The essence of traditional culture lies in its continuity per se. The traditionality of the community of experience is nothing but the imperative of passing it down from generation to generation, entrusting it to new members of the groups whose identity is defined by it. The property of culture, defined by the adjective derived from the Latin verb trado, tradere (to hand over, to entrust), has for centuries bound together rural groups living in more or less isolation from urban culture, shaped, inter alia, by industry and complex economic relations. Permanence of settlement, attachment to the communication through texts/magical and religious behaviours and intergenerational relations, as well as the special role of authority were the determinants of systems referred to as "people’s culture", "culture of rural communities".
Traditional culture defined in this way began to break down and gradually disintegrate in the 19th century (I. Bukowska-Floreńska) into the culture of an industry shaped society undergoing profound social, economic and political transformations. The industrial revolution has permanently changed the relationship of the society with the surrounding world. It is difficult to disagree with the statement that no process influenced the transformation of reality in the 19th and 20th centuries more than industrialisation. It forced people’s mobility and openness to the wealth of ideological trends, the compulsory education system imposed rationality, there was a change in social structures – starting from the family and ending with the ethnic or national community.
The “age of extremes” (E. Hobsbawm), which was in fact the declining time of powerful ideas and great industry, and which carried both a destructive and creative potential, turned into a postmodern world. The turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, imbued with a multitude of contradictory ideas and concepts of social life, also became an arena of clashes between sources of information. The identity crises that arose on this ground forced the emergence of new communities, new strategies of adapting to the often dissonant realities by both individuals and social groups. The conviction that the "great narrative" would ultimately collapse also resulted in a violation of the community of experience – not fitting in with the new cognitive challenges. Freedom and subjectivisation, however, have become an unbearable source of dilemmas and confusion for many (Z. Bauman, J. Tischner).
It is possible that individuals and local communities, on seeing threats from the outside and being tired of having to make authoritarian decisions, will turn to traditional culture. On the one hand, they pass on this culture relying on the memory of generations, and on the other hand, they adopt its determinants, thus securing their identity in this way. They re-construct or restore traditional, homogeneous value systems, looking for a lost identity and building new, sometimes only mental spaces. They use its strategy and the thinking it shapes in new interpretative approach. However, the fluidity of postmodern culture is no longer a threat to the members of these new tribes (M. Maffesoli) – they treat it as a challenge, a pretext for a kind of reciprocity that strengthens the possibility of conveying symbolic content.
Inspired by the proposed topic, at the conference we would like to look at various contexts of both experiencing and exploring traditional culture. Therefore, indicating the scope of the issues to be addressed, we propose the following specific issues in the context of its functioning, our co-creation and participation in it, and current research challenges.
1. The questions we wish to have answered are: What are the content, forms, features and functions of traditional culture? How was the image of the world created, and man shaped within it? What cognitive and interpretative strategies are needed to research traditional culture; In what spaces does traditional culture function; for example in museums, media environment and digital reality?
2. Further issues are related to the transformation of traditional culture: How did traditional culture “react” to the social, economic and political transformations of the 19th-21st centuries? How do texts/behaviours in situations of social tension (e.g. floods, accidents, pandemics) function? What changes have occurred in traditional culture – does it change through participation, co-creation, or presence? Traditional culture both exists and vanishes. How is the memory of it built, transmitted, and what are attempts are made to preserve it? Further we see the necessity to discuss its authenticity, reconstruction, interpretation and creation.
3. Traditional culture as a research subject leads us to a far-reaching search for answers. What are the most effective methods and tools for documenting the traditional culture? Can traditional culture be a research challenge? To what extent can we get to know it and what role does multidisciplinary research play in this process? What is the role of the field researcher – should they only record or can they be involved, co-create or even influence traditional culture? What are the tasks and duties of a curator of traditional culture exhibitions? Are they allowed to interpret or even create it, or only present it? The last problem that interests us is the role of the recipient of traditional culture – is it to observe or to experience?
We are pleased to invite you to take part in the plenary session and three thematic sessions. All submitted papers will be evaluated anonymously by the members of the Scientific Committee. The organisers reserve the right to select the papers that will be presented at the conference.
Important dates/deadlines:
- 4.04.2022 – Deadline for submission proposals
- 24.04.2022 – Abstracts evaluation by the Scientific Committee of the conference, author notification on acceptance or rejection of the proposed topic of conference paper
- 2.05.2022 – announcement of the framework programme of the conference
Proposals for 20-minutes presentation should include a short abstract (approx. 300 words), a title, a short bio (half page), institutional affiliation, email address, and should be sent to the organisers representative Beata Piecha-van Schagen (ptlbytom@gmail.com) by 4 April 2022.