Symposium “Word Power” on April 25–27, 2016, at the University of Tartu

Programme

Monday, April 25th
Ülikooli 16 (von Bock building). Room 109

16:15–16:30 Opening words
16:30–17:30 James Kapaló (University College Cork): Whispered Charms and Secret Files: The Performance of Hidden Words (keynote lecture)

Tuesday, April 26th
Ülikooli 18 (University main building). Room 140

9:00–10:00 Jonathan Roper (University of Tartu): Ronald or Donald? Vernacular Theorizing on Language (keynote lecture)

Coffee

Session I:
10:30–11:15 Laur Vallikivi (University of Tartu): How to Do Christians with Words? Language in an Evangelical Mission Encounter in the Russian Arctic
11:15–12:00 Eva Toulouze (INALCO, Paris; University of Tartu) & Liivo Niglas (University of Taertu): Power of Words in a Culture of Silence:  An Attempt in Yuri Vella’s Speech Analysis

Lunch break

Session II:
13:30–14:15 Karina Lukin (University of Helsinki): Reported Speech in Nenets Epic Poetry
14:15–15:00 Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu): Breaching Norms and Mending the World in an Estonian Song About Aex, Money and Murder

Coffee

Session III:
15:30–16:15 Laura Siragusa (University of Aberdeen): Power in Ways of Speaking: Spatio-Temporal Relations and the Co-Creation of the “Domus”
16:15–17:00 Rajat Nayyar (Tallinn University): Upanayana Samskara | Bhojpuri Initiation Rites & Folk Songs (film screening)

 

Wednesday, April 27th
Ülikooli 18 (University main building). The senate hall

9:00–10:00 Lotte Tarkka (University of Helsinki): Words, Powers, and Genres – Notes on the Efficacy of Oral Poetry (keynote lecture)

Coffee

Session IV:
10:30–11:15 Aleksi Moine (INALCO, Paris): Words, Ointments, and Bodies: The Healing Power of the Word in Finnish charms
11:15–12:00 Frog (University of Helsinki): Texts as Objects: Considering Emic Conceptions of the Exchange of Supernaturally Powerful Words

Lunch break

Session V:
13:30–14:15 Ergo-Hart Västrik (University of Tartu): Secret Tradition and the Power of Archived Word: Prayers of Seto Peko Cult
14:15–15:00 Margaret Lyngdoh (University of Tartu): The Powerful Unwritten: Secrecy, Names and Taboo in Khasi Belief Narratives

Coffee

Session VI:
15:30–16:15 Kati Kallio (University of Helsinki, Finnish Literature Society): Powers of Poetic Form
16:15–17:00 Closing discussion

The symposium is organized by the Department of Folkloristics, University of Helsinki, and the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu.

Programme and Abstracts of the symposium in PDF format