Nature(s) in Narratives

From 13 to 16 June, the Department of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Association of Ethnology and Folklore, and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies hosted the hybrid conference of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research. Taking its cue from the conference title, the event focused on the many roles, motifs and conceptions of nature — in “grand” social narratives such as nationalisms, heritage discourses and various belief systems, as well as in more everyday entanglements between humans and the worlds around them.

A panel organised by programme group member Marjeta Pisk, together with Finnish researcher Kati Kallio, explored nature as both subject and symbol in folk songs and folk music practices. Framed by ontological pluralism, multispecies ethnography and the animal turn in folklore studies, the panel featured seven engaging papers, including contributions by Mojca Kovačič and Eva Fekonja from the Institute of Ethnomusicology. Approaching the topic from different angles, both addressed conceptions of nature grounded in personal experience and affect, particularly in social contexts associated with New Age and neopagan spirituality.

In a separate panel on animals and plants in ritual contexts, Marjeta Pisk examined what rituals, traditional religious festivities and contemporary fruit festivals named after plants and fruits can tell us about the agency of nature in social life.