Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Elaine Lawless
Professor of English
University of Missouri
By questioning how we consciously and unconsciously create our conception
(and perception) of space (be it communal, regional, national, or global, at
family level, the work place, in the Academia, etc.) we can tackle infinitude
of topics that can lead us into a better understanding of culture and the
beings that embark in the quest to create/invent/imagine culture.
The topic is meant to be incredibly vast and ambiguous. Part of the general
goals of the Conference is to force its participants to push the boundaries,
both at personal-academic levels, and of the discipline in general. The main
goal of this year’s conference is to force us to question how we perceive our
world, both as academics and as members of a community.

We have chosen to organize it into five categories of presentation, which we
are tentatively considering sessions; however, the modes of presentation are
necessarily open for discussion and will partly depend on the proposals we
receive. Initially the categories are:
- Theory
- Applied work
- Technology
- Field work
- Alternative modes of representation

DEADLINE EXTENDED!
Abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words and are due by February 15th, 2006
via email to folkethn@indiana.edu. Please list Spring Conference in subject
heading. Abstracts should be sent as attachments using either MS Word or RTF
formats, and names should be left off the attachment. Acceptance notification
will be via email and will be sent beginning March 1st 2006.
Panel proposals are also welcome. Please send proposal for panel abstract with
paper abstracts. We will also be organizing forums for presenters who have
works in progress who would like to present but feel that their work isn’t at
a stage for a formal presentation. These will be grouped into similar topic
areas for discussions.

Download the registration form here.

Pushing Boundaries is a conference intended to allow graduate
students in folklore, ethnomusicology, and related disciplines to present
materials that expand the boundaries of the conference format and the
theoretical orientations of our respective disciplines.
Run and directed by graduate students, this conference provides an
opportunity to engage in formal discourse with students from various
universities and programs in our scholarly community. We will focus
on providing a less intimidating environment for presenting new and
forward-thinking ideas.

Questions about submissions or the conference should be emailed to Mintzi Martinez at minmarti@indiana.edu.