The scholarly and creative conference “Experience and Views: 100th Birthday of Poet Velta Sniķere”

The scholarly and creative conference “Experience and Views: 100^th Birthday of Poet Velta Sniķere” will take place on December 18, 2020, from 4:00 to 9:00 PM. The conference will involve literature scholars, poets, prose writers, movie directors, musicians, and other cultural people. The programme will be supplemented with greetings from Velta Sniķere’s family, friends and government officials. Presentations and readings will reveal three vivid parts of Velta Sniķere’s life – poetry, yoga and public work. This will be the first time that we will be able to look at all the facets of the poet’s life and work.

Online conference "Socialist Folkloristics: A Disciplinary Heritage"

We kindly invite you to "save the date". The Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia organises an international conference "Socialist Folkloristics: A Disciplinary Heritage" on 17–18 December, 2020.

The conference will be held in distance using ZOOM virtual meeting place. In order to receive further information and an invitation, please, fill in the Registration form.

Conference "Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries"

The 5th annual conference "Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries" (DHN2020) will start tomorrow and will be held online.

Special guests of the conference this year will be Professor of Social and Ethical Artificial Intelligence at Umeå University Virginia Dignum, Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland Terry Gunnel, Researcher at the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge Jon Roozenbeek, and Chair and Principal Investigator at the Laboratory for Perceptual and Cognitive Systems at the Faculty of Computing at the University of Latvia prof. Jurģis Šķilters. More than 60 papers, 20 academic poster presentations and 7 workshops are included in the main programme of the conference.

A New Study on Charms

The publishing house of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art (University of Latvia) recently published Aigars Lielbārdis' research on Latvian charms, “Collection 150. Charms”. The book includes a description of the development and content of the ALF Collection 150, as well as an analysis of the largest functional groups of charms and a chronological listing of the materials, the names of charm-book owners, folk performers, as well as collectors and contributors (presented chronologically by date of contribution).

The book has been prepared within the basic budgeted sub-programme 05.04.00 "The Krišjānis Barons Cabinet of Folksongs" of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia, as well as the post-doctoral project of the European Regional Development Fund "Digital catalogue of Latvian charms" (No. 1.1.1.2/ VIAA/1/16/217) and also published with the financial support of the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.

It must be better than “Latvju dainas”. The creation of the academic edition “Latviešu tautasdziesmas” in 1950’s–1970’s

In the 1950’s, in order to get permission for the publication of the largest Latvian folksong collection, the folklorists of the Institute of Language and Literature had not only to comply with the ideological expectations of the Soviet rule but also consider the requirement that the new edition must be better than the first complete publication of Latvian folksongs – “Latvju dainas”. The objective of the seminar is to discuss the creation of the academic folksong edition as a dynamic process, which was influenced not only by the Soviet ideology but also by the policy and bureaucracy of the Academy of Sciences and the scholarly goals of its compilers.

Literatura.lv in Minstere

From August 17 to 22, the team of the ILFA’s (Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art) literature vortal Literatura.lv spent an active week at the Latvian Center in Münster (LCM) working with the Münster archive of the Latvian Community in Germany (LKV), supported by the Baltic-German University Office (Baltisch-Deutsches Hochschulkontor) in the project "Latvian Writers in Exile: Research, Selection and Digitization of Documents and Photographs of the Latvian Center in Münster" (project leader, head of the Literature Department and content editor of Literatura.lv Māra Grudule).

CFP: Socialist Folkloristics. A Disciplinary Heritage

The international conference "Socialist Folkloristics: A Disciplinary Heritage" will take place on 28–31 October 2020 in Riga, Latvia.

You can apply until May 1, 2020 by sending to socfolk@gmail.com abstract of your presentation, no longer than 200 words, professionally edited for publishing; BIO, stating your affiliations and interests in no more than 50 words.

DHN2020 is postponed to 20–23 October 2020!

#DHN2020 is postponed to 20–23 October 2020!
The general outline of the programme will not change:
October 20: pre-conference workshops,
October 21–23: the main programme.
More information will follow!

Registration open for DHN2020 conference

The 5th annual conference “Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries” (DHN2020) will be held from the 17th to the 20th of March, 2020, at the National Library of Latvia. The early bird registration rates are applicable until February 2th: https://ej.uz/DHN20_reg

Special guests of the conference this year will be Professor of Social and Ethical Artificial Intelligence at Umeå University Virginia Dignum, Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland Terry Gunnel, Researcher at the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge Jon Roozenbeek, and Chair and Principal Investigator at the Laboratory for Perceptual and Cognitive Systems at the Faculty of Computing at the University of Latvia prof. Jurģis Šķilters. More than 80 papers and 20 academic poster presentations are included in the main programme of the conference.

Fellowship awarded for Sanita Reinsone's book "Forest Daughters" translation into English

Translator Kaija Straumanis awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (USA) to support the translation from the Latvian of the nonfiction collection Forest Daughters, edited by ILFA's researcher Sanita Reinsone. This collection includes 12 life stories of Latvian women who lived in the thick of the guerilla war against Soviet invasion and occupation. Often left out of Latvia's guerilla war history, women played an integral role in protecting their homeland. Reinsone (b. 1981), a scholar in Latvian folklore, oral history, and digital humanities, recorded the stories of these women in a documentary-essay style and each chapter is alive with the respective woman's experience as she recalls harrowing and heart-wrenching events of her life during this period in history.

Call for Papers: Socialist Folkloristics: A Disciplinary Heritage

Are you working on the post-war disciplinary history of folkloristics or related discipline in the former Soviet Union or the Socialist Bloc countries? Please consider contributing a draft of original research article to the international, peer reviewed, and SCOPUS or Web of Science indexed volume in summer 2020. The collection of articles will be prepared by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.

In order to maximize the impact of research dedicated to disciplinary histories of the previous Socialist world and establish new networks within the field, an interdisciplinary, international conference will be organized on 29-31 October 2020 in Riga, Latvia.

Deadlines:

31.01.2020. - send to SocFolk@gmail.com:

- your name, surname and a short bio,

- title of your article and keywords,

- concept or summary of the article (up to 350 words);

17.02.2020. – notice of acceptance and further information;

20.06.2020. - 7000–10000 words long original article in English;

Fall 2020 – peer-review and editing.

The most recent issue of 'Letonica' has been published

Along with the fruits of the land fall has also brought the 39th issue of the humanities journal 'Letonica'. Guest-edited by ILFA researcher Toms Ķencis, the issue is dedicated to folklore within the relationship between state and tradition. As such it reflects the centenary of statehood of Latvia celebrated on 2018.

Twelve double-blind peer-reviewed papers published in the journal are mostly related to three events: last year’s Krišjānis Barons memorial conference ‘Traditions and state’, the most recent project of the disciplinary history research 'Latvian folkloristics (1945-1985)' carried out at ILFA, and the publication of the first part of the 11th volume ('Wedding') of the academic edition of Latvian folksongs. Apart from one paper originally in English, all articles are in Latvian with an English summaries. The articles are followed by a special paper on the Archives of Latvian Folklore, eight book reviews and disciplinary news. Read more...

Conference on Folklore and Education

Krišjānis Barons’ Conference is an annual academic forum organized by the Archives of Latvian Folklore, ILFA, UL. In 2019, the topic is "Folklore and Education" (Folklora un izglītība). Viewed from diverse perspectives, the place of traditional culture in formal and informal educational processes will be discussed.

There will be 18 researchers from various fields of humanities, social sciences and arts presenting their papers. Both historical and current issues will be analysed, including folklore as an ideological educational tool, folklore in textbooks, contribution of students and teachers in documenting traditions, teacher jokes, intangible heritage in education, challenges and methods of teaching folklore, etc. Read more...

DHN 2020 Conference: Call For Papers

The annual conference, "Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries," invites submissions of proposals for its 5th conference to be held in Riga, Latvia, 17–20 March 2020. The DHN conferences aim to provide an overview of research, education and communication about the interdisciplinary field of digital humanities from the Nordic to the Baltic region, and beyond.

New deadline: 30 September 2019!

Commerce and Traditions

14^th Conference of the SIEF Ritual Year Working Group

15–17 November 2020, Riga (Latvia)

Theme

The impact of product marketing is visible in everyday life, including a wide range of traditions and festivities, which have lately become highly commercialized. In marketing terms, the values of traditional culture are considered "products" to be branded, marketed and sold. We have all experienced the pre-Christmas gift buying madness and have visited souvenir counters at major historical sites and cultural venues in different countries, each promoting their "brands". Historically, annual church markets, fairs and pilgrimages attracted people from great distances, providing opportunities to buy, sell, and trade durable goods in addition to food and drink required by pilgrims and merchants. Additional items, such as religious symbols, protective objects, and healing substances were available much as in modern souvenir shops. The means for advertising such objects for sale were, at that time, limited. Today advertising and marketing campaigns appear everywhere. Many people protest against what they perceive as excessive commercialization of their favourite secular or religious festivals. However, marketing practices attract larger crowds and help to preserve and popularize traditions that might otherwise be lost. Commercialization has made the sale of traditional crafts financially viable, preserving them for future generations. Thus, it is possible for craftspeople to continue practicing their traditional arts and crafts. Not only have the traditional artisans benefited, but religious institutions have witnessed an increase in income, which is needed to maintain the facilities visited by the growing numbers of visitors. New forms of commercialization of rituals with the developing practices of creating new festivals and making them local tourist brands can be seen in many geographical areas.

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