‘Folklore and Anthropology in Conversation’
Eighth Folklore Society – Royal Anthropological Institute Joint Seminar

Date:  Thursday 24 October, 2024
Time:  10.00am to 5.00pm
Location: 50 Fitzroy Street,  London W1T 5BT

In Person book a seat here 
In Person tickets are limited and bookings will be 'first come, first served'

Online via Zoom: Register here

Soundscapes and Folklore in East Asia

The seminar series ‘Folklore and Anthropology in Conversation’ encourages empirical and conceptual dialogue between the two related disciplines of folklore and anthropology

The symposium is a one-day event held at the offices of the Royal Anthropological Institute and The Folklore Society at 50 Fitzroy Street, London on Thursday 24 October 2024.  Presentations will mostly be given in-person, but conference attendees may attend either in person, or via ZOOM linkup. 

In this year’s conference, we will explore a range of topics in the areas of folk music studies, ethnomusicology, oral folklore, ritual, and performance. New approaches in social, cultural and political interpretations are invited.

Geographically, the conference will be focused on East Asia broadly defined, including China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, but not excluding adjacent areas. 

A Detailed programme with abstracts can be viewed and downloaded here: https://folklore-society.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Soundscapes-ProgAbstracts.pdf 

Programme

10:00 – 10:15: Welcome and Introduction to the Day

10:15 – 11:45: China 

• Igor Chabrowski (Warsaw) – ‘Reading Folklore for Social History – Cases and
  Reflections from Late-Qing and Republican China’.
• Yuan Zhang (Oxford) – ‘Divine Resonances: Soundscapes and Spatial
  Hierarchies in the Pan-Spiritual Homes of Rural China’. Via ZOOM.
• Li Mingming – ‘Cultural Interpretation of the Multi-voice Phenomenon of
  Shadow Play in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces in China’. Via ZOOM.

11:45 – 12:15: Break

12:15 – 12:45: Northeast Asia 

• István Sántha (Hungarian Research Network, Budapest) – ‘The Shamanic
  Soundscape of the Russian Far East’. Via ZOOM.

12:45 – 13:30: Lunch break

13:30-14:30: Korea and Japan

• Niki Alsford (Central Lancashire) – ‘Haenyeo Sirens: A Sonic Window into
  Jeju’s Female Divers’ Sumbisori Soundscapes’.
• Luca Proetti (SOAS) – ‘Resounding Buddhism and Shinto in Japanese Noise
  Music’.

14:30-15:00: Break

15:00-15:30: A Comparison

• Rawan Alfuraih (SOAS) – ‘The Space of Tales: Ecologies of Bodily Movement
  in the Performance of Najdi sibaheen Folktales in Saudi Arabia’.

15:30-16:15: Audio-Visual Session

• Anna Sowa and Prof Richard Widdess (Chouette Films) – ‘Gũlā – Music for a Sacred Time’. Film.

16:15-17:00: Plenary Discussion