Annual Symposiums

Annual Symposiums

2013:

“Upside Down & Inside Out: Festivals as Transgressive Performance”

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Thompson Room, Barker Center

Please click here for more details, including location and a schedule of talks!

2012:

“Grimm Legacies”

February 3 & 4, 2012

Thompson Room, Barker Center

Please click here for more details: schedule, speakers, and info on pre-registration!

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of the tales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Program in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University will host a symposium to be held on February 3 and 4, 2012.

“Grimm Legacies” takes as its premise a line (“pasted on for eternity”) from Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” and adds a question mark to the phrase to interrogate the seemingly timeless and universal hold of the cultural stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, will deliver the keynote address.

2011:

“African Dance Diaspora: A Symposium on Embodied Knowledge”

March 25 - 27, 2011

Lowell Lecture Hall

Please click here for schedule, attendees, and panel topics.

African DANCE DIASPORA is a symposium that will gather nationally and internationally recognized scholars, dancers, and musicians to perform and discuss embodied knowledge in the context of the African Diaspora, where embodied knowledge and bodily practice figure powerfully in human life ways, social organization, and systems of belief.

Inspired by the growing body of work in Africa and on Embodiment by Harvard scholars and students alike, this event aims to expand scholarly inquiry and discussion by integrating many facets of embodied practice into its program. From Friday, March 25th, 2011 to Sunday, March 27th, 2011 African DANCE DIASPORA will offer a series of innovative inquiries into dance, music and embodied knowledge.

2010:

“Singers and Tales in the 21st Century: The Legacies of Milman Parry and Albert Lord”

December 3 - 5, 2010

Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall

Ticknor Lounge, Boylston Hall

Amy Lowell Room, Houghton Library

Please click here for schedule, attendees, and panel topics.

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Albert Lord’s seminal Singer of Tales, and the 75th anniversary of the death of his mentor Milman Parry, the originator of what has come to be known as the Oral-Formulaic Theory. In honor of the work and continuing influence of these two pathfinding scholars, the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature at Harvard University will convene a conference on oral studies and the Parry-Lord legacy at the beginning of the 21st century. Some 30 scholars from around the world will present papers on theoretical and practical aspects of the study of oral traditions.

Please also visit the Milman Parry Collection website for more details on the symposium - including email address for registration (which is free) and information on area hotels.

2010:

"Fire on the Mountain: A Bluegrass Symposium"

Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010

Thompson Room, Barker Center

Please click here for schedule, attendees, and panel topics.

For pictures from this event, please click here.

2009:

"Legends of Landscape, Narratives of Nature"

Friday, Feb. 13 & Sat., Feb. 14, 2009

Thompson Room, Barker Center

For schedule and pictures, click here.