Ensemble of the Kizhi Open-air Museum
The seminar is meant to facilitate the exchange of information on latest field research results, foster professional dialogue among specialists engaged in fieldwork and collection practices on modern methods of systematization, archiving and processing of the collected materials, and on integration of emerging digital technologies for documenting and storing these materials.
The seminar is of interest not only for specialists in folklore studies but also for ethnographers, linguists, anthropologists, historians, musicologists. Recently, researchers of manuscript and book traditions have also joined the seminar.
KarRC RAS CEO Olga Bakhmet
Launching the seminar, KarRC RAS leader Olga Bakhmet reminded the audience that the first seminar was held in 2007. Starting off as an annual event, the seminar has now become biennial. The motivation for organizing such a seminar has been the diversity of both traditional and novel field research methods, which require broad discussion among professionals. The inspiration and driving force behind the seminar throughout these years has been Dr. Valentina Kuznetsova.
-- Valentina Pavlovna was one of the first scholars in Russia to develop and apply digital technologies for the collection and storage of folklore materials, -- said Olga Bakhmet.
Letter of Appreciation presented to Valentina Kuznetsova
Through all this time, the Kizhi Open-air Museum, a partner of the KarRC RAS, has most actively contributed to organizing the seminar. Acknowledging this role, Olga Bakhmet presented letters of appreciation for many years of collaboration to Elena Bogdanova, Director of the Kizhi Museum, and Natalya Mikhailova, the museum’s department head. In turn, a letter of appreciation from the Kizhi Museum was awarded to Valentina Kuznetsova, the seminar organizer.
Olga Bakhmet stressed that while addressing the practical dimension, the seminar also facilitates progress in theoretical matters. Articles based on seminar presentations are published in various scholarly collections, which are unfailingly popular among the professional community.
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Lyudmila Ivanova, Researcher at Folklore and Literature Studies Section ILLH KarRC RAS
One of the first keynote lectures was "The History of the Audio Record Archive of the Institute of Linguistics, Literature, and History KarRC RAS Through the Lens of Staff Expeditionary Work" by Lyudmila Ivanova, Researcher at the Folklore and Literature Studies Section (comprising the Audio Record Archive) of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of KarRC RAS. The speaker noted that the multimedia archive of the ILLH KarRC RAS is currently one of the largest and oldest facilities in the Russian Federation, housing audio and video recordings and photographic materials, as well as scanned copies of the manuscript collection from the scientific archives. Although the archive celebrates its 70th anniversary, materials have actually been collected over the past 90 years – since the late 1930s. Lyudmila Ivanova provided a detailed account of the history of the Audio Record Archive, the scholars who dedicated themselves to this research, the scope of the materials it contains, the technical means used for recording across years, and the modern digitizing methods.
Mariam Kerimova, Leading Researcher at the Department of the Caucasus of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS (Moscow), talked about the expeditions of the brothers B.M. and Yu.M. Sokolov to the Russian North in 1926–1928.
Zurab Dzhapua, President of the Abkhazian Academy of Sciences (Sukhumi)
The topic presented by President of the Abkhazian Academy of Sciences Zurab Dzhapua (Sukhumi) was "The Storyteller – Performing and Recording One’s Repertoire". It was a detailed account of the studies conducted in Abkhazia over the past several decades.
Alexander Teryukov, Scientific Advisor for the Europe Research Center of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography RAS (the Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg), presented the history of the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, which had been transported to Leningrad after WWII as a Soviet trophy.
Natalya Mikhailova, Junior Researcher at the ILLH KarRC RAS and Head of the Department for the Study and Museum Presentation of Folklore Heritage at the Kizhi Open-air Museum, gave a talk titled "Identifying Intangible Ethnocultural Heritage: From Expedition to Publication".
After the plenary session, scientists moved on to thematic sections. The seminar to be continued tomorrow, with a total of over 50 presentations to be delivered.
