3rd International Interdisciplinary DEAGENCY Conference
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The Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, invites you to the 3rd International Interdisciplinary Conference The Agency of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals: Communication with the Dead, organised as part of the ERC project The Role of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals in Contemporary Society (DEAGENCY, ERC No. 101095729). The conference will take place at the Faculty of Arts from 1 to 3 July 2026 and will be held in English.
In contrast to premodern European societies and many contemporary non-Western societies, where the dead are regarded as members of the community and are significantly integrated into everyday lives, the dominant Western ontology today does not include communication between the living and the dead. However, research shows that for many people in contemporary Western societies, social interaction does not end with death but merely changes form. The dead often remain involved in our lives and continue to influence our thoughts, emotions, values, behavior, and social relationships.
The third DEAGENCY conference aims to focus on various forms of communication between the living and the dead. While in the past, ways of communicating with the dead were largely prescribed by tradition and religion, today individuals are free to engage in their own practices without having to adhere to prescribed methods; in the fragmented and networked society of privatised death, they may not even have a community with whom to share their practices.
The conference will address both intentional and unintentional forms of interaction with the dead; encounters with both known and unknown deceased persons; and both collective and private practices of communication with the dead. We will also explore communication through dreams and other altered states of consciousness, visions, communication through mediums or other specialists, various practices of “summoning the dead”, online communication with spirits, and related phenomena.
#deagency #ercproject #anthropology #ethnology #international #interdisciplinary #conference #fieldwork
In contrast to premodern European societies and many contemporary non-Western societies, where the dead are regarded as members of the community and are significantly integrated into everyday lives, the dominant Western ontology today does not include communication between the living and the dead. However, research shows that for many people in contemporary Western societies, social interaction does not end with death but merely changes form. The dead often remain involved in our lives and continue to influence our thoughts, emotions, values, behavior, and social relationships.
The third DEAGENCY conference aims to focus on various forms of communication between the living and the dead. While in the past, ways of communicating with the dead were largely prescribed by tradition and religion, today individuals are free to engage in their own practices without having to adhere to prescribed methods; in the fragmented and networked society of privatised death, they may not even have a community with whom to share their practices.
The conference will address both intentional and unintentional forms of interaction with the dead; encounters with both known and unknown deceased persons; and both collective and private practices of communication with the dead. We will also explore communication through dreams and other altered states of consciousness, visions, communication through mediums or other specialists, various practices of “summoning the dead”, online communication with spirits, and related phenomena.
#deagency #ercproject #anthropology #ethnology #international #interdisciplinary #conference #fieldwork
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Where is it happening?
Filozofska fakulteta UL, Aškerčeva cesta 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherERC Project Deagency
