Perspectives on Contemporary Legend. International Society for Contemporary Legend Research 32nd International Conference
Abstract
International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR), one of the most important international learned societies devoted to the study of folklore, has been founded in 1988 in Sheffield, England, United Kingdom. Its intellectual roots can be traced to the early 1980s, when now legendary "Sheffield seminars" were held at the University of Sheffield Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language.
These seminars, organized mostly by folklorists Paul Smith and Gillian Bennett and focused on study of contemporary/urban/modern legends, followed the increased academical interest in these actual forms of expressive culture. Following the success of these scholarly meetings, the international society was formed, which can be now regarded as the most important international community devoted to the legend studies.
Since 1988, the Perspectives on Contemporary Legend conferences are held annualy alternately in North America (USA or Canada) and Europe. This year, the conference has been held for the first time in one of the post-socialist countries, organized jointly by the Institute of Ethnology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague and the ISCLR.
The conference was one of the biggest conference events ever conducted in Czech ethnology/anthropology since the EASA 2nd Biennal Conference held in Prague in 1992 and biggest folklore conference ever organized there since the ISFNR Interim Conference held in Liblice in 1966. During six days of the conference, 54 conference participants from 15 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom, USA) presented 38 papers divided to 9 thematical panels.