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- Convenors:
-
JoAnn Conrad
(Diablo Valley College. Univ. of Iceland)
Dagrún Jónsdóttir (University of Iceland)
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- Format:
- Panel+Roundtable
- Stream:
- Intersectionalities
- Location:
- B2.33
- Sessions:
- Thursday 8 June, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Prague
Short Abstract:
How does gender ideology affect our practice? Our panel addresses the historical, epistemological, and institutional absence, erasure, and/or diminishment of the group constructed within and then marginalized by the hierarchicalizing dyad – Male/Female. In doing so we counter the privilege of partial (male) perspective by proposing theoretically and methodologically inclusive practices, which challenge the continued use of our conventional tools in the production of knowledge.
Long Abstract:
The gendered social reality that adheres in the hierarchicalizing dyad Male/Female, constitutes, reflects, and reinforces fundamental power relations in which the position of “non-male” is a state of existential uncertainty. This working group, in our inaugural panel seeks to interrogate the fundamental ways in which such a gender ideology operates in practice and theory in our fields. In the paper sessions we first address the historical, epistemological, and institutional absence, erasure, and/or diminishment of the group constructed within and then marginalized by the dyad – historically, as foundational members of our fields; epistemologically, in the continued use of our tools in the production of knowledge; institutionally, in the continuation of unequal power relations; and in our very subject matter. Thus, this panel will explore the (re)insertion of the names and work of those absented from the history of the fields and how reinsertion (and exclusion) affects practice. We also seek to counter the privilege of partial (male) perspective by first highlighting its pervasive and yet unremarkable presence, and then by articulating how Feminist Perspectives on Ethnology and Folklore can be incorporated as practice and theory rather than sidelined. In our roundtable we seek a robust discussion on the relationship of gender to the field and ask: Where have we been, where do we want to be, and where do we want to go?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 8 June, 2023, -Kay Turner (New York University)
Paper short abstract:
Feminist approaches emerged in folklore studies in the United States in the early 1970s and continue today. This brief account of that history sets the stage for raising questions aimed at consolidating strategies for an internationally robust feminist folklore future.
Paper long abstract:
Feminist approaches emerged in U.S. folklore studies in the early 1970s and continue today. This brief account of that history looks at the successes and set-backs of integrating feminist theory and method into the folklore discipline.
The history chronologically outlines the rise of feminist approaches to folklore in the United States, looking at where we have been as inspiration and instruction for where we might go. The presentation looks at key events and projects such as the founding of the Women's Section of AFS, the years long publication of the newsletter "Folklore Feminist Communication," the 1986 conference "Folklore and Feminist Theory," and the Women's Section-sponsored "Croning Ceremony," first held in 1989. Key early figures and their contributions are briefly discussed along with those of young scholars advancing feminist interpretation today. Chronology sets the stage for attention to feminist theory and method as deployed in women's folklore research over the past fifty years. These include historical and contextual reclamation of women's folk arts such as quilting and ceramics and verbal arts such as tale and joke-telling; gender and genre; essentialism and social construction; the ethics of feminist fieldwork approaches; and recent decolonizing and intersectionality arguments unpacking the relationship between race, gender, queerness, and disability. Patterns of resistance to a feminist folklore are also discussed. The ending proposes questions aimed at consolidating strategies for an internationally robust feminist folklore future.
Anna Karen Unnsteins (University of Iceland)
Paper short abstract:
The Fjallkona has been a part of Iceland’s national day almost since its beginning in 1944. As a symbol she represents the country and nation, but what about the women who portray her every year? Do they have a say in the matter or are they just a doll of a patriarchic system who chooses them?
Paper long abstract:
The Fjallkona (Woman of the Mountain) as the embodiment of the land and nation, is a well-established part of the celebrations and traditions on Iceland’s national day June 17. In the capital city celebrations, an actress is chosen to embody the Fjallkona and recite a poem written for the occasion. In 2022 the Fjallkona was portrayed, for the first time, by an immigrant, reciting a poem about the Icelandic language with a Polish accent. When the media shared articles about the event, people took to the comment sections where the focus was on the actress and mostly negatively on her accent, but not on the poem she read.
In the paper we will examine what the Fjallkona represents in people's minds and whether she is listened to or only there to please the eye. The presentation builds on interviews, with women who have performed the role, and surveys, on public opinions, from 2021 and 2022. The women were asked about their views towards the role of Fjallkona and then compared to the public's ideas. Many described the Fjallkona as a strong, self-righteous woman, a feminist symbol for the country, but there are also contradictory themes such as objectification and the silencing of the real women who wear the costume. By examining the tradition of Fjallkona in context and via feminist ethnography it becomes clear that neither the woman in the costume nor the Fjallkona as a phenomenon are the feminist symbol many want her to be.
Dagrún Jónsdóttir (University of Iceland)
Paper short abstract:
Torfhildur Hólm was an Icelandic folktale collector. Her collection is also the only Icelandic collection in which female narrators outnumber males. Here the focus will be on her status as a female collector, how women are portrayed in her collection and the gendered power relations at work.
Paper long abstract:
Folk legends and narratives can be a great window into the past. They can provide us with information about the world view in the time they were written down but also about the ideas and ideology of the people who collected them. Therefore, when looking at legends it is important to look at the people who told them and the context in which they were written down. Most of the Icelandic legends were collected, told and recorded by men, meaning that most legends reflect their point of view. Here the focus will be put on the folktale collection of Torfhildur Hólm, the only Icelandic woman who collected legends in the late 19th century.
Torfhildur broke hegemonic ideas of femininity and stepped into male dominant fields, multiple times. Her social and gendered status might therefor be seen as uncertain. In addition, Torfhildur’s folktale collection is unique as it is the only Icelandic collection in which female narrators outnumber males. The legends in her collection also differ in many ways from those found in the other collections. Here, the focus will be put on Torfhildur’s status as a collector, how women are portrayed in her collection and the gendered power relations at work.
The results of this project will shed valuable new light on old material (the folk legends), and simultaneously offer a new perspective on women’s struggle for equality in Iceland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, perspectives that have relevance to present day discussions on gender.
Gerður Halldóra Sigurðardóttir (University of Iceland)
Paper short abstract:
In a 10th C account of a Rus funeral, a slave girl is raped and killed. The usual interpretation of this is the girl's elevation through a ritual wedding to the dead man. By focusing on the slave girl's central role it becomes evident how vital it is in itself for the proceedings.
Paper long abstract:
In an early 10th century account, an important part of a Rus chieftains’ funerary proceedings were the multiple rape and eventual brutal killing of a young slave girl. This account has been known among Old Norse scholars since the early 19th century and has frequently been used in discussions about Old Norse religion. When reading the source material, the slave girl’s ordeal is central to the ritual. Despite this, scholars have for most of the last two centuries ignored it, diminished its importance, and even doubted if it truly happened at all. More recently, attempts have been made to deal with the slave girl’s role. Those attempts have however even further trivialized the girls plight by claiming the sexual violence she endures, and her death, leads to her elevation through the ritualistic wedding of the slave girl and the dead man. This paper will cast a light on how the patriarchal lens of the scholarly research and treatment of the Ibn Fadlan account has abjected the slave girl in multiple ways by refusing to face the difficult emotions and ethical questions that the extreme violence surely evokes. By ignoring the violence, the slave girl is subjected to a supporting role to the dead male. When the violence is acknowledged, her pain and suffering is not only recognized but it becomes clear that she is a central female figure whose role in the ritual is both vital and horrific.
Małgorzata Abassy (Jagiellonian University in Kraków)
Paper short abstract:
Azar Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran" examines the position of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I read "Lolita" as a multidimensional symbol of suppressed femininity, and explore the cultural bases for oppressive systems in Iran and worldwide.
Paper long abstract:
Iranian women protesting in the streets attract the world's attention. The observed conflict has two dimensions: the 'male' vs the 'female'; the 'individual' vs the 'systemic'.
The purpose of this paper is to present the process of depriving a woman her identity, and to show cultural foundations for occurrence such a phenomena. The literary story of the women who have been deprived of their individuality by the Islamic revolution will be confronted with legal regulations and the process of changes that took place in Iran after 1979. The cultural mechanisms that laid the foundation for such radical changes will be revealed: linguistic representations of dependence, Islam's fear of femininity. A question will also be asked about the position and role of men in and towards the oppressive system. They are "Lolita" too.
The symbol of "Lolita", coined in Vladimir Nabokov's novel by the same title, will also gain a new interpretation.
The research questions are as follows: What are the cultural bases for oppressive systems forwarded against femininity and masculinity? Who is "Lolita" within the frames of cultural interpretations? Is Islamic fear of "Lolita" the fear of creativity and individualization? How was the process of depriving women of their identity supported and enforced by legal regulations? Is the 'male' vs 'female' sealed by a culture in language and symbols? Can a piece of literature supply women in other cultures with a key to overcome oppressive systems with the help of men?
Niina Hämäläinen (Kalevala Society)
Paper short abstract:
Documenting folklore is a multilayered, ideological process in which some part of the tradition and gender voices are silenced. This paper deals with the production of knowledge in oral-written cultures by investigating the female genre of lyric poetry in the making of national heritage.
Paper long abstract:
Writing down oral tradition, and thus producing the written sources, poses one of the main epistemological questions in folkloristics and related disciplines. What was included in the transcribed texts and publications, and more precisely, what was ignored and hidden in documentation? The selection process in 19th century Finland was for example related to genre. The focus of the paper is in the textualization of the hidden genre of lyric poetry in the making of national heritage.
The paper deals with the theme by investigating the Kanteletar, an anthology of oral lyric poetry by Elias Lönnrot. Representing the most important publication of folk lyric poetry of nineteenth century Finland, the Kanteletar (publ. 1840, 1841) has however remained in shadow in the national heritage as well as in folklore studies being pejoratively acknowledged as "a little sister to the Kalevala".
Lyric songs of the Kanteletar have been admirably regarded as beautiful, vulnerable, and sorrowful pieces of the oral lyric poetry. Nevertheless, representation of national heritage and tradition was eventually occupied by masculine and male related folklore, and the Kalevala, and ignored such themes as emotions and private sphere. Thus, my question is to what extent, by shading the Kanteletar, vernacular voices of oral lyric poetry were muted. How the production and perception of knowledge of Finnish-Karelian folklore would have taken different emphasis if lyric poetry was acknowledged as part of the representation of Finnishness?
JoAnn Conrad (Diablo Valley College. Univ. of Iceland)
Paper short abstract:
Popular cultural forms by and for women in the early 20th century have been relegated to “women’s work;” dismissed and forgotten. The inclusion of such denigrated work would demolish the historical exile of “woman” by the privatizing quotation marks and effect an epistemological break.
Paper long abstract:
This paper looks at popular cultural forms produced and consumed by women in the 1920s and 1930s in the U.S., Sweden, and England -- women's magazines and "weeklies", clothing and knitting patterns and designs, and children's books and magazines. This post-suffrage interwar period has often been referred to as a period of stagnation, sandwiched in between various "Golden Ages" of the fin de siècle and the post-WWII era. This generalized dismissal, combined with the relegation of these particular genres to "women's work" has led to their being ignored and excluded from academic discussion, when at the time they enjoyed broad popularity and wide distribution.
Analysis of these forgotten media reveals a parallel world which was shaped by women and women's networks in the public sphere, not only providing new forms of employment, and thus a measure of economic independence, but also shaping the very terms of "woman" and female subjecthood in modernity in wholly new mediated forms. Part of this was the creation of what Lauren Berlant has called the “intimate public sphere” in which female readers (consumers) were assumed to share a common world view and experience as women, although the essentialist trap in this reading is apparent.
The paradox of this parallel discursive field, however, that was essentialized as "women's work," is that it was easily excised, ultimately reinscribing female self-consciousness “within a reductive and genericizing patriarchal fantasy.” Inclusion of these genres would challenge the ideological operations that maintain an anthrocentric production of knowledge.