Post-War Environmental History of Latvia: Landscapes, Power, and Society

By integrating approaches from history, social sciences, and environmental research, the project will develop an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental change as an ecological, political, and social process in postwar Latvia. The research will generate new knowledge about the interactions between power, society, and the environment; practices of place-based memory and storytelling; environmental activism and ideas of eco-nationalism; and it will address methodological challenges related to the study of environmental heritage. Overall, the project will expand the field of Latvian environmental history by analyzing how the Second World War and Soviet occupation shaped landscapes and the environment, offering new perspectives on the interrelations and mutual influences between humans, the environment, and power. The project’s outcomes include the preparation of at least five peer-reviewed scholarly articles for publication, participation with at least ten papers at international conferences, the organization of a diverse program of international scholarly events, and the preparation of a scientific data set.