Academic Centre“Ethnographer, Society, and Art: Symbiosis of Ethnology and Art and Discourse of the Soviet Colonialism in Latvia”
Project No.: lzp-2023/1-0052
Implementation period: 01.01.2024.–31.12.2026.
Project costs: EUR 300 000. 00
Project leader: Dr. hist. Anete Karlsone
For the first time since the restoration of independence, the implementation of the project will provide a scientific evaluation of the field of ethnology during the Soviet period and promote public understanding of the system of knowledge formation, dissemination and control implemented in the Soviet totalitarian regime, as well as the role of ethnography and art in uniting society and creating a common identity.
By researching archival documents and other written sources of history, combined with interviews of Soviet period eyewitnesses and respondents of younger generations, the creation of ethnological knowledge and its use both for the purposes of Soviet ideology and as a resource for strengthening national identity under colonialism will be investigated.
The project's activities will contribute to the public's understanding of the impact of the Soviet colonial policy on the system of knowledge creation and control, as well as the role of ethnography and art in uniting society and creating a common identity. In the implementation of the project, the cooperation partner of LU LVI is the Latvian Academy of Arts.
Researchers from the Latvian Institute of History of the University of Latvia have joined the project group: Dr. hist. Anete Karlsone, Dr. hist. Ilze Boldāne-Zeļenkova, Dr. art. Ieva Pīgozne, Dr. hist. Daina Bleiere and Ilze Ulmane, custodian of the collection, as well as cooperation partners from LMA: Dr.art. Inese Sirica, Dr. art. Jānis Kalnačs, doctoral student Una Valtere and master's student Santa Sleikša.
To outline the framework of the researched topic, we invited researchers and students of humanities and social sciences whose interests include the history of the branches of science related to the ethnography, daily life, or artistic developments during the Soviet occupation period, to the conference section "Ethnographer, Society, Art: 1940–1990" by submitting reports related to any of the following topics:
- The political, administrative and legal regulation affecting the development of the field of ethnography;
- Creation of ethnological knowledge and its use for the purposes of Soviet ideology;
- Ethnological knowledge as a resource for strengthening national identity under colonialism;
- Points of contact between ethnography, archaeology, folkloristics, and other fields of science during the Soviet occupation period;
- The symbiosis of ethnographic cultural heritage and art;
- Ethnographic cultural heritage and its use in education during the Soviet occupation period.
The authors of the 15 reports read at the conference were scientists from the Latvian Institute of History of the University of Latvia, Art Academy of Latvia, Rīga Stradiņš University, EKA University of applied sciences, Lithuanian Institute of History, Vytautas Magnus University, University of Tartu, Estonian National Museum, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of IASI and “Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Romanian Academy.