"Vernacular Knowledge and Indigenous Traditions: Perspectives from Fieldwork" – International Symposium, November 14–15

The symposium "Vernacular Knowledge and Indigenous Traditions: Perspectives from Fieldwork" will take place on November 14–15 at the University of Tartu.

Program 14.-15. nov PDF file
Abstracts Tartu 2025
Nov 14 CFP

PROGRAM:

November 14, 2025, Friday
Venue: Lossi 3-328

10.00 – 10.15: Symposium Opening
10.15 – 10.45: Davide Torri (Sapienza University of Rome)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Emic and Etic Perspectives in the Study of Himalayan Vernacular Religions
10.45 – 11.15: Michele Tita (University of Tartu)
Humans and Cordyceps in Bhutan: Vernacular Knowledge, Beliefs, Ecology and Economy
11.15 – 11.45: Kikee Doma Bhutia (Ghent University)
Traditional Proverbs, but their Vernacular Interpretation in Ecologically Fragile Sikkim

11.45 – 12.15: Coffee/ Tea Break

12.15 – 12.45: Stefano Beggiora (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Were-Tigers of Odisha in Adivasi Folklore
12.45 – 13.15: Lidia Guzy (University College Cork)
Vernacular and Traditional Knowledge of the Tribal Complex in Achanakmar-Amarkantak, Biosphere Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India
13.15 – 13.45: Linda Saraswati Klausner (University of Tartu)
Dressing up Nature: Vernacular Rituals in Santali and Hindu Festivals

13.45 – 15.15: Lunch

15.15 – 15.45: Reyhaneh Ghoroghchian (University of Tartu)
Writing Faith: Doa Nevisi as an Expression of Vernacular Religion in Iran
15.45 – 16.15: Erki Lind: (University of Tartu)
Traditional Knowledge as Theory, Medicine as Cultural Practice: How to Make Sense of Chinese Medicine
16.15 – 16.45: Haozhen Li (University of Tartu)
The Call of Spirits and Mental Disorders: Vernacular Theories of Prospective Shamans in Contemporary Northeast China
16.45 – 17.15: Alevtina Solovyeva (University of Tartu)
Warring Skies and Seething Floods: Eschatological Motifs in Contemporary Inner Asia

18.00 onwards: Dinner (Organized by Host University)

November 15, 2025, Saturday
Venue: Ülikooli 16 – 115 (entrance behind the building)

10.00 – 10.30: Paolo Rosati (Independent researcher)
Where Blood Meets the Sacred: Ritual, Magic, and Power in Assamese Tantra
10.30 – 11.00: Margaret Lyngdoh (University of Tartu)
Singing Words into Weapons: Stigmatised “Magic” from Northeast Indian Indigenous Contexts
11.00 – 11.30: Abhirup Sarkar (University of Tartu)
Dreams, Desire, and Invisible Villages: Encounters with Simultaneous Worlds among the Karbi

11.30 – 12.00: Coffee/ Tea Break

12.00 – 12.30: Roomet Jakapi (University of Tartu)
On the Philosophical and Folkloristic Concepts of Belief
12.30 – 13.00: Ülo Valk (University of Tartu)
On Closed and Open Storyworlds: Experiencing the Uncanny in Assam