Date/Time
Date(s) - 15/10/2025 - 25/12/2025
12:00 am
Location
server room
Categories
CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue of Summerhill: IIAS Review
Theme: Folk Traditions: Identity, Relevance, and Transition in the Indian Scenario
Rooted in the local landscapes, dialects, and collective memories, India’s folk traditions carry forward centuries of wisdom, creativity, and shared experiences. From oral narratives and folk songs to ritualistic performances, foodways, crafts, healing practices, and seasonal festivals, these folk traditions reflect the deep interconnection between people and their environment, community, and faith. However, in the present-day world, shaped by migration, urbanisation, globalisation, and digital transformation, these traditions are constantly changing. The challenge lies in understanding how these living forms of expression negotiate continuity and change, and how they uphold their connotation, vitality, and identity.
Summerhill: IIAS Review, the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners to submit papers for its forthcoming special issue on “Folk Traditions: Identity, Relevance, and Transition in the Indian Scenario.” This issue proposes to celebrate and critically explore the richness, resilience, and transformations of India’s folk traditions as vital expressions of cultural individuality and collective experience. It welcomes contributions focused on the role of folk traditions in shaping the regional, religious, linguistic, and gendered identities. The special issue seeks to compile the original research papers, reflective essays/ creative pieces, and field-based studies on Folk Traditions: Identity, Relevance, and Transition in the Indian Scenario, focusing on different perspectives of viewing the folk traditions under the following sub-themes:
1. Folk Traditions as Expressions of Identity– Exploring regional linguistic dimensions, folk life and everyday practices, and more precisely on:
– Folk Traditions and Regional Identity (customs, rituals, folklore, folk songs, folk dances, attire, ethnic foods)
– Folk Traditions and Identity
– Folk Traditions and Linguistic Identity
– Folk Traditions and Everyday Life
– Folk Traditions and Healing Practices
– Folk Traditions in Fairs and Festivals
2. Folk Traditions and Contemporary Relevance – Examining traditional wisdom and sustainability, creativity and modernity, and more precisely on:
– Folk Traditions, indigenous wisdom and Cultural Sustainability
– Folk Traditions and National Identity
– Folk Traditions and Shared Rituals/Beliefs
– Folk Traditions and Gender
– Folk Traditions and Creativity
3. Folk Traditions in Transition – Understanding the impact of globalisation, migration, urbanisation, change, and digital technology on folk expressions and their preservation.
It encourages multidisciplinary perspectives from fields such as folkloristics, anthropology, literature, history, sociology, cultural studies, performance studies, linguistics, and heritage conservation.
Submission Process and Deadlines
Interested contributors, including scholars, researchers, folklorists, artists, and cultural practitioners involved in exploring these different aspects of India’s living traditions, are invited to submit their manuscript on or before December 25, 2025.
Interdisciplinary and collaborative works that combine academic inquiry with experiential understanding are especially encouraged.
The contributors are requested to strictly adhere to the Author’s Guidelines and, before submitting their manuscript, go through the paper review process and anti-plagiarism policy available on the journal’s webpage.
While submitting their manuscript to the editor at summerhill@iias.ac.in, contributors are also requested to kindly mention “Submission for Special Issue- Folk Traditions: Identity, Relevance, and Transition in the Indian Scenario” in the subject of the email.