17/08/2026
Call for workshops is now open: Empowering Ethnological Research – Exploring Cultural Phenomena and Experiential Knowledge
The XIII Ethnology Days, Turku, March 11.–12, 2027
Research impact has also become an important dimension in the humanities, and research plans are often evaluated on this basis when applying for funding. However, impact can be understood in many different ways, and its assessment is often challenging unless it can be directly measured, as is rarely the case in qualitative research. Nevertheless, research in the humanities and social sciences—particularly the methods used within these fields—is empowering and influential in many ways, often emphasizing interaction between researchers and participants. For example, participatory methods, which aim to enable an active role for participants in research, are widely used across disciplines.
At the XIII Ethnology Days, we reflect on the impact of ethnological research from various perspectives. Impact can be understood as the broader benefit of research to society, as immediate effects on participants, and as collaboration between different actors. We ask why a cultural perspective is important and what experiential knowledge produced by ethnological research actually is. How do we engage in collaboration with research participants and societal partners, and how can ethnological research empower people?
We invite proposals for workshops for the XIII Ethnology Days. We encourage the workshops to ponder upon the effects of ethnological research and knowledge, and the benefits it produces. For example, participants may consider how research impact can be assessed when studying the experiences of individuals and local communities; how experiential knowledge can influence the surrounding world; and how it can be utilized at different levels of society. How is experiential knowledge shared via digital technologies and platforms, and how can researchers enhance digital participation? We also welcome workshops discussing the role of museums and other cultural organizations in conducting research and contemporary documentation as well as distributing knowledge.
Please submit your workshop proposal (maximum 350-word abstract) by September 30, 2026, to Seminar Secretary Terhi Kokko, seminarsecretary(at)ethnosry.org. Proposals may be open (only the theme of the workshop specified) or pre-organized (both the theme and speakers are identified, including presentation of a research project). Workshop sessions will last between 1.5 and 2 hours. If necessary, please indicate any preference for the timing of the workshop.
Keynote speakers:
PhD Sandi Abram is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Ljubljana. His work explores sensory-affective transformations in urban contexts, with a particular focus on urban cultures, atmospheres, memory, and non-institutional creative practices (e.g. street art, graffiti, craft, and tattoos). His research draws on sensory anthropology, walking methodologies, as well as digital, collaborative, and multimodal ethnography to explore how people experience and shape their environments. His recent works have appeared in journals such as Urban Planning, Ethnologia Fennica, Street Art and Urban Creativity Journal, and Traditiones.
Kim Silow Kallenberg is an Associate Professor of Ethnology at Södertörn University and, since autumn 2025, also Director of Research at the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS). Her research focuses on cultural perspectives on social issues and health in a broad sense. In an ongoing project, she explores university academics’ experiences of stress and burnout in relation to work in academia. She has developed ethnographic research methods utilizing e.g. creative writing, autoethnography and ethnographic fiction. She has published a monograph Sörjbara liv (2021) and several journal articles e.g. in Kulturella Perspektiv, RIG, Journal of Autoethnography, and Ethnologia Scandinavica. She has also written to several studybooks of Ethnology.
PhD Kirsi Sonck-Rautio works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oulu. She is an environmental ethnologist specialized in political ecology and posthumanism. Her research addresses marine environments and coastal regions and archipelagos, local knowledge related to environmental crises and decision making, sustainability of everyday life and human-nature relationships. She applies ethnographic research methods. She has published in several journals e.g. Maritime Studies, Ethnologia Fennica, Ethnologia Scandinavica, Futures, Current Research in environmental sustainability as well as Alue & Ympäristö.
