The School of Humanities at the University of Eastern Finland hosts on 7–18 June 2021 the 10th Folklore Fellows’ Summer School, themed as the Violence of Traditions and the Traditions of Violence. Folklore Fellows is an international network of folklorists that operates under the auspices of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, promoting scientific contacts between researchers, publication work and research training.
The main organisers of the June event comprise teachers and researchers in the field of Folklore Studies at UEF, supported by a national organising committee that consists of representatives from folklore studies and ethnology at several Finnish universities as well as the Finnish Literature Society and the Kalevala Society.
The Folklore Fellows’ Summer School is an international research course in which the chosen topic is approached through methodological teaching, joint discussions and group work. To earn 10 credit points, the participants are required to attend the keynote lectures, participate in workshop activities, write their own draft article, give an oral presentation in a workshop, and afterwards, write a learning diary. The participants are offered a possibility to contribute to the peer-reviewed publication that will be compiled and edited from the Summer School keynote lectures and other presentations.
The first Folklore Fellows’ Summer School was held at the University of Turku in 1991 and the third in 1995 at the University of Joensuu at the Mekrijärvi Research Station. During the first twenty years, the Summer School activities were led by Academy Professor Lauri Honko (1932-2002) and Professor Anna-Leena Siikala (1943-2016, appointed as Academician of Science in 2009). This year, the Folklore Fellows' Summer School celebrates its 30th anniversary.
The participants in the Folklore Fellows' Summer Schools are postgraduate students and junior researchers. This year there are 28 participants from a total of 15 different countries around the world. There are 18 teachers and workshop leaders, and they include internationally renowned professors and researchers from Finland, Germany, USA, Iceland, Norway, Great Britain, Armenia and India. The event is in English, and because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is entirely online.
In addition to workshops that are reserved for participants only, the theme of violence and tradition will be approached in nine top-level keynote presentations during the first week of the Summer School, June 7-11. These are open to anyone interested. The first of the daily keynotes is at 2 pm Finnish time and the second at 8 pm. Please see the Folklore Fellows' Summer School website at https://www.folklorefellows.fi/summer-school-2021/ for the keynote schedule and workshop descriptions.
The participants will also have access to a Virtual Coffee Room, a Zoom link that is open throughout the Summer School. This is to provide them with a possibility to discuss freely any issues related to the Summer School and its topic, as well as build up networks for future collaboration.
In addition to the scientific programme, the Folklore Fellows’ Summer School offers its participants information on the field of cultural research at the University of Eastern Finland, as well as digitally live experiences in (Eastern) Finnish culture.
For further information, please contact:
Professor Pertti Anttonen, pertti.anttonen(at)uef.fi
Course Secretary Sonja Mutanen, sonja.mutanen(at)uef.fi.
Folklore Fellows' Summer School website