SIEF2027 in Bolzano, Italy, 3-6 August 2027
Frontiers: hidden, visible, mobile
“Frontiers” speak to the current global situation, which is affected by the return of nationalist ideologies, imperialist domination, colonial expansionism and wars. This puts into question the value of tolerance, democracy, and international law, suggesting that these have been illusions. It is timely to address the ambiguities, contradictions and paradoxes embedded in the notion of frontiers, reimagining them to envision and shape a better future for terrestrial life.
Frontiers do not only refer to social boundaries and historical political borders as complex “borderscapes”. They also mean “horizons” of discovery and expansion in both a metaphorical (e.g. the frontiers of science) and a literal sense (the frontiers of colonization). Whether visible or hidden, borderscapes and horizons are inherently mobile in space and time. They remind us of colonial enterprises and violence, as well as of decoloniality as a frontier paradigm.
Starting from these possible understandings of frontiers, SIEF2027 invites ethnologists, folklorists, anthropologists, and scholars from adjacent fields, to explore the many ways of framing visible, hidden and mobile frontiers.
Welcome to Bozen-Bolzano SIEF2027!
We are waiting for you in a multicultural city, with an old and a new town, several histories of migration over time, and three official languages (not to mention the many unofficial ones). It is a place with a troubled history, including a battle over nationalist monuments, and a critical dissonant heritage of the twentieth century. It is a gateway to the Dolomites, where the Malinowski family made their home in the 1920s, and very close to the “Hidden Frontier” of ethnicity within the Alpine cultural ecology. So, it will be a fantastic place to discuss Ethnology and Folklore, from 3 to 6 August 2027 at unibz –the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
Call for Panels: 21 September – 02 November 2026
Call for Papers: 30 November 2026 – 11 January 2027
