Tendencies in Latgale museums’ work for the maintenance and popularization of culture heritage

The objective of the research is to describe the traditional and innovative trends of Latgale region museums’ work in the field of culture heritage’s maintenance and popularization. The analysis of the documents and theoretical sources, the experience of reflection, the narrative approach are the methods that have been used in the research. Both municipality and private museums work in Latgale and most of them are characterised by the following development tendencies in the maintenance of culture heritage: the search of their own uniqueness and peculiarities, a modern interpretation of the existing museum collections, the interaction of modern culture expressions and cross-cultural communication, the pedagogical function of the museums, the development of museums’ informative environment

Baltic States identity through banal nationalism: postage stamp iconography analysis

This paper researches the reflection of nation-based discourses and national symbolism in the postage iconography of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the perspective of banal nationalism practices. There are two main research questions this paper seeks to answer. The first one is: What are the main postage stamp iconography themes used to construct and popularize the national discourses of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania? For that, a database consisting of 3069 stamps issued by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania between 1918-1940 and 1991-2018 was analyzed, applying Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis to postage imagery and the official catalog inscription. The dominant patterns revealed common practices of banal nationalism in the selected states. The results revealed that national coats of arms remained a continuous trend in national symbolism manifestation in all states, also covering the subnational level of municipalities and cities. In addition, authoritarian regimes affected the iconography patterns, elevating the leader's role in collective memory. In contemporary practices, discourses became more inclusive at the subnational level by introducing new patterns of commemoration of people, heritage, and anniversaries. The second question is: how political developments within the state and participation in supranational organizations affected the postage stamps iconography of the Baltics States concerning national, regional, and European scales? The finding shows that authoritarian regimes emphasized the role of the leader and boasted the nation's pride via celebrations of independence accompanied by constant reminders of the collective trauma the Independence wars left. The new developments emphasized the inclusion of subnational symbolism in postage iconography alongside the promotion of European integrity and shared regional heritage

Latvia. Human Development Report 2008/2009. Accountability and Responsibility

Accountability and Responsibility. The objetive of the 2008/2009 Human Development Report was to examine different levels of accountability and the specific way in which accountability is manifested in Latvia at individual, coolective, and institutional levels which come together to form an accountability "network". The Report also compares the situation in Latvia with that in the other Baltic States, the European Union, and elsewhere in the world.United Nations Development Programm

Latvija. Pārskats par tautas attīstību 2008/2009 : Atbildīgums

Šis ir desmitais pētnieku sagatavotais "Pārskats par tautas attīstību" un trešais, kuru sagatavojis Latvijas Universitātes Sociālo un politisko pētījumu institūts (SPPI) sadarbībā ar partneriem no Rīgas un reģionālajām augstskolām – Rīgas Stradiņa universitāti, Daugavpils Universitāti, Latvijas Lauksaimniecības universitāti un Vidzemes Augstskolu. 2008./ 2009. gada Pārskata uzmanības centrā - plaši sazarotā atbildīguma problēma. Spēja apzināties atbildību un paust to savā rīcībā veido to “līmi”, kas nodrošina ilgtspējīgas saites starp dažādiem indivīdiem, sociālajām un politiskajām grupām. Mūsdienu sabiedrībā atbildīgums ir kļuvis par neatņemamu sabiedrības vērtīborientāciju komponenti. Pārskata autori savos pētījumos skaidro, cik lielā mērā mūsdienu Latvijā tiek apmierināta prasība pēc atbildīguma kā indivīdu, sociālo grupu un institūciju rīcības komponentes, cik lielā mērā Latvijas sabiedrība kopumā un katrs tās loceklis ir gatavi un spējīgi pieprasīt atbildību gan no citiem, gan – vispirmām kārtām – paši no sevis.United Nations Development Programm

Mapping reports of cultural heritage

Mapping reports of locally formed cultural heritage and the degree of difference between the particular heritage sites will be delivered for each consortium country by M14. This deliverable will map the heritage ‘offer’ in each country, by exploring the existing discourses and institutional practices that constitute the representation and use of cultural heritage in each geographical location of the CHIEF consortium. The chief purpose of this deliverable is to provide background information for the selection of specific heritage spaces/sites (two in each country) for case-studies in the second phase of this WP

Johann Gottfried Herder and the Latvian Voice

As a young émigré from Königsberg to Riga Johann Gottfried Herder (1744—1803) developed a lifelong interest in the oral poetry of the common people, whose popular song traditions he later entitled Volkslieder. Herder’s affirmation of aesthetic and cultural individuality in his landmark collection of that title (1778-79) had far-reaching implications for the evolution of Latvian and East European folksong scholarship, and these extend to the practices of the present day. Underlying this work are source readings in translation that have been important in considering Herder’s prevailing influence. Pivotal historical episodes demarcate, first, Herder’s philosophical ties to the late nineteenth-century Latvian national awakening, second, to the final years of dissent within the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and finally, to the current practitioner groups (kopas) that espouse ethnic and regional song traditions in a changing cultural milieu. A demonstration from each of Latvia’s four provinces has formed the substance of interviews and recordings in a fieldwork inquiry, which dates from 2000 to 2007. The conclusion evaluates Herder’s cyclical philosophy of history and humanity (Humanitätsideal) in relation to the diverse voices of Latvia’s ethnic minorities

Amateur Filmmaking in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic: Family, Nation, and Art (1955–1991)

This dissertation is the first systematic study of the amateur filmmaking movement in Soviet Latvia. Largely sustained through a network of state-supported clubs, this movement spanned the period from the mid-1950s to 1991 and produced a highly diverse and inquisitive body of works ranging from documentary, newsreel, and educational to fictional, experimental, and animation films. Despite the fact that the films in question constitute a substantial part of the Latvian national film heritage and carry great historical, cultural, and socio-political significance, the legacy of the amateur filmmaking movement in Soviet Latvia has remained largely unexplored. Largely based on primary filmic sources held at the Latvian State Archive of Audio-visual Documents, this thesis constitutes an original scholarly contribution to our knowledge of amateur filmmaking culture in Soviet Latvia and the Soviet Union. It also endeavours to investigate this phenomenon within the context of the development of amateur film globally. This thesis references extant amateur films, archival printed documents, and a range of periodicals, both historical and contemporary, and includes interviews conducted with Latvian amateur filmmakers active during the Soviet era. It seeks to reconstruct the history of amateur-film culture in Soviet Latvia and to offer a conceptual model based on the importance of amateur film as an aesthetic and social phenomenon. Through a variety of thematic lenses, such as family, travel and tourism, social issues, political activism, and avant-garde experimentation, this thesis investigates the broad artistic, cultural, social, and political spaces within which amateur film functioned. It situates Soviet Latvian amateur cinema within dynamic reconsiderations of film as a medium, as well as defines it as a cultural phenomenon that reflects the alternative types of discourse, knowledge, and practices that emerged during the period of late Socialism. This thesis argues that amateur filmmaking in Soviet Latvia was often employed as a tool for developing strategies of national self-determination: despite the fact that Latvia was arguably the most Russified and Sovietized of the three Baltic republics, Latvian cine-enthusiasts managed to produce a thematically diverse and formally inventive body of amateur films, many of which exhibit grassroots national(ist) rhetoric. In the framework of this thesis, the case of the amateur filmmaking movement in the Latvian SSR demonstrates the regional diversity of cultural dynamics under state socialism, while being a unique case study in the sphere of amateur cinema

A Baltic music: The folklore movement in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, 1968-1991

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Folklore, 1996Folksongs have been a symbol of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian culture for more than two centuries. Herder's Volkslieder was a model which demonstrated that folk poetry made these peoples equal to others in the world, and showed how songs could be used to advance national liberation. These ideas were brought to life in the choral movements and national song festivals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and were maintained after Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were annexed by the Soviet Union. In the late 1960s, a new movement emerged, calling for "authentic" performance of folksongs in small, inclusive groups, in contrast to the spectacular displays of Soviet folklore performed in front of passive audiences. The loud, unrefined singing style of rural traditions challenged the official Soviet models of art. Government efforts to suppress the new folklore ensembles only raised their popularity, and by the early eighties, folklore festivals were attracting many thousands of people. As a broadly based phenomenon which successfully evaded government control, the folklore movement provided a model for mass activism in the Baltic after 1985. This dissertation presents a history of the Baltic folklore movement up to 1991, when Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gained independence from the Soviet Union. Participant observation of three leading folklore ensembles--Ratilio (Lithuania), Leegajus (Estonia), and Skandinieki (Latvia)--revealed these groups as communities which are held together in ways similar to the imagining of a national community. The example of modern Baltic singing traditions complements the discussions about folklorism which emerged in both East and West Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. Folklorism, defined here as the conscious recognition and use of folklore as a symbol of ethnic, regional, or national identity, is itself a tradition which has folklorized and nationalized in the modern Baltic cultures. Baltic folklorism today is a new variant in the long-lived tradition of using folksongs and singing as a means of national self-realization