Call for Papers: Interim Conference of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research 2022

The Interim Conference of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) 2022 London, will take place on 20-23 July 2022 at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.

Folk Narrative and the Visual Arts: Fashion, Design, Materials and Media

The University of the Arts London (UAL) and LCF is proud to host the 2022 International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) Interim Conference. Reflecting the disciplinary expertise of UAL the conference will explore the intersections of folk narrative and visual culture in all its various forms, including the fine arts, sculpture, ceramics, installation, fashion, costume, film, TV, performance, digital media, illustration, book design, and material culture. Themes will include the interrelationship of oral traditions and visual arts, cultural appropriation of traditional cultural narratives through visual arts, adaptation of narrative traditions in diverse media, and the role of the visual arts in constructing notions of popular traditional storytelling. Visual culture has been a critical dimension of the mediation, interpretation and adaptation of traditional stories throughout recorded history, enabling forms of communication that depend upon imagery, form, and spatiality, as well as fusions of auditory and visual experience. This conference aims to explore the distinctive aesthetic that this dimension of storytelling allows and to consider its social, political and cultural dimensions.

The conference is affiliated with the Institute for Storytelling which is in development at UAL.

The conference committee is currently developing a proposal to run the conference in hybrid mode to allow participants to join in person or remotely. This is to help address the challenges of travel in the pandemic period, and also reflects UALs commitment to reducing air travel as part of its Climate Action Plan. The format of the conference will be confirmed by February 2022.

Proposals for papers are invited on subjects such as:

• Book design and illustration of published folk narratives
• Fine art, sculpture and installation drawing on folktales
• Adaptation of folk narratives in film, TV and digital media
• Folk art and storytelling
• Material culture and folk narrative
• Intersections of oral, literary and visual culture
• Representations of clothing and dress in folk narrative and the functions of clothes in storytelling
• Use of folk narrative in fashion design, collections and shows
• Clothing and magic / magical clothing
• Cultural appropriation through dress & costume in folk narrative/fairy tale
• Constructing and reconstructing identities through story and the visual arts

Proposals for papers should include:

• Full name
• E-mail address
• Institutional affiliation
• ISFNR membership status
• Title of paper
• 250 word abstract
• 150 word bionote

Key dates

• The extended deadline for proposals is 31 January 2022.
• Please send these to lcfresearch@arts.ac.uk.
• Proposals will be reviewed by the conference organisation committee, which will send notification of acceptance or rejection by the end of February 2022.
• A preliminary program for the conference will be made available by March 2022.

Conference tickets

Conference fees will be set at the following rates:

• Regular ISFNR member rate: £150
• Reduced ISFNR member rate (unemployed colleagues and PhD students): £100
• Additional fee for non-members: £20
• Additional fee for non-members reduced rate: £15