Latvian Folklore Studies in Exile

Project No: lzp-2024/1-0522

Implementation period: 2025–2027

Project funding: 300 000 EUR

Head of the project: Dr. philol. Rita Zara

Project team: Rita Zara, Gatis Ozoliņš, Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde, Viesturs Zanders, Ilga Vālodze-Ābele, Elīna Gailīte, Justīne Jaudzema (līdz 28.02.2025.), Elvis Friks (no 1.03.2025.)

The project “Latvian Folklore Studies in Exile” aims to create new knowledge about the disciplinary history of Latvian folkloristics in exile from 1944-1990. Our ambition is to elaborate a picture of the dispersed phenomenon of Latvian folklore studies in exile (in Sweden, Germany, the US, Canada, Australia and other countries) which arose due to a forced intellectual migration after World War II. There is a necessity to understand, by exploring historical sources thoroughly and critically, the development of Latvian folklore studies (realm of Academia) as well as research-related broader use of folklore by Latvian exile communities in the West over a period of about half a century while Latvia was under Soviet occupation and there were minimal or seemingly no points of contact between researchers in exile and folklorists in the Latvian SSR. The project seeks to sum up full information on bibliographic heritage and archival heritage and perform factual data acquisition in systematizing chronological order showing their interconnectedness. The long-term goal of the project is to create a fundamental research basis for the diverse investigations of Latvian folklore studies and Latvian culture in exile.

In photo The Baltic Collections at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Photo by Madara Stāde.