Krišjānis Barons Annual Scientific Conference 2025

Call for Papers: Krišjānis Barons Annual Scientific Conference 2025

The Archives of Latvian Folklore at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia (LU LFMI), and the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Latvia invite submissions for the annual Krišjānis Barons Scientific Conference, which will take place on October 31, 2025.

This year, scholars are encouraged to reassess historical folklore text corpora from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. Researchers are invited to reflect on the formation of these collections, examining the complex cultural-historical context, the role of individual collectors and researchers, and the legacy of their work. This event will also commemorate several significant anniversaries:

• The 190th birthday of Krišjānis Barons

• The 110th anniversary of the completion of Latvju dainas

• The 100th anniversary of the publication of Latviešu pasakas un teikas by Pēteris Šmits

Historical Context

The active documentation of folklore in Latvia began during the First National Awakening in the second half of the 19th century. The collected materials formed the basis of major published folklore text corpora, including:

• Latvju dainas (1894–1915) by Krišjānis Barons

• Latviešu tautas teikas un pasakas (1891–1903) by Ansis Lerhis-Puškaitis

• Latvju tautas mūzikas materiāli (1894–1921) by Andrejs Jurjāns

Institutionalized and systematic folklore collection began with the establishment of the Archives of Latvian Folklore in 1924, enabling the organized documentation, archiving, and classification of millions of folklore texts.

Over 150 years, the accumulated material has grown beyond traditional folklore genres to include descriptions of everyday life, written records, and visual representations. The formation of these collections has been influenced by historical conditions, ideology, scientific theories, funding availability, technological advances, and the personal interests of collectors and researchers.

Themes of Interest

Submissions are invited on the following topics:

• The formation of folklore collections within political, ideological, institutional, cultural, and personal contexts

• The definition of folklore as a factor influencing the quality of collections, individual archives, and publications

• The role of technology in folklore documentation, the impact of published folklore collections, and issues related to transcription and copying

• Digital humanities and historical folklore corpora: big data analysis, network analysis, artificial intelligence applications

• The influence of individual personalities on the formation of folklore corpora and collections driven by researcher interests

• Public engagement in both analog and digital folklore corpus creation

Submission Details

• Submission deadline: April 23, 2025

• Notification of acceptance: By May 31, 2025

• Submission form: [Available here]

For any questions, please contact Sandis Laime at sandis.laime@lulfmi.lv.