Founded on December 1, 1968, at the first conference on Baltic Studies at the University of Maryland, the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) is an international educational and scholarly non-profit organization. It promotes research and education in Baltic Studies by sponsoring meetings and conferences, supporting publications, sustaining a program of scholarships, grants, and prizes, and disseminating news of current interest in Baltic Studies. Since 1991, it has been a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Membership in the AABS is open to anyone wishing to support the scholarly purposes of the Association. AABS members receive a subscription to the quarterly Journal of Baltic Studies, reduced registration fees at AABS conferences, and an annual newsletter of the association’s activities.

AABS invites you to participate in our 23rd conference -- The Global Baltics: The Next Twenty Years -- which will be held at the University of Illinois at Chicago on April 26-28, 2012.

Registration, accommodation and conference site information can be found on the 2012 AABS Conference website.

Confirmed Conference Plenary Session Speakers:

* Ambassadors to the United States, Marina Kaljurand (Estonia), Žygimantas Pavilionis (Lithuania) and Andrejs Pildegovics (Latvia) have accepted the invitation to participate in a roundtable plenary session discussion about globalization and the Baltic countries in the next 20 years.

* Dr. Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis, an economist and a member of Latvia's Parliament, will address the topic of the current economic crisis in the Baltic countries.

* Linguist and translator, Università di Pisa professor, Dr. Pietro U. Dini, will discuss how Renaissance Europe looked at Baltic languages and the Baltic peoples (his most recent book in Italian is entitled ,,Aliletoescvr: linguistica baltica delle origini", published in Livorno by Books & Co.

Join in now! The 2012 AABS conference is on Facebook.

The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies invites submissions for the upcoming 16th semi-annual conference on Baltic Studies in Australasia. We welcome papers related to the Baltic region, its countries, and its populations both within those countries and their diasporas.

Contributions are encouraged from disciplines including, but not limited to, the following: anthropology, architecture, business, communication and media, cultural studies, demography, economics, education, environment, ethnic relations, film studies, fine arts, gender studies, geography, history, international relations, law, linguistics, literature, memory, political science, psychology, public health, religion, sociology, and advancing Baltic studies. Interdisciplinary and comparative work is particularly welcome.

Please send proposals (250 words) by 1 May to Delaney Skerrett, Chapter President and Conference Convenor at d.skerrett@uq.edu.au

AABS gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of the School of Languages and Linguistics of the University of Melbourne.

Three AABS members -Toivo Raun, Guntis Šmidchens and Mare Taagepera - have been awarded state decorations by the Republic of Estonia for services to the state.

From the official press release of the Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia:

"As the Head of State, I consider the decorations of the Republic of Estonia to be the highest gratitude and acknowledgement of the Republic of Estonia to people from Estonia and other countries, whose work and activities have contributed to a better, safer and richer Estonia and, in a number of cases, the nominees of the decorations have expressed special personal courage. They have done more that their work would have assumed them to do," told President Ilves. "The number of receivers of decorations is not large and this should enhance the value and significance of each and every one of them."

"The Order of the White Star, 3rd class, is being awarded to the promoter of discovery-based learning, initiator and contributor to the Forest University in Estonia, Mare Taagepera."

"The Republic of Estonia acknowledges the keepers of its history. The Order of the White Star is being awarded to Professor Toivo Ülo Raun, researcher of the history of the Baltic countries and Finland at the University of Indiana in the United States of America."

"Estonia thanks its friends and supporters aboard. Orders of the Cross of Terra Mariana is awarded to one of the founders of the Baltic study programme at the University of Washington, Professor Guntis Šmidchens."

Check out these articles in the most recent issue of the Journal of Baltic Studies:

"Evicting the Speaking Subject: A Critique of Latvian Concepts of Language" by Sergei Kruk

"Estonian Folklore as A Source of Baltic-German Poetry" by Liina Lukas

"The Evolution of Innovation Policy Governance Systems and Policy Capacities in the Baltic States" by Erkki Karo

"Developments in Usage and Acquisitions of Scientific Information in the Baltic States' Leading Technical University Libraries: Past Trends and Current Challenges" by Kate-Riin Kont

 

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