CFP: SIEF Working Group on Archives Conference “Tradition Archives in Motion”

The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) Working Group on Archives seeks to build a network between archives of ethnology, folklore and in related fields, as well as between scholars working in these archives and scholars working on them.

The working group’s next conference, which is on the theme of “Tradition Archives in Motion: Sounding out Good Practices and Challenges with Folk Collections,” will be held June 29–July 1, 2026 at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

The conference aims to address topical issues such as long-term safeguarding, digitization, access to collections, community management, target audiences and so on. The organizers invite scholars and practitioners of all qualification levels to send in proposals focusing on the following (or related) topics:

• Access: Accessing (audiovisual) collections – how and for whom?
• Communities: Tradition archives – what is ‘good practice’ in working with communities, and who are our communities?
• Exhibiting folklore: Should tradition archives do what museums do – and to what extent?
• AI: are there use cases, can (or should) ‘artificial intelligence’ be used, and can it be used ethically in folklore archives?
• Good practice: What can folklore and tradition archives offer to society? What are scholars working in/on these archives really good at?

Proposals should include a paper title, an abstract of no longer than 250 words, a short biographical note, and affiliation/contact information. The organizers will try to reimburse costs for travel and accommodation for attendees with no institutional funding.

Proposals should be sent to archives2026@zpkm.uni-freiburg.de by October 5, 2025.