First call for papers for the literacy conference "Vernacular  
Literacies  – Past, Present and Future" on 13–15 June 2012 at the  
Department of Language Studies, Umeå University<http://www.umu.se/english/?languageId=1 
 >, Sweden.


ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Literacy practices have become increasingly prominent features in  
everyday life, especially in social media through digital technology.  
However, vernacular literacy is not a new phenomenon. The written word  
has been used for everyday purposes throughout history – in other  
media and using different technology. Whether historical or modern,  
vernacular literacy practices have arisen out of everyday needs and  
have not been formally regulated by institutions or organisations  
linked to education, religion or the work-place.

We hereby invite researchers to submit conference papers that  
illustrate vernacular literacy in the Nordic countries at different  
periods of time: in the past, the present or looking into the future.  
We look forward to contributions from a variety of disciplines such as  
linguistics, history, education, folklore, literature and book history.

The conference is multilingual. Conference information will be given  
in Swedish and English. Conference papers will be presented in  
Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or English. For further details about the  
conference, visit the conference website<http://eventus.trippus.se/vernacularliteracy2012 
 >.

PLENARY SPEAKERS
Professor David Barton<http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/profiles/David-Barton/ 
 >, Lancaster University
Professor Deborah Brandt<http://www.english.wisc.edu/people/faculty/brandt.html 
 >, University of Wisconsin-Madison

IMPORTANT DATES
15 September 2011. Second call for papers.
13 January 2012. Deadline for submissions of abstracts.
13 February 2012. Notification of acceptance of abstracts.
15 April 2012. Registration deadline.

ORGANISERS
The conference is being organised by the Nordic literacy network,  
Vardagligt skriftbruk<http://www.sprak.umu.se/forskning/vardagligt-skriftbruk/ 
 >  (Vernacular Literacies) at Umeå University in cooperation with the  
Nordic research project Reading and Writing from below<http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-corp/ 
 >  at the University of Helsinki.

CONTACT
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Follow us on Twitter: VerLit2012<http://twitter.com/VerLit2012>
Conference website:http://eventus.trippus.se/vernacularliteracy2012

Please forward this call for papers to your colleagues who may be  
interested in attending the conference.

Ann-Catrine Edlund&  Susanne Haugen for the organising committee
Department of Language Studies
Umeå University