University of Tartu to Host Finno-Ugric Students Conference IFUSCO
From May 8 to 11, 2012, the University of Tartu will play host to the 28th international Finno-Ugric students conference IFUSCO, one of the most important annual events that bring together students of Finno-Ugric languages and cultures.
The chief aims of the conference are to facilitate the establishment of contacts between students, to shed light on new research, and to popularize Finno-Ugric studies. This year's conference will be attended by nearly 150 students together with their supervisors. The participants include representatives of almost all the Finno-Ugric peoples from Russia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Germany, and other countries.
The conference will be held at the University of Tartu and feature presentations on linguistics, ethnography, folkloristics, archaeology, history, museology, literature, translation theory, sociology, law, education, and economics. All presentations are free and open to the public.
In addition to the presentations, the conference program includes cultural events, museum visits, and a field trip to Setomaa. On May 11, the conference will end with a discussion of the literatures of Finno-Ugric peoples held in cooperation with the literature festival Prima Vista.
The first IFUSCO was held in 1984 at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Previously, the conference has been held in Estonia twice: in 1990 in Tartu and in 2000 in Tallinn.
Sigrid Maasen