home / newsletter / SIEF Newsletter Vol 21 No 2 (Autumn 2023) Reflections on the 16th SIEF Congress


16th SIEF Congress

SIEF 2023 Brno Congress

Reflections on the 16th SIEF Congress

Local Committee chair Jiri Woitsch, Petr Drastil, one of the congress volunteers, and the curators of the audiovisual program Michal Pavlásek, Pavel Borecký and Jaroslava Panáková reflect on the SIEF2023.

 

“Living Uncertainty” in Brno, June 7–10, 2023

After 4 long years caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, members and supporters of SIEF and especially members and supporters of ethnology, folklore studies and related fields finally met in person on June 7–10 in Brno, Czech Republic. 911 delegates from 49 countries from all continents, except Antarctica, of course, registered at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University.

The Brno congress was thus the second largest in the history of SIEF in terms of size and brought 4 days of presentations, discussions, but also a rich accompanying program and above all personal meetings of old and new friends. A short look back at SIEF2023 was compiled by the organizing team as a more or less personal bricolage of impressions and reflections of several actors who participated in the preparation and the course of the congress.

2.1 Brno: The Way There and Back Again

Local committeeIt was late in the evening of April 15, 2019 when a group of Czech delegates to the SIEF congress in Santiago de Compostela were sitting in a local pub sharing their pleasant feelings about the conference. Suddenly a voice was heard that it would actually be great to have a SIEF congress in the Czech Republic one day. It never stopped bothering me, because I like crazy ideas and I like SIEF, too. And I was sure that Daniel Drápala at the Department of European Ethnology, Masaryk University in Brno, although not crazy, could do almost anything for our disciplines. Two days later, at the final party, well after midnight, I went up to Bernard Tschofen and Sophie Elpers and asked them if they thought it was a good idea. They were excited. A few weeks later, we added another friend to our group: the Director of the National Institute of Folk Culture, Martin Šimša. We submitted a formal application to host the Congress at the end of May 2019. Shortly afterwards, it was formally accepted by the SIEF Board. Yes, we knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey, however we didn’t know it would turn into a big adventure.

Less than a year later, on March 12, 2020, the first Covid-19 lockdown was declared in the Czech Republic and the world changed. We saw the huge efforts of our colleagues in Helsinki, we saw their dedication in exploring new horizons and organizing a full hybrid congress, and on June 23, 2021 we had the opportunity to officially announce Brno as next congress host during our on-line participation at the SIEF general assembly through a video that was filmed in the middle of another lockdown, when it was difficult to find any people in the streets of Brno. However, things started to move for the better and our group – already expanded into a full-fledged Local Committee, which included also our colleagues from the Slovak Republic hoped that in 2023 everything would go quite smoothly after all. How deeply mistaken we were! Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 came and the world became even more uncertain and threatening.

In September 2022, our great NomadIT friends and several Local Committee members walked the venue and estimated how many people might arrive. 500 attendees was the most optimistic estimate, but we still didn’t know if the congress would be face to face or a hybrid one. It was only decided by the SIEF Board in Athens in October 2022. And then followed probably the most hectic six months of our lives, with thousands of emails, hundreds of meetings, dozens of sleepless nights. The number of attendees climbed to almost 1000, and 24 hours before the congress started, we learned that the roof had failed at our opening keynote venue…

A part of our Local Committee is now sitting in a small pub in Prague at the beginning of October 2023 and we are trying to realize, after several months of “rest”, what the SIEF2023 Congress has actually given us and our colleagues from all over the world. It would be easy to just praise ourselves: we certainly managed to prepare a well-organized congress despite all the uncertainties, our volunteers proved to be extremely capable and helpful, the congress program was packed with great panels, and even the accompanying program (prepared exclusively by researchers for researchers) – from clay building to excursions around Brno – was successful. However, the Czech proverb says: “Self-praise stinks”. Those who have been directly in Brno have certainly evaluated everything themselves. But what did the congress give to ethnology and folklore studies in Central Europe and to us personally?

Organizing a congress for 1000 people is completely different in terms of communication, material and above all purely human terms than organizing a conference for 100 or 200 participants. It’s a completely different world and we will always look at any event we attend in the future through this lens. We have found that nothing can happen without strong empathy, a willingness to sacrifice our own time, tuning in to the same wave, and the support of our families and partners. And it must be said that not all of us passed this test. We found out how helpful and willing the SIEF Board is, how incredibly hardworking NomadIT is. We learned that even delegates – regardless of career length or location – are “just” human beings, some open-minded and supportive, some kind of troublemakers. But we all certainly learned forbearance and came out of this – life rather than work – ordeal enriched.

The benefits for Czech and Central European ethnology and folklore studies are undoubtedly more practical and, in some sense, even tangible. We live in a time when the neoliberal or nationalist and populist agenda is growing in our and neighboring countries both paradoxically with the same results: Questioning the very meaning of the existence of the humanities and social sciences. Under these circumstances the “small” disciplines have proved their accessibility. We were able to unite, mobilize human and financial resources and organize internationally visible action. This gives us a strong case even in such practical matters as negotiating opportunities to implement PhD programmes, improves our position in grant competitions and allows us to stand much better in the permanent “culture of evaluation”. We are grateful to SIEF and all the delegates to the Congress for supporting us in this way. Last but not least, and at least in the context of the Czech Republic, SIEF2023 has become – hopefully – the end of decades of “field wars”. In Central Europe, there is nothing more dangerous than digging trenches between anthropology, ethnology and folklore studies, the consequence of which could also be the complete abolition of all disciplines.

Our journey is therefore coming to a close after 4 years and other tasks and challenges await us. In any case, it has been an adventurous journey full of uncertainties, but it has certainly been worthwhile. Our great thanks to all those who have accompanied us along the way and contributed to the success of SIEF2023. We wish our colleagues who are already preparing SIEF2025 to make their journey equally interesting and we look forward to seeing you in Bucharest.

Jiří Woitsch, Director of the Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences and SIEF2023 Local Committee chair

2.2 What Was It Like to Volunteer at SIEF2023?

Brno Volenteers The academic year 2022/2023 started for us ethnology students like any other, with an information session in the building of the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University.

This meeting, however, was different from the previous ones. At the very end of it, one important message was made. “At the end of the academic year we will host the SIEF2023 congress. This is the biggest event in the history of the field since the 19th century. The theme of the congress will be Living Uncertainty.” We were told at the outset that a large number of volunteers would be welcomed for the event. Subsequently, I began to feel the uncertainty quite strongly.

Although we had received a lot of information during the preparation of the congress, the uncertainty was rather deepening. The source of it was mainly my own fears, as I had absolutely no idea how the large international congress would be run. On the other hand, we felt strongly motivated by the possibility of gaining new experiences, skills and (hopefully) interesting contacts.

The uncertainty and the associated fears started to melt away on the first day of the congress, when before the opening ceremony we had the task with volunteers to map out the delegates’ route from the hotel to the venue of the opening ceremony at the Brno Exhibition Centre. This route was not long or complicated in my eyes, and the number of volunteers showing the way was considerable, so from my point of view the function of the volunteers was to be rather symbolic. However, there was also uncertainty in a considerable number of congress participants, probably caused by their presence in an unfamiliar environment and the last-minute change of the opening ceremony venue. Probably for this reason, they were asking us questions related to the trip, in which they often just wanted to reassure themselves of the correctness of their actions. During our relaxed conversation with each other, I felt a sense of uncertainty dissipate, both on the part of the delegates and on my part. Moreover, I realized that I need not be afraid of conversing in English.

Later, during the short everyday conversations with the delegates, who mostly asked about the location of the different buildings or classrooms, I noticed a polite and non-condescending behavior on the part of the delegates towards us volunteers. I can say the same about my subsequent experience of dealing with the convenors of panels. In connection with these personalities, I would like to mention their patience and a certain amount of empathy, which was needed especially when working with IT equipment. Some of the convenors even came to thank me personally after the panel was over. The relaxed atmosphere contributed to the fact that I was able to concentrate better on the actual content of the presenters’ contributions and thus take more away from them.

A certain dissipation of uncertainty and fears could also be observed in the other volunteers. This aspect, together with the breaks we had during our duties, then contributed to a relatively large amount of relaxed conversation with other volunteers. In addition, a significant number of these volunteers came from other departments. It is not surprising, then, that I got to know both older and younger colleagues around the whole Faculty better because of the congress. 

Thanks also to the aforementioned aspects, I felt a pleasant and relatively relaxed atmosphere in the last days of the congress. The closing social event was a shining example. At this event, the entertainment was provided by the Moravian cymbal music, which, according to its custom, played folk songs and dances from Moravia. Although the vast majority of the evening’s participants were not familiar with these dances from their own countries, this fact did not prevent them from joining in the dance, in which they fully exercised their creativity and invented completely new dance elements to Moravian songs. Although many of us volunteers knew the “original” dances, due to the atmosphere our dance expression completely copied the “new” choreographies of the foreign participants of the congress.

During the congress, I also realized how much the organizers of these big conferences have to think about and how incredible amount of work remains hidden from the “ordinary” delegates. The benefit of SIEF2023 for myself is that it forced me to step out of my comfort zone in some ways. At the same time, I had the opportunity to actively practice my English or pursue things related to IT. Finally, I also realized that there is no need to be afraid of actively presenting at an international conference.

Petr Drastil, Master student at the Department of European Ethnology, Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University

2.3 SIEF2023 Audiovisual Program

Film program

What will become visible and what will we hear when we begin to permeate the landscapes of an uncertain future through audiovisual means? 

– As a group of practicing visual anthropologists from Central Europe, we composed a three-day film program as a syncretic collection of eight fresh works that both resonate with the subject matter, show a formally remarkable approach and champion convincing ethics. Specifically, the program responded to sensory landscapes, future unfolding, witnessing uncertainty, transforming identities and bodily intimacy. While we welcomed filmmakers for an in-person Q&A after every screening, the second day offered a retrospective journey with a singular master of the ethnographic craft. 

Michal Pavlásek selected projects that center on environments, human communities and climate disasters. In Invisible Landscapes we witness acts of situated listening to the technological infrastructures which allows us to sense what the future might bring. Searching for “aesthetics that open vertical imperative”, Likavčan and Bystřičan mediate sonically unusual encounters to “philosophy ethnography”. The second film Living Water portrays conflicting communities of water users in Jordan. Making a theoretical argument for “ecographic storytelling”, Borecký shows how the Bedouins are locked in an unequal power struggle with the city officials. In contrast, the character-driven film The Visitors features an anthropologist as she carries out a study of how arctic life is changing in the Svalbard archipelago. After the screening, an honest discussion with Zdenka Sokolíčková brought to light some ethical dilemmas that are further elaborated in her recently published book.

Pavel Borecký dedicated the second day to Jana Ševčíková’s careful approach to phenomena such as care, tradition, spirituality, resilience and disappearance. Old Believers is considered the genre’s venerated playbook film. Consisting of elements such as water, ritual, symbolism, spirituality and community in a black-and-white form, Ševčíková admitted the influence of Tarkovsky in evoking timelessness. Touching on intergenerational trauma, Gyumri asks how to remember responsibly in the face of the 1988 disaster that hit this Armenian city. It was only after gaining support from her interlocutors that Ševčíková was able to finish the “most difficult film” to date. Even though it feels less sentimental, the last film Those Who Dance in the Dark confirms the author’s interest in community portraits. With her collaborator Galina Šustová, we discussed their approach to filming blindness and the role of creative partnerships.

Crowning our selection, Jaroslava Panáková gave space to the creators who introduce fiction, playfulness and certain formalism into documentary filmmaking. Kiruna moves alongside the moving city and chronicles how people’s lives, identities and ideals react to the changes. Welcoming Pavel Jan, a sound designer, the discussion focused on the role of sound and music in portraying complex social and ecological issues. Finally, the film essay FREM of Viera Čákanyová reflects modern technologies in a posthumanistic non-anthropocentric speculative form. The director expanded on her use of drone cameras, sources of theoretical inspiration and the alienating effect she wished to induce in the audience.

– As curators, we were happy to host about 180–210 people to the program in total. Reaching critical mass, the films instigated animated discussions among equally animated guests and moderators. The moments of emotional intensity and updates “from the field” were particularly precious. We wish to thank all collaborating parties, Strategy 21 funders, MUNI volunteers and cinema projection for their shared commitment to the common cause.

Convenors/curators: