NAMS working group "Resilience of Heritage Communities in the Context of National Security"

One of the project's “NAMS. Latvian Identity and Knowledge Strategies as Resources for Societal Resilience” research areas is cultural heritage and security.

Rūta Muktupāvela, Ieva Vītola, and Rita Zara, together with students in their working group, have outlined the main research questions:

• What is the role of cultural heritage in strengthening community resilience in times of geopolitical tension?
• What cultural practices, traditions, and activities shape and strengthen community identity?
• What are the resources and preparedness of cultural heritage communities to respond to external threats and crisis situations?

To answer that, the fieldwork will mainly take place in the eastern border region of Latvia – the Nautrāni cultural space and the Upīte cultural space. The data and results obtained in the study will be used to integrate the experience and practices of the Latgale cultural space communities into broader cultural heritage protection and community resilience strategies, including guidelines for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in crisis situations.

Project “NAMS. Latvian Identity and Knowledge Strategies as Resources for Societal Resilience” of the State Research Programme “LETONIKA for the Development of a Latvian and European Society” (No. VPP-IZM-LETONIKA-2025/1-0008).