A Lecture on “Urban Folklore” for University of Latvia Students

On November 13, 2023, Gatis Ozoliņš, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (UL ILFA), delivered a lecture entitled “Is There ‘Urban Folklore’ in Latvia?” to students of the Master’s program in Baltic Philology at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, within the course “Folklore of Contemporary Narratives.” He also introduced the aims, challenges, and results of the Latvian Council of Science project “Experience in the City: Narratives, Memories, and Place Heritage” (lzp-2020/1-0096).

Together with the students, he took part in a seminar on “urban legends/tales,” followed by a discussion on various characteristics of urban folklore, its international origins, the difficulties of “locating” it, and its connections with other Latvian folklore genres.

The lecture and seminar were held within the framework of the Latvian Council of Science project “Experience in the City: Narratives, Memories, and Place Heritage” (lzp-2020/1-0096).

Photo © Una Smilgaine