2021 Conference call for papers

Call for Papers

Gypsy Lore Society conferences are among the most significant annual scholarly events devoted to Romani Studies worldwide. Each year the event is located in a different place, and is organized by the Gypsy Lore Society in cooperation with local academic institutions.

The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Romani Studies is scheduled for 8–11 September 2021 and will be held in Prague. The academic conference will take place September 8 through September 10. An excursion to the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno is planned for September 11.

The 2020 Conference planned for Prague and organized together with Charles University had to be postponed due to covid-19 pandemic. We are happy to announce that the location and organizers will stay the same for the 2021 Conference. Taking into account last year‘s experience, the event will be organized as a hybrid conference in order to allow all contributors to participate either in person, if possible, or on-line. Any necessary changes to the conference arrangements will be announced on this website.

We invite contributions on any aspect of Romani Studies and encourage participants from various academic disciplines to propose conference papers. The proposed papers also may reflect the topics and problems covered by open panels organized for the 2020 conference (see the list below). We will not accept new open panel submissions, but new pre-arranged panel proposals can be submitted. Both theoretical studies and empirical contributions, including good fieldwork presentations, are welcome. We also welcome contributions that reflect on latest developments and effects of the covid-19 pandemic in different Romani communities and Roma-related fields.

The deadline for submission of paper abstracts and prearranged panel proposals is 7 March 2021. Authors will be notified whether their proposals have been accepted by 31 March 2021.

Papers and panels already accepted for the 2020 conference do not have to be resubmitted again. We ask all authors and panel convenors only to confirm their participation in the 2021 conference with their contribution as it was accepted for the 2020 event. Please let us know as soon as possible but no later than 7 March 2021. Papers and panels not confirmed by this date will be cancelled. In case you´d like to present a different paper, just submit a new proposal by the deadline indicated.

Each conference attendee may submit only one individual paper proposal and one co-authored paper proposal. Papers should be planned to last 20 minutes with an additional 10 minutes allotted for discussion. All new papers and prearranged panel proposals will undergo peer review by the Academic Committee.

Individual paper proposals should include:

  • Name(s), email address(es) and affiliation of the author(s)

  • Title of the paper and abstract of the paper, not shorter than 200 words and not longer than 400 words (excluding references)

  • Indication whether the paper is proposed as an individual paper, or as a contribution to a particular open panel (see the list of accepted open panels below).

Prearranged panel proposals should contain:

  • Name(s), email address(es) and affiliation of the convenor(s) and participants

  • Title and abstract of the panel (300-500 words)

  • Titles of included papers and their abstracts (not shorter than 200 words and not longer than 400 words, excluding references).

All proposals should be submitted in doc, docx or rtf format to: gls2021Prague@ff.cuni.cz.

Please note that in order to prepare the conference for any possible change at the last moment and eliminate technical complications, all presentations must be prepared in advance and sent to the organizers by 20 August 2021 (including those by participants who decide to present in person as well as those planning to present on-line). We accept presentations prepared as word documents, powerpoints or other presentation formats. For on-line presentations we especially welcome and encourage participants to submit pre-prepared presentations with recorded voice or other video formats that can be played at the conference with the author joining only for the following discussion. Participants will receive further detailed instructions on the preparation and upload of their presentations after the announcement of accepted contributions.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at gls2021Prague@ff.cuni.cz