Defense of Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde’s Doctoral Thesis
On December 9 at 12:00, the defense of the doctoral dissertation by Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde, researcher at the Archives of Latvian Folklore, Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (LU LFMI), will take place in the Senate Hall of the University of Tartu.
Her dissertation, titled “The Latvian Folk Ornament and Mythology Nexus as Revival: Contested Historical Layers, Visualized Ideologies, and Commodified Creativity,” focuses on the mythological interpretation of Latvian folk ornament—an approach that attributes symbolic meaning to visual forms grounded in archaeological material and traditional culture, linking them to mythology and folklore.
The research traces the historical development and cultural manifestations of this interpretative tradition and its role in vernacular practices from the early 20th century to the present day. Drawing on interviews conducted during fieldwork, archival materials, and published sources, the dissertation consists of four peer-reviewed publications and a comprehensive introductory chapter.
The introductory chapter offers an in-depth exploration of the origins of mythological interpretations of folk ornament during the interwar period in Latvia, with a particular focus on artist, neopagan ideologue, and hillfort researcher Ernests Brastiņš (1892–1942). It also outlines the theoretical framework and researcher’s self-reflective perspective.
The dissertation contributes to folkloristics, while also engaging with memory studies, postcolonial theory, social movement theory, and visual culture studies. Each of the four publications focuses on a particular historical period when Latvian ornament was closely tied to ideological and sociopolitical contexts or examines a specific visual symbol in detail:
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The article “The Symbol of the Morning Star During the Third Awakening in Latvia (1986–1991): From Cultural Opposition to Non-Violent Resistance” (published in Letonica) explores the visual culture of Latvia’s Third Awakening, with a focus on the eight-pointed star known as Auseklis.
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The chapter “Ideological Tuning of Latvian Folk Ornament” (published by Lexington Books in Folklore and Ethnology in the Soviet Western Borderlands) discusses artist and neopagan Jēkabs Bīne’s (1895–1955) interpretation of folk ornament and the ideological shifts that followed the Soviet occupation.
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The article “Vernacular Voices and Contested Meanings: Contemporary Uses of the Swastika in Latvia” (published in Journal of Baltic Studies) examines the use of the swastika (fire cross) and related vernacular narratives in contemporary Latvian culture.
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A forthcoming article in Journal of American Folklore (Spring 2025), titled “The Nexus of Folk Ornament and Mythology in Latvia: Traditionalization, Commodification, and Spirituality,” addresses contemporary manifestations of mythological ornament, its commercialization, and intersections with modern spirituality and esotericism in Latvian traditional culture.
The full dissertation text is available online.
Supervisor: Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa, Associate Professor at the University of Tartu
Opponents:
– Dr. Frog (University of Helsinki, Finland)
– Dr. Alessandro Testa (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)
The defense will be accessible online via Zoom.
More information and Zoom link: University of Tartu website