The sixth Anderson Lecture will be given by the distinguished Göttingen-based folklorist and literary scholar, Hans-Jörg Uther. He is best known for his work on the internationally-used Aarne-Thompson-Uther index of folktales and the authorship of the Handbuch zu den „Kinder- und Hausmärchen“ der Brüder Grimm. Entstehung – Wirkung – Interpretation. He has also edited the series Die Märchen der Weltliteratur and the journal Fabula, and has been a major contributor to the Enzyklopädie des Märchens. His lecture in Tartu links folk narrative studies with disability studies.

Hans- Jörg Uther will present the Worldviews about Disabled Persons in Folktales. The depiction of disabled people clearly shows the dual value of folktales. On the one hand, blind people are portrayed as role models in folktales, but on the other hand, they are exposed to biting ridicule like other social groups. How the person telling the story evaluates the role of disabled people and what religious and ideological ideas are associated with it is shown using examples from European folk traditions.