UHI Institute for Northern Studies Well Represented at SIEF Congress

The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies was well-represented at the June 2025 congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), hosted this year by the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen, with the theme of ‘unwriting’.

The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies was well-represented at the June 2025 congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), hosted this year by the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen, with the theme of ‘unwriting’.

Ullrich Kockel, (UHI INS) Professor of Creative Ethnology (and former president of SIEF, 2008-13), with Alena Mathis, a doctoral researcher in European ethnology from the University of Bamberg, co-convened a panel and roundtable entitled ‘Unwriting ecological relationality in the humilocene: Exploring the wisdom embodied in land-based craft traditions.’ The well-attended panel explored the intersections of landscape, cultural heritage, and sustainability, and how communities and academic researchers work together creatively in this realm.

The lively roundtable discussion that followed engaged theoretical and historic issues at play, particularly around symbols and language: what is useful, what can be reclaimed, and what needs to be created for sustainable futures?

Three INS postgraduate researchers presented in the panel. Niamh MacKenzie opened the panel with her paper ‘Wild Ethics and Emplaced Craft Research in Rural Communities.’ She reflected on her PhD research, Drystane Dyking: Understanding Cultural Significance and Developing Skills in Scottish Communities. Niamh drew on elements of the term ‘wild ethics’ coined by ecologist and philosopher David Abram to explore ethical approaches to working closely alongside research partners, as well as the ethics of care evident in contemporary dry-stone walling. Niamh’s research is funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) and is a Collaborative Doctoral Award in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). 

Sarah Squire, in the first year of her PhD funded by a UHI studentship, presented ‘Flow and (ex)change: Ecologies of learning for sustainable communities’. Her project explores peer-to-peer collaborations across sustainability education, land work, and culture work in the Highlands, and her paper reflected on the research paradigms that form the basis for the study. Sarah made an argument for learning from Indigenous/Indigenist scholarship, with an emphasis on non-abstract land, sovereignty of local people, and relational accountability. She also explored “thinking with ecologies” as generative for interdisciplinary research.  

Alex Gibbons, who is researching vernacular thatching and the transmission of knowledge for intangible cultural heritage, spoke on ‘Un-Wright-ing: The missing journeyman – The pedagogy of perspective in the craftpersons’ toolbox’.  Alex shared insight on the loss of apprentice-to-master frameworks for vernacular crafts in the UK, and made an argument for training that emphasizes approach and philosophy beyond specific techniques. Alex’s research is also funded by the SGSAH in partnership with HES. 

The panel and roundtable were the official offerings of the SIEF working group on Place Wisdom, of which Sarah was named the new co-chair, and Niamh the secretary.  

The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) is an organisation which provides scholars within the twin fields of ethnology and folklore with a platforms for debate, networking and exchange and to build infrastructures for intellectual co-operation. It also serves as a forum for different professional worlds, bringing together researchers, teachers, students, archivists in addition to museum and heritage professionals.