, meanwhile triggering new methodological and theoretical interrogations. How specifically Folklore/Ethnology as fields of study are in reshaping/reconfiguring processes and mostly, to which extents it happens so- are the main research questions of the proposed paper. Related to them, I am going to address other interrogations regarding the historical continuities and discontinuities in the researchers’ works around this Archive, comparing the current changes and challenges of the discipline with the ones produced in the past, in other unfavourable circumstances (totalitarian period for instance). Through these, I attempt to put all these topics in a comparative frame, underlining the specificities of the nowadays ones and their challenges, placing them as adequate as possible in the new social, cultural and geopolitical contexts.

What are their means and meanings in the researchers’ perspectives: how and why these new topics appeared, how specifically they are or are not integrated in the “traditional“ ones? - are all questions derived from the main ones, systematically addressed in this paper. Meanwhile, following the researchers’ views, through interviewing them, I intend to discuss their new understandings regarding doing fieldwork, the meanings of documenting the new materials in the Archive, as well as the significances and limitations of the nowadays Archive digitisation processes, envisaging the development of this institution.