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SIEF Working Group in Feminist Approaches to Ethnology and Folklore

The gendered social reality that adheres in the hierarchicalizing dyad Male/Female constitutes, reflects, and reinforces fundamental power relations. This working group seeks to interrogate the ways in which such a gender ideology operates in practice and theory in our fields. Using Feminist theory as a disruptive lens, we seek to re-evaluate current perspectives, approaches, methods, theories, and forms of representation that have characterized the fields in the past. Feminist approaches seek to deconstruct the inherent and implicit gender bias that is constitutive of discursive formations now and historically. This group finds this bias to be foundational to our fields of research – in theory, methodology, and in academic spheres, and asserts that as a result of this gendered perspective, the production of knowledge is incomplete. Our working group seeks to revisit and excavate the historical processes that have resulted in these flawed foundations, and to present new and alternative theoretical approaches from multiple, hitherto unincorporated perspectives.

Through the formation of an international forum, this working group’s strategic aims include making visible the gendered nature of current theory and practice, and we invite all scholars who seek to disrupt the gender bias that inheres in the fields in order to promote new approaches to the material we study. Through a multi-vocal engagement with a broad range of international scholars, we seek to strengthen the exchange between feminist and gender scholars who work in Ethnology and Folklore Studies in a more systematic manner in the production and promotion of new forms of knowledge.

2023 Poster

2023 SIEF Poster

Instructions for Annotated Bibliography

Chairs:

JoAnn Conrad, Diablo Valley College, USA.
Niina Hämäläinen, Kalevala Society, Helsinki, Finland.

Secretary:

Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir, Univ. of Iceland.

Board:

Rozemarijn Van de Wal, Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Yuliia Andriichuk, Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Univ. of Poznań, Poland.

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