Call for Papers

Genre – Text – Interpretation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Folklore and Beyond


A peer-reviewed essay collection edited by Kaarina Koski
(University of Helsinki) and Frog (University of Helsinki).

‘Genre‘ has been a central concept in folklore studies, and has perhaps been nowhere so intensively discussed and analyzed as through that discipline. Whether explicitly or implicitly, the concept of genre maintains a central position in the research of many related fields. Intensive debates surrounding genre, how this concept and the term itself should be defined and employed, were very much alive in the 1960s and up into the 1980s. However, these questions gradually moved into the background of discourse. Questions of genre occasionally flare up in individual works, disturbing the coals of these earlier arguments, yet academic discussion rather left these questions behind while tremendous progress has been made in other aspects of these fields. With the coming of a new century, multidisciplinary approaches have offered new insights into ‘genre’ as a concept and challenged earlier definitions. ‘Genre’ is such a core concept to research on traditions, and so implicit in the ways that we, as researchers, think about those traditions, that it has become necessary to return to this fundamental term and concept in order to reassess it. This is important both within folklore studies and across the diverse and intersecting disciplines to which it is central. Time has come to consider the values and drawbacks of genre as a term and concept, as well as the impacts which this has on research, research history, and how these sorts of conditioning can be overcome.

A multidisciplinary discussion on genre has become crucial. We are therefore organizing a peer-reviewed volume of essays of contemporary views on this topic surrounding, but not limited to, the following central concerns:

We welcome theoretical views on different genre systems and theories as well as material-based analyses focusing on genre. We are looking forward to working with 12–15 contributors and a wide range of different genres. The acceptance of proposals and further information will be sent to the contributors in October. The deadline for articles (20–25 pages in Times 12 / 1.5 line-spacing) will be Wednesday, February 1, 2012.

If you would be interested in participating in this project, please send an abstract in English of up to 500 words outlining a proposed contribution, along with your name, affiliation and contact information.

Abstracts should be sent to Kaarina Koski (kaarina.koski@helsinki.fi). The deadline for abstracts is September 30, 2011.