E.2 The interdisciplinary past of the Uralic linguistic area

We hereby propose a symposium for CIFU2020 with the topic “The Interdisciplinary Past of the Uralic Linguistic Area”. The symposium will cover current insights in linguistic, genetic and archaeological history of the Uralic linguistic area, specifically focusing on work promoting interdisciplinary studies of the human past.

Recent advances in studies of linguistic, genetic and cultural history during the peopling of North-Western Eurasia and Western Siberia have resulted in a wealth of new information, which in turn is leading to new attempts to synthesize a holistic view of the history of the Uralic linguistic area. The present symposium aims at enhancing multidisciplinary discussion and promoting interdisciplinary team-building by providing easy access to the recent progress made in different fields in revealing the linguistic, genetic and archaeological past of the Uralic linguistic area. Until know, natural communication between these disciplines has been hindered by a lack of data-based collaboration as well as discipline-specific jargons; to overcome this the symposium specifically solicits presentations aiming at improving multilateral understanding of the research done across discipline borders.

We invite presentations in any of the related fields ranging from basic studies in linguistics, population genetics and archaeology to applied interdisciplinary approaches. The preference is for presentations bringing a wide perspective on research on linguistic, genetic or cultural history and on the interdisciplinary work on the past of the Uralic linguistic area. Presentations should avoid intra-disciplinary jargon and details, and instead provide easy access to discussion and progress within each field. 

Organisers:

Contact person and the experts evaluating the abstracts are
Outi Vesakoski1,2 (contact person: outves@utu.fi)
Linguists: Rogier Blokland2, Gerson Klumpp3, Karl Pajusalu3
Biologists: Terhi Honkola1,3, Elina Salmela4,5, Päivi Onkamo1,4, Kristiina Tambets6
Archaeologists: Valter Lang1,3, Kerkko Nordqvist7

1 University of Turku, Finland
2 Uppsala University, Sweden
3 University of Tartu, Estonia
4 University of Helsinki, Finland
5 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
6 Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia
7 University of Oulu, Finland