I'm looking for scholars, researchers, and practitioners who'd like to join a proposed panel for the AAS 2026 Conference at LUMS. I'm putting together a panel that explores South Asian folkloric traditions from interdisciplinary, decolonial, and community-centered perspectives.
I'm interested in papers that look at the richness, evolution, and contemporary relevance of folklore across South Asia. This can include (but definitely isn't limited to):
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Oral storytelling, epics, ballads, and myths
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Folkloric performance traditions (music, dance, theatre)
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Ritual, belief, and cosmology
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Material culture, crafts, and artisanal knowledge
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Folklore in digital, diasporic, or urban spaces
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Gender, caste, or community identity in folklore
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Colonial archives, memory, and reclaiming folkloric knowledge
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Modern reinterpretations of folklore in media and literature
I'm open to a wide range of approaches-historical, ethnographic, literary, digital humanities, anthropology, performance studies, and other interdisciplinary work.
Feel free to reach out with a 250-300 words abstract at sameera.abbas@lums.edu.pk
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Sameera Abbas
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
abbas-sameera@yahoo.com------------------------------