SIEF is an international organization that facilitates and stimulates cooperation among scholars working within European Ethnology, Folklore Studies, Cultural Anthropology and adjoining fields. SIEF organizes large international congresses and smaller workshops. Read more about SIEF...

Fourteen thematical Working Groups are active within SIEF which organize their own congresses and workshops.

SIEF News

New book series from Berghahn Books and call for a Series co-editor

New book series from Berghahn Books: SIEF Series in Ethnology and Folklore: New Directions in the Study of Everyday Life, Past and Present.
SIEF is pleased to be launching the SIEF Series in Ethnology and Folklore: New Directions in the Study of Everyday Life, Past and Present with Berghahn Books in 2024. The SIEF Book Series is dedicated to presenting cutting-edge research in the fields of ethnology, folklore studies and related areas by publishing rigorous peer-reviewed monographs and edited collections.

Hande Birkalan-Gedik (Frankfurt am Main) is the first co-editor of the series.

SIEF Summer School 2024 “Postscapes Matter”

23-27 September 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia

The SIEF Summer School 2024 explores how and why postscapes matter; as a lived experience, a historical or temporal condition and as a conceptual tool or a way of knowing. We invite our participants to consider: What comes after post-? What is left of post-, as a concept? Why is it still important to think in terms of diverse postscapes?

More information on the Summer School page.

SIEF2025 congress

We regretfully inform you that the SIEF2025 congress will not take place in Bucharest as previously announced. Exploratory work is underway with an alternative host and we will make a formal announcement as soon as possible.
In the meantime, we thank our Romanian colleagues for their efforts and hope to visit Romania some time in the future.
SIEF remains committed to the mission of producing biennial international congresses in cooperation with local organisers at academic institutions all across Europe, while promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

SIEF Newsletter for Autumn 2023

SIEF Newsletter The SIEF Autumn Newsletter is now out. Read the PDF or webversion.

SIEF Working Groups News

Religious Art and Power – Contestations and Affirmations

Conference organized by the SIEF Ethnology of Religion Working Group and the Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, Hungarian Academy of Arts
October 17-19, 2024

Proposals are open - deadline April 5, 2024
Read the full call here.

 

Food cultures in Europe: everyday words and gestures

3-5 October 2024 Timisoara, Romania
Call for papers are now open - deadline March 31, 2024

 

Reimagining Europe: De-colonizing Historical Imaginaries, Disciplinary Narratives in Folklore and Ethnology and Beyond

Call for papers are now open - Extended deadline March 22, 2024

SIEF JOURNALS

New issue of Ethnologia Europaea, Vol. 53, no. 2

The latest issue of "Ethnologia Europaea" 53(2) 2023 is out!

New Issue of Cultural Analysis, 21:2 (2023)

Approaching Climate Change Adaptation:
Knowledge, Power, Communication

The consequences of human-induced climate change are as diverse as the adaptation strategies people have started to develop. Approaches to climate change range from local initiatives to national and global programs and are embedded in various knowledge systems and partially contesting world views. This special issue aims to improve the understanding of those dynamics that are linked to knowledge, power, and communication when adapting to the diverse repercussions of climate change. The communication and integration of this situated knowledge are considered crucial for fair and transparent climate change adaptation measures.

However, this integration is also described as problematic, highlighting different epistemologies, competing political agendas, societal and economic inequalities, and clashing ontologies. The impact of climate change on society is currently discussed mostly in terms of adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. Ideas of adaptation are often regarded as “neutral” drivers of action and seem to be “the only viable option for survival” (de Wit 2014, 57). However, the rationalities which characterize current adaptation concepts are criticized because they have been shaped predominantly by the natural sciences and ignore aspects of climate justice as well as social, cultural, political, and economic conditions on the ground (Nightingale et al. 2020).

The issue is co-edited with guest editors Sophie Elpers, Arnika Peselmann, Silja Klepp & Domenica Farinella.

Stop the Violence and Return to Dialogue - SIEF Executive Committee statement

SIEF unreservedly condemns the terrorist actions of Hamas on 7 October 2023 that resulted with the killings, abduction, and abuse of mostly Israeli civilians, as well as those of other nations. We call on the international community to do all it can to bring about the return of all abductees and hostages to their homes and families.

We condemn all civilian killings and atrocities, Palestinian and Israeli, and call on the international community to ensure that there are no attacks on civilians – systematic or otherwise – by any side and that military codes be strictly and clearly enforced.

SIEF, an international organization that promotes cultural understandings, stands firmly with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and others seeking for a solution through dialogue to this long and bloody conflict. The world needs a peaceful agreement that respects the humanity of both nations, their ongoing cultural, social, and emotional needs, and their rich, often shared, cultural heritage.

In the face of ongoing atrocities, we urge the international community to use all its power and influence to realize a sustainable two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace, committing to sustaining such a solution into the future.

Our deepest thoughts go to all victims and their families, friends, and neighbors, and we extend our solidarity to colleagues and students across the region.

The Executive Committee of SIEF

SIEF is an international organization with a 1200+ membership base that facilitates and stimulates scholarly exchange in the community of Ethnology, Folklore, Cultural anthropology, and adjoining fields in the name of human understanding.

Culture in Dialogue Seminars: Keeping Channels of Communication Open

SIEF stands for free and open communication across boundaries, borders, and disciplines. Today, with old divisions reappearing in Europe, we believe that specialists in Ethnology, Folklore, Anthropology, and related fields, have a duty to highlight lessons of the past and show that, through dialogue, we can reach better understandings of the world and each other. The SIEF Board introduces Culture in Dialogue, a series of occasional online seminars intended to encourage, initiate, and develop communication between East and West.

The inaugural event on 14 July features Stef Jansen, University of Sarajevo. Read the abstract and register (free) to attend this Zoom.

Useful links of support resources for Ukrainians

The Executive Boards of SIEF and EASA have cooperated to disseminate information on support, scholarships and jobs offered to Ukrainian scholars at risk. View this list of opportunities, advice and resources received from various parts of Europe. If you have new/additional information please contact us via the email cited there.

SIEF Statement in support of academic colleagues in Ukraine

The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) is deeply concerned with the devastating developments recently witnessed in Ukraine. SIEF expresses its solidarity with the people of Ukraine including colleagues, students, and friends, who represent our scholarly fields of Ethnology and Folklore at the academic institutions of Ukraine. Read the full statement.

ARCHIVE

Letter of concern regarding the Professorship or European Ethnology at the University of Turku, Finland

The University of Turku might indefinitely suspend the professorship of European Ethnology as a part of its economic plan. SIEF has sent a letter of concern.

Turkish flagSIEF Statement In Support of Academics in Turkey PDF

In two cabinet decrees issued in September and October 2016 within the context of the state of emergency rule, 68 signatories of the Peace Petition (“We will not be a party to this crime” – Academics for Peace, in January 2016) were deemed “supporters of terrorism”, dismissed from their posts and banned from public service. At least two of these are associated with SIEF and our sister organization AFS: Yücel Demirer and Derya Keskin-Demirer, who frequently attend SIEF meetings. They were dismissed from their positions at Kocaeli University along with 37 other faculty members without a hearing or right to appeal the decision. They are among 3,613 academics dismissed by Turkish authorities in the last three months. Read more ...

Ethnological Matterings

On the wings of the successful Ethnological Sensations series, Áslaug Einarsdóttir, SIEF's courtly filmmaker, has produced films with a slightly different scope. This time we will focus on ways in which ethnological and folklorist approaches and skills can be applied in different fields outside the academia in which our disciplines come to "matter”. We will release one film each month until our gathering in Helsinki. View SIEF's Ethnological Matterings.

SIEF Ethnological sensations

Ethnology sensationThe last Ethnological sensation is available to view online: Cristina Sánchez-Carretero (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) describes how a journey of selfunderstanding during the funeral of her grandmother affected her later research on religion in Galicia.

What do ethnologists do?

Filmed at the SIEF2017 conference in Göttingen, this three and a half minute long film, entitled 'What do ethnologists do?' comprises SIEF members sharing their views on what distinguishes ethnology from other disciplines, and what ethnologists can actually do to tackle the challenges of the contemporary world. We hope you find the film inspiring and interesting.

SIEF shares the statement of AAA

AAA reaffirms its commitment to the values of diversity, equity, and human rights. We call on our colleagues to apply their professional research, scholarship, practice, and teaching to overturning the deeply entrenched institutional sources of race-based inequality that are barriers to a more just and sustainable world.
Read more on the AAA website.