The seventh annual online symposium will examine how we adopt, adapt, and abandon festive, celebratory, and ritual cultures. Among the questions to be addressed are: Who adopts the practices and values of another culture and how does it happen? How much of the original culture remains and how much of the newly adopted culture is maintained? How and/or why do people choose another culture as their own? And what aspects of the adopted culture are they learning? Under what conditions do people adapt to culture? And how are behaviours, attitudes and practices adapted to align with both the ‘home’ culture and adapted cultures? Do some people adapt to cultures better than others, and why? What might be the reasons for abandoning a culture? Are there any feelings or emotions that might lead to abandonment of a culture? Can family and/or peer pressure lead to abandonment?

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As we have done for themes covered by previous symposiums, we will also consider shared values, practices, customs, heritage, traditions, continuity, temporality, uniqueness, and differentiation within festive and celebratory cultures. The intention is to examine how culture is adopted, adapted, and abandoned, and how emotions and experiences are shared and/or autonomously experienced. Additionally, we will consider the degree to which adopted and adapted cultures can be transformed generationally. Camaraderie and the familial heritage associated with cultures also need to be taken into account.

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Proposals may also address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

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• Aesthetics

• Art, craft, and practice

• Ambivalence

• Carnivals (including diasporic carnivals)

• Celebration and leisure

• Competition, adjudication, and legacy

• Costumes

• Creative industries

• Culture and politics

• Cultural values and beliefs

• Dance and performance 

• Embodiment 

• Events 

• Festivals

• Food culture 

• Gatherings

• Learning and teaching (formal, non-formal and informal)

• Medieval culture (including historical re-enactment)

• Memory and nostalgia

• Music and sound 

• Night festivals

• Religious culture (including faith, ideology, rites, and customs)

• Rituals

• Resistance, resilience, and activism

• Space and place

• Sporting celebrations

• Temporality and liminality

• Tradition and heritage 

• Tourism

• Youth culture

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Abstracts of up to 500-word (only abstracts/papers that have not been previously presented and published will be considered) and biographies of no more than 100 words (in Word .doc format).

 

Key Dates:

Key Dates:

• 500-word Abstract Proposal Submission Deadline: 30th April 2026 

• Completed Presentation Deadline: 6th May 2026

• Expected Publication: 2026/2027

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