Short Abstract:

Female histories in the tradition archive have been largely neglected. This panel will elaborate on questions of the incomplete, selective nature of archives. By challenging female contributions in the knowledge production we will recognise cultural repositories of silenced heritage.

Long Abstract:

The creation of the tradition archive was at the cornerstone in the development of folklore studies throughout Europe. It has been well documented and highlighted that there was not a significant role for female collectors within a national or regional tradition archive during this foundational period. The invisibility and silencing of female actors illustrate the paradox of womanhood in Western history and science. Despite their activities, such as documenting folklore, they have remained largely unacknowledged, their collections may be found in different archives or the cataloguing system has located female informants under shadow. If female collectors were recognised, more than likely this was due to their relationship with a male family member or close associate.

By focusing on the concept of female histories in the tradition archives the panel will elaborate on questions of incomplete, selective nature of archive and its materials in the making of national memory and past. As Schwartz & Cook (2002) have pointed out, the archive is a field of struggle in terms of power, memorising and identity. Therefore, the panel challenges the idea of knowledge production of archives as memorial repositories of cultural heritage.

We invite scholars to reflect the following themes:

Implicit, female voices in the archive

Female histories and silences

Rejection of the narrative female scholars

Priorities of the material, hierarchies of the genres in the archive

Acknowledged paradigms of knowledge production of the archives

Further questions related to the unwritten female histories in the archives are also welcome.

This Panel has so far received 4 paper proposal(s).
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