Exhibitions on the history of the folklore movement in Latvia
Welcome to two exhibitions curated by LU LFMI researchers on the history of the folklore movement in Latvia.
1) The on-site exhibition “The Third Awakening and the Folklore Movement: Forces and Events" is on view at the National Library of Latvia’s Draugu Telpa (Friends Room) until 1 March this year. The exhibition was curated by Toms Ķencis and Aigars Lielbārdis and designed by Krišs Salmanis. The exhibition highlights the most significant events in the history of the folklore movement until 1990. There is also a display of artifacts from the personal archive of ethnomusicologist Valdis Muktupāvelis, a participant in the folklore movement.
2) The virtual exhibition "The folklore movement in Latvia" presents an extended version of the history of the folklore movement. Researchers’ texts, narratives by participants of the folklore movement, photographs, audio and video sources, documents of the era, and an animated map cover various topics: the origins of the folklore movement in the 1970s, the role of the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, the 1978 concert and the Daugava Festival, the chronology of the emergence of folklore ensembles, the formation of the movement's style, the revival of folk instruments, the visuality of the movement, institutionalization and review concerts, the Aizpute gathering, informal events, sources of folklore and education, the influence of the KGB, the monumental 150th anniversary of Krišjānis Barons, Latvian folklore ensembles in the West, the international folklore festival "Baltica" and the involvement of the movement's members in the political events of the Singing Revolution. The events of the folklore movement are paralleled by a news ticker with events in Latvia and the world at the time.
Read more...Season’s Greetings
Together with colleagues from the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2025! Many thanks to everyone, near and far, who has joyfully been with us in this 100 th anniversary year of the Archives of Latvian Folklore.
Warm greetings,
Archives of Latvian Folklore
Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde receives a doctoral degree
On 9 December 2024, ILFA ALF researcher Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde defended her doctoral thesis "The Latvian Folk Ornament and Mythology Nexus as Revival: Contested Historical Layers, Visualized Ideologies, and Commodified Creativity" at the Senate Hall of the University of Tartu!
Congratulations on an excellent defence!
Photo (c) Rita Grīnvalde
Defence of Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde doctoral thesis
On December 9th at 12:00 Digne Udre-Lielbarde will defend her doctoral thesis “Latvian Folk Ornament and Mythology Nexus as a Revival: Contested Historical Layers, Visualized Ideologies, and Commodified Creativity”.
The dissertation is theoretically grounded in folklore studies and explores the combination of folk ornament and mythology in Latvian culture. Besides exploring folk ornament in contemporary settings shaped by a neoliberal market economy, the dissertation analyzes the origins of the folk ornament and mythology nexus, showing it to be rooted in interwar Latvia (1918–1940) and the works of Latvian artist Ernests Brastiņš (1892–1942). As argued in the dissertation, the origins of folk ornament and mythology nexus and its further development is best approached as a folk revival characterized by a renewed, politically motivated interest in and appreciation of traditional cultural expressions, involving their rediscovery, reinterpretation, and popularization. Read more...
100th anniversary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore
On December 2, the centenary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, as well as the tenth anniversary of the digital archive garamantas.lv, was celebrated at the Latvian National Library's Ziedonis Hall.
At the event, the archive were welcomed by Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia (1999-2007), folk song researcher and Honorary Patron of the 100th Anniversary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, Anda Čakša, Minister of Education and Science, Agnese Lāce, Minister of Culture, Dagnija Baltiņa, Director of the National Library of Latvia, and many other guests.
Read more...Conference on Tradition Archives in Riga
The international conference “Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10” took place on October 29–31 in Riga, Latvia. The conference was organized by the Archives of Latvian Folklore, ILFA UL, in cooperation with the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore—SIEF Working Group on Archives and the SIEF Working Group on Cultural Heritage. Celebrating 100 years since the establishment of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, the conference offered a discussion forum about the past and future of tradition archives. The conference brought together archivists and folklore researchers as well as scholars from other branches of humanities and social sciences. The following countries were represented: Canada, China, Colombia, Czecz Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, United, Kingdom, and the United States of America.
International Conference “Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10”
From 29 to 31 October, an international research conference “Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10” will take place in Riga. The conference is one of the events of the 100th anniversary year of the Archives of Latvian Folklore. This academic forum will bring together researchers from different fields of the humanities and social sciences to discuss the past of traditional archives and their future perspectives – the past 100 years and the next 10.
Read more...Conference in Riga brings together researchers of folk narratives from around the world
17–21 June, 2024, the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Arts of the University of Latvia is organising the 19th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR), bringing together researchers of traditional tales, fairy tales, legends and fables as well as contemporary narratives from all over the world to discuss how events in the world echo in our everyday stories.
The thematic issue of "Letonica" "Urban Experiences: Narratives, Memories and Place Heritage" (#54)
The latest issue of the interdisciplinary scientific journal "Letonica" of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia is devoted to the theme "Experiences in the City: narratives, memories and heritage of place". It brings together 13 scientific publications and represents 15 researchers.
"The importance of urban research has grown significantly since 2007, when for the first time more people in the world lived in urban areas than in rural areas. New communities have emerged in the city, no longer bound by kinship but by knowledge, shared living space, economic interests, and the dynamics of public urban community practices that include both everyday rituals and festive events. Except for a few examples, so far, little attention has been paid in Latvian urban studies to the city from the point of view of the local population, using ethnographic research methods. One such urban research initiative is the project "Urban Experiences: Narratives, Memories and Place Heritage" (No. lzp-2020/1-0096), implemented by the of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art and supported by the Latvian Council of Science, which ran from the beginning of 2021 until the end of 2023," writes Gatis Ozoliņš, folklorist and leading researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia and editor of the thematic issue.
Read more...New Study on Latvian Verbal Charms
The publishing house of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art (University of Latvia) recently published Aigars Lielbārdis' monograph “Latvian Charms. Texts, Traditions, Contexts”.
With this study author proposes to look at our past, cultural heritage, and aspects of language and identity through the lens of a single tradition, focusing on the different contexts and cultural and socio-economic processes that have shaped the content and form of the charm tradition in the past and create a demand for alternative medicine in today’s society. The object of this research is Latvian charms, charming and healing traditions, and the various contexts that shape and influence these texts and traditions: religious, social, cultural, institutional, personal, research, etc. The study is in Latvian with an extensive summary and translation of the introduction, conclusion, and closing remarks into English.
The author is a Latvian folklore researcher whose scholarly interests are related to folk and vernacular religion, the verbal charms, visual ethnography, and folk music. The book has been prepared within 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 published with the financial support of the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.
Explore Latvian Folk Songs on public transport in Riga
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In the Autumn, 2024, the 13th volume of the academic publication "Latvian Folk Songs" will be released, marking the culmination of nearly 70 years of effort by multiple generations.
This milestone will make accessible to the public over one million Latvian folk songs preserved in the archives of the Latvian Folklore Archive.These folk songs were gathered subsequent to the initial comprehensive publication of Latvian folk songs at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, known as
"Latvian Dainas" (approximately 219 000 texts), which was compiled by Krišjānis Barons. Together these publications provide a comprehensive portrayal of the human life in folk songs tradition for more than a century.
To commemorate the completion of the "Latvian Folk Songs" publication and the 100th anniversary of the Archive of Latvian Folklore, the Archive of Latvian Folklore, in collaboration with "Rīgas satiksme," invitates to explore Latvian folk songs. These songs have been an integral part of Latvian life for centuries, reflecting daily routines and festivities. They had played a unifying role during the 19th-century formation of the Latvian nation. Furthermore, folk songs were source of cultural identity during Latvia's journey towards independence, providing resilience against foreign oppression.
Throughout 2024, thematic selections of folk songs will be displayed on screens in Riga's public transport changing every week, coordinated with festivities, commemorations, and other events of social significance. We encourage everyone to learn at least one folk song this year!
"Folklore and Ethnology in the Soviet Western Borderlands" has been published
"Folklore and Ethnology in the Soviet Western Borderlands", edited by ILFA senior researcher Toms Ķencis, Simon J. Bronner and Elo-Hanna Seljamaa, has been published by Lexington Books.
Thirteen international scholars assess the profound impact of Soviet-era movements to study, apply, and perform folklore as a priority in socialist policy-formation and culture-building. Representing generations who lived through and after Soviet occupation, they reflect on the consequences of state-supported promotion of folk arts in a region called the Western Borderlands that include Baltic countries, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, Romania, and Hungary. In their incisive analyses, authors present original archival materials as well as ethnographic data to understand colonialist support for bottom-up folklore movements and resistance to them. Capping the volume is a timely consideration of Soviet orchestration of folkloristic work on present developments in conflicts of Russia with its neighbors and alignments with Western folkloristics and ethnology.
ILFA researchers have contributed to several book chapters – Toms Ķencis wrote the introduction "Introduction: The Analytics of 'Socialist in Form, National in Content' in the Soviet Western Borderlands" and the chapter "Folklore and Nationalism in the Soviet Western Borderlands"; Digne Ūdre the chapter "Ideological Tuning of Latvian Folk Ornament"; Gatis Ozoliņš "The Dievturi Movement under the Soviet Regime", and Elīna Gailīte "The Influence of Soviet Authority on the Formation of Latvian Staged Folk Dance".
More.
Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10
ARCHIVES OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE: 100 + 10
International Conference
Riga, Latvia
October 29-31, 2024
Approaching its 100th anniversary, the Archives of Latvian Folklore (1924), in close cooperation with the SIEF Working Group on Archives and the SIEF Working Group on Cultural Heritage and Property, invites contributions for an international conference addressing a diverse range of issues related to present and future of the archives of traditional culture. The centenary is, of course, a good reason to look back and take stock of what has been done, to understand how the histories of archiving have developed in different countries. But what we would like to do even more at this conference is to assess current situations and to look ahead, say, to the next 10 years.
What is the state of play in archiving and maintaining archives of intangible cultural heritage (in Europe and elsewhere)? What could the near future of tradition archives look like? What can we expect with certainty? What major research and infrastructure projects are planned in the archives? Do the next few years look optimistic for individual archives as well as their networks, or the other way around? What challenges lie ahead of us (legal, ethical, technological, of values)? What new archiving solutions can be offered? What can we learn from the past?
Read more...19th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research
The 19th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) will be hosted by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art (ILFA) at the University of Latvia in Riga from June 17 to 21, 2024.
The theme of the congress is "Folk Narratives in the Changing World". The ISFNR Folk Narrative, Literature, and Media Committee, Belief Narrative Network and Charms, Charmers and Charming Committe will be holding their sessions within the congress. For more information see the Call for papers.
To apply for participation in the congress, please fill out the form available at this link. Participants are kindly asked to submit an abstract for their planned presentation (length up to 300 words). Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion. The deadline for congress applications is December 15, 2023.
ILFA's oldest department, the Archives of Latvian Folklore, will celebrate its centenary in 2024. The congress, taking place during the summer solstice period, will be one of the centennial celebration events. For more information about the congress proceedings, application, and registration, please visit the congress homepage.
Lois Kalb’s Lecture on Mass Housing in Riga
On 17 May 2023, Lois Kalb will visit the ILFA and give a public lecture, “Uncommonly Modern: Property, Intimacy and Mass Housing in Late and post-Soviet Riga (1970-2000)”. Lois Kalb is a PhD researcher at the history department of the European University Institute in Florence. She is interested in the urban political economy of late Soviet mass housing districts. Her current project lays at the intersection between history and anthropology and looks at the changing relations between forms of property, intimacies and social life of mass housing districts in Riga over the course of the late Soviet period and the transition period of the 1990s.
In this lecture, she will present parts of her current PhD project on mass housing and urban social change in late and post-Soviet Riga, over the course of the 1970s, 80s, and 1990s. “I look at the transforming dynamics between large-scale political and economic processes, the urban built environment and everyday social life. By looking at different aspects of mass housing districts, such as housing maintenance and repair, housing distribution and family life, I search for emergent property relations.” The lecture will put forward some tentative findings of what such property relations can tell about the post-socialist transition in Riga, about housing privatization and people’s everyday lives becoming more private over time.
Read more...
