CFP: The Agency of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals: Reasons, Triggers, and Contexts

The Faculty of Arts at University of Ljubljana invites folklorists, ethnologists and anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, thanatologists, as well as scholars from other disciplines who deal with the dead in contemporary society to submit an abstract and participate in the 2nd DEAGENCY Conference to be held between 2–4 July 2025 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

DEAGENCY is an ERC-funded project that will provide a broad understanding of the role of the agency of the dead in individuals’ lives. Instead of treating the dead as mere expressions of “folk belief”, or symbols and metaphors of larger cultural and social problems and changes, they will be treated from the perspective of their agency, affecting the body, ideas, and actions of individuals (and vice versa), actively involved in the intricate relationships between individuals and larger social and cultural processes.

The aim of the 2nd DEAGENCY Conference is to gain an insight into the situations in which the agency of the dead manifests itself and the presence of the dead is experienced. What are the reasons, the triggers and the contexts in which the dead affect the living? Papers may be based on a variety of sources – ethnographic, archival, digital, media, etc. The conference language is English; the expected length of papers is 20 minutes. There is no conference fee, but participants will have to cover their own travel, accommodation and catering costs.

The deadline for submission of applications is 31 December 2024. Acceptance of papers will be confirmed by 31 January 2025. In case of questions, please contact Marja.Kovanda@ff.uni-lj.si.