Workshop on Oral Literature in Modernity: Documentation, Preservation, and Interpretation

This two-day workshop brings together leading scholars of linguistics, anthropology, philology, and cultural studies to explore the fate of oral traditions in the modern world. It examines how oral literature is documented, preserved, and interpreted across diverse contexts, from Zoroastrian prayers and Indo-Iranian hymns to Neo-Aramaic folktales, Ethiopian heroic recitals, Armenian narratives, and contemporary digital archiving challenges.

Day One focuses on orality, textuality, and religious traditions, with sessions on ethical and rights-based issues in documentation, translation and performance, Fereydani Georgian oral culture, Indo-Iranian poetic transmission, Zoroastrian ritual and Monājāt, and the interplay between oral and written forms in Avestan texts.

Day Two turns to cross-cultural comparison and sustainability, featuring Ethiopian war songs, Neo-Aramaic and Kurdish folklore, Armenian oral narratives, protocols for Iranian linguistic documentation, and reflections on the sustainability of digital archives. The event concludes with a keynote on the World Oral Literature Project fifteen years on.

Alongside academic presentations, the workshop emphasises collaboration, ethics, and community engagement, creating a platform to rethink the preservation of endangered oral traditions within both scholarly and community frameworks.

To download the Workshop Programme and Abstracts follow the link below.