A remarkable congress and a popular general secretary: CIAP/SIEF, Arnhem 1955 and Jorge Dias

Résumé 0

The text presents the Commission Internationale des Arts et Traditions Populaires (CIAP), the international organization of ethnology and folklore established in 1928, which was transformed into SIEF - Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore - in 1964, thus celebrating its 83rd anniversary in 2011. The focus is on its congresses, of which there have been close to twenty, although officially not more than ten. Most attention is placed on the 1955 congress in Arnhem, where the newly elected general secretary of CIAP, the Portuguese ethnologist Jorge Dias, was one of the main protagonists. Furthermore, the text briefly discusses Dias’ relationship to the organization and to European ethnology and folklore, concluding with some remarks on the future of SIEF and the cumbersome name of the organization.