Conference “Challenges of History and Memory in the Baltic Region in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Transformations, Structures, and Agency”

The Institute of Latvian History at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, invites participants to the international academic conference “Challenges of History and Memory in the Baltic Region in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Transformations, Structures, and Agency”, to be held on 15–16 October at the University of Latvia’s Sapere Audeauditorium, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, Riga.

The conference aims to present and promote, both within academia and to the wider public, research conducted within the project using the methodological frameworks of social morphogenesis, microhistory, and mnemohistory. To this end, the conference will bring together more than 25 scholars from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Germany.

Over the two days of the conference, four keynote lectures will address historical writing and research methodology in Latvia and Lithuania, the work of historians in the digital age, and transformations in Estonian society since the 1990s. Mārtiņš Mintaurs (University of Latvia) will deliver the keynote lecture “Writing History in Latvia Since 1991: Perspectives, Challenges, and Outcomes.” Aurimas Švedas (Lithuanian Institute of History) will present “How to Write History When Time Is Out of Joint? Lithuanian Historiography in the 21st Century.” Haralds Matulis (Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia) will address the topic “What Does It Mean to Be a ‘Digital Historian’ in 2026?”, while Triin Vihalemm (University of Tartu) will deliver the keynote lecture “The Transformation of Estonian Society Since the 1990s: A Sociological Perspective.”

The conference will also feature four thematic sections devoted to the morphogenetic processes of state and society following the First World War; strategies and tactics employed by society to survive the Second World War and occupation during the 1940s and 1950s; changes in the structures of state and society during the period of late Soviet socialism from the 1960s to the 1980s; and the political, socioeconomic, security, and cultural transformations brought about by the restoration of Latvia’s independence and their impact on the present day.

The conference welcomes representatives of the humanities and social sciences, memory institutions, creative industries, non-governmental organisations, mass media, and other fields involved in the research and communication of history and collective memory.

The conference is organised within the framework of the State Research Programme project on the history of Latvia in the 20th and 21st centuries by the Institute of Latvian History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, in cooperation with the Lithuanian Institute of History and the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. The working languages of the conference are Latvian and English, with simultaneous interpretation provided.

The State Research Programme project “Latvia’s 20th–21st Century History: Social Morphogenesis, Legacy and Challenges” (VPP-IZM-Vēsture-2023/1-0003) is funded by the Latvian Council of Science and implemented by the Institute of Latvian History at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, in cooperation with the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, Daugavpils University, and RTU Liepāja Academy.

More than 30 scholars are involved in the project, including historians, ethnologists, sociologists, political scientists, folklorists, and researchers specialising in culture, digital humanities, security, and other fields. Its overarching objective is to strengthen the national identity and sense of belonging of Latvia’s population, mitigate the risks posed by disinformation, and contribute to shaping Latvia’s international image.

The project’s scientific objectives are to reduce fragmentation in the field of Latvian history research, enhance its international visibility, establish new criteria in public discourse for interpreting Latvia’s 20th-century history, foster new conceptual approaches to the development of Latvian statehood, and contribute to training a new generation of historical researchers.