LU LFMI

Exhibitions on the history of the folklore movement in Latvia

Welcome to two exhibitions curated by LU LFMI researchers on the history of the folklore movement in Latvia.

1) The on-site exhibition “The Third Awakening and the Folklore Movement: Forces and Events" is on view at the National Library of Latvia’s Draugu Telpa (Friends Room) until 1 March this year. The exhibition was curated by Toms Ķencis and Aigars Lielbārdis and designed by Krišs Salmanis. The exhibition highlights the most significant events in the history of the folklore movement until 1990. There is also a display of artifacts from the personal archive of ethnomusicologist Valdis Muktupāvelis, a participant in the folklore movement.

2) The virtual exhibition "The folklore movement in Latvia" presents an extended version of the history of the folklore movement. Researchers’ texts, narratives by participants of the folklore movement, photographs, audio and video sources, documents of the era, and an animated map cover various topics: the origins of the folklore movement in the 1970s, the role of the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, the 1978 concert and the Daugava Festival, the chronology of the emergence of folklore ensembles, the formation of the movement's style, the revival of folk instruments, the visuality of the movement, institutionalization and review concerts, the Aizpute gathering, informal events, sources of folklore and education, the influence of the KGB, the monumental 150th anniversary of Krišjānis Barons, Latvian folklore ensembles in the West, the international folklore festival "Baltica" and the involvement of the movement's members in the political events of the Singing Revolution. The events of the folklore movement are paralleled by a news ticker with events in Latvia and the world at the time.

2024 at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia

This year has been vibrant, significant, and eventful at the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia. We are thrilled about what has been accomplished and planned, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who collaborated with us this year.

Defence of Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde doctoral thesis

On December 9th at 12:00 Digne Udre-Lielbarde will defend her doctoral thesis “Latvian Folk Ornament and Mythology Nexus as a Revival: Contested Historical Layers, Visualized Ideologies, and Commodified Creativity”.

The dissertation is theoretically grounded in folklore studies and explores the combination of folk ornament and mythology in Latvian culture. Besides exploring folk ornament in contemporary settings shaped by a neoliberal market economy, the dissertation analyzes the origins of the folk ornament and mythology nexus, showing it to be rooted in interwar Latvia (1918–1940) and the works of Latvian artist Ernests Brastiņš (1892–1942). As argued in the dissertation, the origins of folk ornament and mythology nexus and its further development is best approached as a folk revival characterized by a renewed, politically motivated interest in and appreciation of traditional cultural expressions, involving their rediscovery, reinterpretation, and popularization. Covering different periods in the history of Latvia, the dissertation explores the restrictions imposed on the interpretation of folk ornament by the Soviet occupation regime during the Stalinist period and how they played out in the intellectual biography of Latvian artist Jēkabs Bīne (1895–1955). Another period analyzed is the Singing Revolution (1986–1991) with the popularity of the eight-pointed star as one of the main visual symbols of the independence movement. Addressing contested topics, the dissertation explores the contemporary uses of ugunskrusts, the local variation of the swastika, and how they correlate with the interpretation of WWII in Latvian collective memory. Using ethnographic interviews, archival and media materials, the dissertation consists of four publications and an extensive introductory chapter, which contextualizes this research in the theory of visuality and social movement studies, Soviet postcolonial theory, and collective memory studies.

Information source.

100th anniversary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore

On December 2, the centenary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, as well as the tenth anniversary of the digital archive garamantas.lv, was celebrated at the Latvian National Library's Ziedonis Hall.

At the event, the archive were welcomed by Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia (1999-2007), folk song researcher and Honorary Patron of the 100th Anniversary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, Anda Čakša, Minister of Education and Science, Agnese Lāce, Minister of Culture, Dagnija Baltiņa, Director of the National Library of Latvia, and many other guests.

International Conference “Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10”

From 29 to 31 October, an international research conference “Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10” will take place in Riga. The conference is one of the events of the 100^th anniversary year of the Archives of Latvian Folklore. This academic forum will bring together researchers from different fields of the humanities and social sciences to discuss the past of traditional archives and their future perspectives - the past 100 years and the next 10.

The conference is organized by the Archives of Latvian Folklore, ILFA UL, in cooperation with the SIEF Working Group on Archives and the SIEF Working Group on Cultural Heritage and Property as well as in collaboration with Riga City Council. The conference will feature altogether 34 presentations by scholars from 17 countries. The authors of the plenary lectures are Maryna Chernyavska from Canada and Sanita Reinsone from Latvia, ILFA UL.

The conference will also be available to everyone via streaming at https://www.facebook.com/lulfmi/ and https://www.youtube.com/@LFK1924.

Conference Programme (PDF)

Abstracts (PDF)

What is Soviet girls' literature and where can we find it in the Baltics?

Lecture in English "What is Soviet girls' literature and where can we find it in the Baltics?" by Johanna Ross, which will take place on 2 October at 13.00 at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art (Latvian National Library, Mūkusalas iela 3).

Since the 1990s, literature for girls has been established as a noteworthy subfield of women's writing. In the preface to their seminal volume, "What Katy Read" (1995), Shirley Foster and Judy Simons highlight the need to analyse popular girls' books against the era of their writing and publication, the surrounding cultural climate and gender ideologies. In this vein it is worth asking: what messages are conveyed to girl readers in the Soviet Union, with its infamously contradictory gender politics?

This talk introduces some Thaw- and Stagnation-era Estonian and Latvian books about girls and for girls, by authors such as Anna Brodele, Zenta Ērgle, Silvia Rannamaa, and others. It is proposed that those works constitute a distinctive cluster of Soviet girls' literature, standing out against the earlier, predominantly masculine Soviet children's and youth literature. An attempt is made to outline the defining traces of this cluster and to initiate a discussion on what these books tell their young readers about girlhood.

Johanna Ross is currently doing post-doctoral research on Soviet Estonian and Latvian girls' literature at ILFA. In 2018, she defended her PhD thesis on Soviet Estonian women's Bildungsromane and ways of reading them. Her interests include women's writing, Soviet literature, Estonian literary history, and the history of literary criticism. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Keel ja Kirjandus (Language and Literature).

The research is funded by the Estonian Research Council through the project "Gender Patterns in Late Soviet Estonian Girls' Novellas" (PUTJD1207).

Cultural heritage in war: online lecture series

Researchers from the Data4UA project, which brings together partners from Latvia, Ukraine, Greece and Slovenia, invite you to online lectures on the preservation, research and restoration of cultural heritage under military threat. Particular attention will be paid to the role of society and higher education institutions in caring for Ukraine's cultural heritage since Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.

A total of six lectures will take place, the upcoming ones on 17 September, 24 September and 2 October at 16.00. The lectures will be in English (with a partial translation into Ukrainian) and will take place via the online platform Zoom. Everyone is welcome to attend, but registration is required in advance.

ILFA’s leading researcher spotlighted in the “Nature”

On September 11, 2024, "Nature" featured an in-depth look at the challenging circumstances faced by Ukrainian science amidst the war. The article showcased the significant effort of the #ScienceForUkraine NGO, led by Sanita Reinsone from the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia to support Ukrainian scholars. In the interview, Reinsone reflects on the history of this initiative, which began as a personal endeavor in February 2022 and quickly evolved into a large-scale organization involving over 130 volunteer scholars and students from 30 countries at its peak. Over the years, the #ScienceForUkraine has collaborated with many national and international scale science organizations, such as the International Science Council, ALLEA, EBSCO, and others.

The Latvian Association of Young Scientists was instrumental in the formation of #ScienceForUkraine with its Board member Matīss Reinfelds being in the leadership team. Additionally, numerous researchers and students from several Latvian higher education and research institutions have participated in #ScienceForUkraine's efforts.

Today, as a non-governmental organization, registered in Latvia, #ScienceForUkraine persistently upholds a consolidated database of support for Ukrainian scholars and provides an Academic Micro Travel Grant program to facilitate the academic mobility of Ukrainian scholars.

Read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02957-7

European Union Prize for Citizen Science

On September 5th, 2024, the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art at the University of Latvia received an Honorary Mention for its citizen science platform for the humanities and arts, iesaisties.lv, from the European Union Prize for Citizen Science.

The ceremony took place in Linz, Austria, during the Ars Electronica Festival, a notable event celebrating art, science, and technology. Sanita Reinsone, the lead researcher at ILFA UL and the project head of iesaisties.lv, along with Ginta Pērle-Sīle, the project's activities coordinator and researcher, attended the event. Since the start of its development a decade ago, iesaisties.lv has involved a diverse group of ILFA's researchers, assistants, programmers, and artists. The platform assembles various citizen science initiatives that have attracted thousands of contributors who help digitize and process cultural heritage, explore and share valuable knowledge, exchange experiences, and engage creatively in activities like poetry recitation and traditional music interpretation. Several of these initiatives have been created in partnership with other organizations.

The European Union Prize for Citizen Science, funded by the European Commission, is a significant international recognition for projects that actively involve the public in research, innovation, and scientific creativity. This award program encourages individual contributions and strengthens the community of citizen science. This year, the competition included 288 projects from 49 countries, with three receiving the top recognition and 27, including the project from ILFA UL, earning honorary mentions.

The development of the iesaisties.lv platform was facilitated by the ERDF-funded project "Strengthening the Knowledge Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public Engagement in Creating Digital Cultural Heritage" (2017-2019), No. 1.1.1.1/16/A/040; iesaisties.lv has also been further developed in the National Research Programme "Digital Humanities" project.

The 6th Baltic Summer School of Digital Humanities is taking place

From July 22 to 26, the annual Baltic Summer School of Digital Humanities (BSSDH 2024) takes place in Riga, gathering more than 80 participants from 18 countries. This year's BSSDH focuses on large language models and small languages, a particularly significant theme in Latvian humanities research. The educational program of the summer school involves both foreign instructors and Latvian researchers and lecturers.

The Baltic Summer School of Digital Humanities is now in its sixth year. It is an international intensive continuing education program that offers researchers, lecturers, and students of the humanities and social sciences, as well as professionals from archives, libraries, and museums, the opportunity to acquire various digital research skills – from those needed for working with humanities data to skills in visualizing and interpreting data analysis results.

The organizers of BSSDH 2024 are the National Library of Latvia, the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia, and the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia, which provides students the opportunity to earn credit points for the completed program.

The latest issue of "Letonica" #53 is now available

The 53rd issue of the interdisciplinary scientific journal "Letonica" of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA) brings together the latest research in the humanities and social sciences and stimulates academic discussion on a wide range of topics.

Agita Lūse (Riga Stradiņš University) in her article "Perspectives on Ethnography in Latvia of the 1930s and 1940s. The Case of Ziedonis Ligers" examines the emergence of ethnography as an academic discipline in Latvia and the fate of ethnologist Ziedonis Ligers (1917-2001), illustrating the processes that shaped the understanding of the discipline in the inter-war period. Ginta Pērle-Sīle (University of Latvia; ILFA) in her article "Material Selection Principles for the Folk Song Collections collected by Baltic-Germans and Published in the First Half of the 19th Century" focuses on the first collections of Latvian folk songs collected and published by the German-Baltics, and by comparing these collections with the "Latvju dainas" (Latvian Songs), the author reflects on the possible belonging of the included folk songs to Latvian traditions and festivals and provides insights into the strategies and circumstances of the collection's creation.

Ilze Jansone (University of Latvia) in her article "Towards Syncretic Spirituality: Dimensions of Religion in the Novel When "Water Shimmers" by Nora Ikstena" uses hermeneutic methods to analyse the latest Latvian prose work, focusing on the author's use of "imaginative apologetics". Laura Laurušaitė (Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore) in her article "The Role of Food in Creating Identity: Examples of Contemporary Latvian and Lithuanian Literature" focuses on the choice of food and culinary practices in literary works, suggesting that food can be used to explore the period of occupation that most influenced 20th century Lithuanian and Latvian identities, and perestroika as an attempt to get rid of a foreign power. Ausma Cimdiņa (University of Latvia) in her article "Apocalypse of Soviet War Novel in Latvian Literature: "In the Glow of War" by Visvaldis Lāms" explores the war novel through the well-known work by V. Lāms, in which the author represents the image of a legionary and portrays the Second World War from the perspective of the Latvian people and the Latvian legionary.

Conference in Riga brings together researchers of folk narratives from around the world

17–21 June, 2024, the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Arts of the University of Latvia is organising the 19th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR), bringing together researchers of traditional tales, fairy tales, legends and fables as well as contemporary narratives from all over the world to discuss how events in the world echo in our everyday stories.

The world has undergone major changes in the last decade: the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian-led war in Ukraine, the rise of artificial intelligence and the increasingly tangible impact of climate change are just some of the factors that have changed the way we live, behave, think and communicate. This has translated into increased migration, urbanisation, digitalisation and has contributed to the polarisation and radicalisation of society. The impact of these various factors and processes is also reverberating in popular narratives, changing their form, content, function, performance, circulation, etc. In order to reflect at an academic level on how and why everyday narratives have changed, the theme of the 19th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) is 'Folk Narratives in a Changing World'.

This year, the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Arts of the University of Latvia has been entrusted with the organisation of the ISFNR Congress, which takes place every four years, thus not only bringing together folk narrative researchers from all over the world and drawing attention to the culture of storytelling in Latvia, but also celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Latvian Folklore Archives on an international level.

The Congress will bring together more than 150 researchers from 29 countries: from Europe and other continents, representing the USA, Canada, China, Japan, India, Argentina, etc. The range of topics covered by the papers will be equally wide, and will be presented over four days in several parallel sessions, making it possible to identify commonalities and differences in the field of popular narratives in different societies in different parts of the world. The programme of the event is here: https://en.lfk.lv/isfnr2024-program

European Recognition for the Citizen Science Platform iesaisties.lv

On June 12, the recipients of the 2024 European Union Citizen Science Award were announced. For the first time, an Honorary Mention was given to a project from the Baltic States – the citizen science digital platform iesaisties.lv, developed by the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA). Iesaisties.lv platform invites public participation in the humanities and cultural heritage field.

The jury, comprised of internationally recognized citizen science experts, stated:

“As jury members, the range of projects we reviewed allowed us a unique insight into the transformative potential of citizen science to shape the future of Europe. These awards are a testament not only to the achievements of individual citizen scientists but also to the collective spirit of collaboration and discovery that drives this movement forward. We respect the dedication and passion of all participants in this competition, while highlighting those projects that have achieved excellence in citizen science.”

The European Union Citizen Science Award, organized with the support of the European Commission, is the most prestigious international recognition for citizen science projects. The annual prize recognizes outstanding initiatives that put research, innovation, commitment and creativity at the service of our society, empowering us as individuals and strengthening us as a community. This year, 3 winners and 27 honorary mentions were selected from 288 projects submitted from 49 countries, among them – ILFA's project.

Digital citizen science is a strategic development area for the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art at the University of Latvia in the field of digital humanities. The iesaisties.lv platform encompasses various initiatives created and curated by researchers from different humanities disciplines, IT specialists, artists, and communication professionals. Some initiatives are organized in collaboration with partners such as the UNESCO Latvian National Commission, the National Library of Latvia, the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Latvia, and the Latvian Open Technology Association, among others.

Scientific journal "Letonica" succeeds in Scopus citation ranking

The scientific journal "Letonica", published by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA), has been ranked in the top quartiles (Q1 and Q2) of the latest ranking of the international citation database Scopus. This confirms that the citation index of original scientific articles published in the journal reaches at least 50% of the industry average citation index.

The Scopus database indexes the journal in five areas - literature and literary theory (Q1), visual and performing arts (Q1), history (Q2), music (Q2), and cultural studies (Q2) - thus covering the broadest range of topics among Latvian academic journals.

"The news about the excellent performance of "Letonica" coincides with the 25th anniversary of the journal and the publication of its 50th issue last year, when, in retrospect, the main key to its success - a wide range of authors from outside the ILFA, interdisciplinarity and a gradually growing attraction of foreign authors - crystallised. Much credit is due to the former editors, especially to the current Editor-in-Chief, Jānis Ogas, who has carefully monitored not only the high scientific quality of the journal but also the opportunities for increasing citation rates and disseminating the journal to a wide international academic community. Publishing in "Letonica" and other journals included in international citation databases allows humanities researchers to reach a wide scholarly audience by presenting research results of national importance to foreign colleagues and engaging in co-publications, placing their research interests in wider contexts."

Vice-Rector of Sciences of the University of Latvia Assoc. Prof. Guntars Kitenbergs emphasises that "the humanities at the University of Latvia have a special role and a special responsibility in the national context. At the same time, modern science is international, so it is important to present national issues in a way that is relevant to current research trends and is internationally visible. The team at ILFA and "Letonica" is doing this by setting an excellent example to learn from and follow."

Workshop "Opening the Trilogy: Folklore Taxonomies & Annotated Texts for Reproducible Research"

On June 20, within the framework of the Congress of the International Society for Research on Folklore Narratives (https://en.lfk.lv/isfnr2024), a digitalhumanities.lv workshop will take place at the House of Nature of the Academic Centre of the University of Latvia, in collaboration with CLARIN-LV and DARIAH-EU. It will be moderated by independent researcher Joshua Hagedorn (USA). The hands-on workshop will be particularly useful for folklore researchers and will focus on working with text corpora.

Participants will be expected to participate actively, so a laptop and advance preparation by installing the necessary software will be required. No prior knowledge is required for this workshop.

The hands-on workshop will be held in person in English only.