The aims of the conference at the 70th anniversary of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, which took place in Ljubljana between 25 and 27 November 2010, were to stimulate a discussion on various aspects of essentialism, foreground a critique of methodological nationalism, and direct 21st century anthropology towards a quest for and reflection upon alternative paradigms. As part of the conference, we organised a workshop on applicative anthropology, where we also presented our own research on festivals and locality.
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 44425826Six festivals in the town of Tolmin are compared. The town’s "festival fabric" is at present heterogeneously composed, containing both locally and non-locally organised festivals. As such it forms a balanced composition, which is less vulnerable to economic crisis, such is the present one. The concept of "production of locality" proposed by Arjun Appadurai is employed to speak of the importance of locally organised festivals, which drive more on local identity than on profit, and are therefore in the times of economic crisis less exposed to financial uncertainty as the mass commercial events.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 43379554Festivals are nowadays considered a useful tool for branding places. As they are both attached to places and at the same time connect them with the outside world, they are used as channels in situ for informing the global arena about places. In terms of branding, a successful festival is one which is able to disseminate the imaginary of a place along transnational communication channels that link-up with the subculture of which the festival is a component.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 44925794The village of Topolò / Topolove in Italy lies in the immediate vicinity of the Italian-Slovenian border. During the Cold War the area experienced political repression, which caused mass emigration of locals to industrial towns around the world. When in the 1990s the geopolitical map of the world changed, the Stazione / Postaja avant-garde festival brought a positive message to the few remaining villagers. It did this on several levels: it commented on past political reality; it brought in artists from all over the world; and it carried the village’s name across the globe, bringing about a feeling of openness.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 49320546It is somewhat paradoxical that pop festivals, especially the heavy metal festival Metal Camp, have become one of the most prominent forms of tourism in the Slovenian town of Tolmin. However, since festivals put the marginal town "on the (global) map", this can be explained through the importance of tourism, and thus festivals, for local identification. The paper focuses on the ideological aspects of tourism, including its contribution to tourism development and place-making.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 48816738