Call for the special issue of Slovak Ethnology/Slovenský národopis, volume 71, number 4/2023, on the topic of Contemporary holidays and their transformations.

Until recently, ethnology and anthropology studied holidays and celebrations as a tool of maintaining stability and continuity of social groups and institutions. Festivities and celebrations functioned as non-everyday forms of communication, renewing and celebrating common idiosyncrasies and promoting togetherness and solidarity. They were an expression and a necessary prerequisite for the creation of individual identity and social order.

In modern society, which itself is subject to further internal changes (see Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck), festive culture is influenced by a dynamic process of transformation. The more open forms of public festivities have lost their function of rituals promoting fellowship, solidarity, and identity. Holidays in both the public and private spheres are losing their meaningful relationship and commemorative dimension in the process of secularization and religious individualization. New rituals are being added to the ways of experiencing them, but also new activities (such as trips, relaxation, shopping) are replacing rituals. Old forms of pre-industrial ritual acts and customs shifted into the area of popular entertainment and organised experiences. According to Klaus Roth (2008), changes in European culture at the turn of the millennium were significantly influenced by festivalisation. The offer of cultural experiences penetrates more and more areas of our social contacts. Pre-arranged and thoroughly managed events have taken up an important place in marketing strategies and they have become a framework for pursuing the commercial intentions of the organisers. In the view of Winfried Gebhardt (2000), these changes of a global nature can be described as a process of eventisation. Common forms of holidays, celebrations, and cultural actions are enriched with new elements of entertainment and consumption. At the same time, the growing number of events (Ronald Hitzler, 2011) aim at providing an extraordinary experience.

The proposed special issue invites authors to contribute to the topic by addressing some of the following issues:

• Social and individual holiday practice: internal and external changes in the field of holidays, family rituals and public ceremonies,
• Models of holiday celebrations – relaxing, performance, self-perception, extraordinary experience,
• Urban events and multi-genre urban festivals,
• Holidays and heritisation,
• Rural and urban festivities, festivals, events – the commodification of heritage and spatial marketing,
• The commercial potential of rural and urban festivities, festivals, and events as an effective tool for tourism and economic development,
• Structure of the holiday and festival calendar in the 21st century and the ways of celebrating them,
• “New” holidays as a new opportunity for celebration,
• The secularisation of Christian holidays,
• The holidays during the COVID-19 pandemics in 2020–2022,
• Ritual as a tool for creating social ties and cooperation between participants, festivities and festival.

Contributors are kindly requested to submit their abstracts and keywords to: https://journals.savba.sk/index.php/slovenskynarodopis/about/submissions

no later than 30th April 2023.

The final manuscripts will be expected no later than 31st July, 2023. They should be submitted through the editorial system of Slovak Ethnology.

Call for the special issue of Slovak Ethnology/Slovenský národopis, volume 71, number 3/2023, on the topic The design theory and practice from the perspective of humanities and social sciences: Interdisciplinary approaches

Guest editors:
Veronika Kotradyová (Faculty of Architecture and Design, STU in Bratislava)
Dean Lipovac (Innorenew, University of Primorska, Slovenia)
Carina Dantas (SHINE 2 Europe, Portugal)

In the past decades, many design theories and practices have shown a common interest in the humanities and social sciences studies, their theories, and their methodology. Practitioners from scientific fields such as social anthropology, ethnology, psychology, or sociology have provided specific knowledge and perspective on design theory and practice. Specifically, in the area of human-centred design, they have generated interdisciplinary projects providing complex insight into various themes related to the built environment and material culture.

This special issue of Slovak Ethnology invites authors to contribute to the topic by addressing various aspects of this interrelation, such as: 

• Interdisciplinary studies of the relation of the built environment/material culture to human everyday life and well-being;
• Human-centred design and the application of approaches of social sciences (particularly design anthropology) and humanities in this area;
• Universal design and the application of methodologies and methods of social sciences and humanities in this area;
• Interdisciplinary approaches to design thinking and practice that are oriented towards particular social groups (older adults/seniors, disabled people, etc.);
• Critical design practice and its perspective on current societal issues (public health, environmental crisis, and others) through the lenses of social sciences and humanities;
• Interdisciplinary approach in designing restorative environments;
• Participatory approach in design.

Contributors are kindly requested to submit their abstracts and keywords directly through the editorial system of Slovak Ethnology later than 15 March 2023, HERE.

The final manuscripts will be expected no later than 15 June 2023. They should not exceed 6,250 words or 45,000 characters, including spaces, notes, and references, and should follow the journal's guidelines for authors accessible.

This special issue of Slovak Ethnology is thematically related to the Erasmus+ project DESIRE - DESIgn for all methods to cREate age-friendly housing (no. 2020-1-SK01-KA202-078245) and will feature collaborative work and publications of the COST Action NET4Age-Friendly (CA19136 | International Interdisciplinary Network on Smart Healthy Age-friendly Environments).

Call for the next issue of Slovenský národopis/Slovak Ethnology, volume 71, number 2/2023
 
In the open call, the journal editors welcome original analytical, theoretical, or synthesising articles, contributing to current debates in social sciences and humanities, as well as essays, discussions, book reviews, and book essays.
 
Only authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper. An invitation to submit a full paper does not constitute a commitment for publication; all papers will be subject to anonymous peer review following the submission.
 
Please, follow the guidelines for submissions on the website of Slovak Ethnology/ Slovenský národopis: https://uesa.sav.sk/slovensky-narodopis/
 
Submission date for abstracts: December 31, 2022
Submission date for manuscripts: February 28, 2023
Language: English
 
Contributors are kindly requested to submit their abstracts and keywords directly through the editorial system of Slovenský národopis/Slovak Ethnology no later than December 31, 2022: https://journals.savba.sk/index.php/slovenskynarodopis/login
 
The selected manuscripts are expected no later than February 28, 2023. The text should not exceed 6,250 words or 45,000 characters, including spaces, notes and references, and should follow the Journal´s guidelines for authors.