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Folklore and the Senses: Call for Papers

  • 20-22/06/2025
  • University College Cork, College Road, Cork T12 K8AF, Ireland

The Fuller Brooch (British Museum) via Wikimedia Commons

Folklore and the Senses

The Folklore Society’s Annual Conference 2025, in collaboration with the Department of Folklore and Ethnology, University College Cork, Ireland.

Friday 20 June to Sunday 22 June 2025

Hybrid conference, online and at University College Cork

We know the world through our senses, but how we sense is inflected by symbolism, tradition and belief—by folklore in other words.  What does folklore tell us about our senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and, indeed, second sight?

How does folklore treat the instruments through which we sense—our eyes, ears, nose, skin, fingers, mouth, tongue…? What do tastes, smells and other sensory experiences mean in tradition? What happens when we are deprived of our senses, voluntarily or involuntarily? And what does folklore tell us when our senses stop making sense—experiences of things heard but not seen, seen but not heard?  When must we, traditionally, refute the evidence of our senses? And of course what we ‘feel’ can be felt in more ways than one, through the heart for instance. Folklore is communication, but there are many ways to communicate: the kiss, the grip, the sign, the gesture…  Can we talk about visual folklore, olfactory folklore, the touch or savour of folklore?

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers of 20 minutes are invited on any topic related to folklore and the senses. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

  • Folklore of the material world and of embodied experience
  • Ethnography of the senses, ethnography of the fleeting or ephemeral
  • The role of the senses in folk custom and narrative
  • Haptic perception and communication in folklore
  • The senses, absences and erasures in documentation, archiving and dissemination

Please send your proposal to [email protected], remembering to include:

  1. a title and abstract of your 20-minute presentation (200 words max)
  2. a brief biographical note (200 words max)
  3. whether you wish to present remotely or in person at University College Cork. Remote presenters will need to supply a recording of their presentation: they will be able to respond to questions online.

Deadline for proposals: Friday 31 January 2025

Note for in-person attendees: The FLS will arrange with UCC to have a number of rooms available in University Accommodation. These will be self-catering single ensuite rooms (including free parking, wi-fi, bed linen, towels, and welcome tea/coffee pack), at a cost of €80/night (£66.64 at 21 Oct 2024 exchange rate). Payment would need to be made by 19 May 2025. Further details will be circulated, including a list of other accommodation near to the University campus.

You can find out about Cork as a conference destination at https://www.ucc.ie/en/conference/cork/

Access accounts, memories and stories from the audio archives of the Cork Folklore Project on our Cork Memory Map, Thrift Map and Health Map: https://corkfolklore.org/memory-map/