International Conference
Riga, Latvia
October 29-31, 2024
Approaching its 100 th anniversary, the Archives of Latvian Folklore (1924), in close
cooperation with the SIEF Working Group on Archives and the SIEF Working Group on
Cultural Heritage and Property, invites contributions for an international conference
addressing a diverse range of issues related to present and future of the archives of
traditional culture. The centenary is, of course, a good reason to look back and take stock of
what has been done, to understand how the histories of archiving have developed in
different countries. But what we would like to do even more at this conference is to assess
current situations and to look ahead, say, to the next 10 years.
What is the state of play in archiving and maintaining archives of intangible cultural heritage (in Europe and elsewhere)? What could the near future of tradition archives look like? What can we expect with certainty? What major research and infrastructure projects are planned in the archives? Do the next few years look optimistic for individual archives as well as their networks, or the other way around? What challenges lie ahead of us (legal, ethical, technological, of values)? What new archiving solutions can be offered? What can we learn from the past?
The conference will deal broadly with retrospective and prospective dimensions of archives of folklore, ethnology, and ethnography, encompassing both historical documentation and documentation of living traditions practiced today. We invite folklorists, archivists and researchers from other relevant disciplines to share their studies and critical reflections by submitting paper proposals that would fit into the following thematic sections, all concerning the archives of traditional culture:
● Archives’ history lessons
● International contexts and cooperation
● Current global challenges, including geopolitical and climatic fluctuations
● Archives’ legal issues and current developments, including intellectual property
issues and ethics in a digital landscape
● Archival replenishment strategies (cultural memory perspectives and beyond); new
structuring and categories; archiving for documentation of ICH projects
● Information technology challenges, including social media and AI; interactivity within
digital archives
● Engaging society; community driven / open-source archives; collaboration between
archives and community groups; proactively engaging in field research and
community projects, especially with under-represented groups and communities
● Repatriation
Please send your proposals by January 31, 2024 to the e-mail address lfk@lulfmi.lv.
Submissions should include the name and affiliation of the participant, the paper title and an abstract (up to 300 words).
Contact Information
Conference e-mail: lfk@lulfmi.lv
URL: https://en.lfk.lv
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