The 2010 AABS conference will take place from April 22-24, 2010 in Seattle, Washington, as a joint conference with the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study.
The conference website is here.
AABS is pleased to announce the sponsorship of a panel at the 2010 AAASS National Convention to be held from November 18-21, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. We are looking for three presenters for our panel, broadly titled "Windows, Bridges, Gateways and more: Describing Baltic Space in Eurasia." The panel is open to papers from all disciplines. Papers that incorporate the convention's general theme, "War and Peace," are encouraged. To be considered, submit a brief c.v. (2 pages) and a proposal of no more than 250 words embedded in the body of an e-mail to aldisp@u.washington.edu by December 01, 2009. Only submissions from AABS members in good standing will be considered. Chosen panelists will be notified by December 31, 2009. AABS will then submit the panel to AAASS and pay the participants' registration fee.
A reciprocal panel, one sponsored by AAASS, will be in the program of the 22nd AABS Conference.
The Association announces the 2010 Call for Applicants for Mudīite I. Zīlīte Saltups Postgraduate and Post-Doctoral Fellowships , the Jānis Grundmanis Postgraduate Fellowship, Dissertation Grants for Graduate Students and Research Grants for Emerging Scholars. Find more information about AABS Grants and Awards.
The Advanced Social and Political Research Institute (ASPRI) at the University of Latvia invites you to participate in an international conference: Twenty Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Politics of Memory and Democratization in Europe
Riga, University of Latvia
September 10-13, 2009
Short proposals (300-500 words) and registration form should be submitted by April 30, 2009 to conferenceASPRI@lu.lv.
AABS Vice-President for Professional Development, Dr. Daunis Auers, and 2009 Jānis Grundmanis Fellow, Ilze Garoza.
The Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS) is located at Södertörns högskola (Södertörn University) in south Stockholm, Sweden. BEEGS is part of the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, CBEES. The focus of the research activities at BEEGS is on the Baltic and East European area. The language of instruction is English and fluency in English is required.
In cooperation with the following universities, Södertörns högskola is inviting applications for 10 doctoral student positions:
Up to three PhD candidates in Archaeology in cooperation with Stockholm University
Up to four PhD candidates in Business Administration in cooperation with Stockholm University
Up to three PhD candidates in Media and Communication Studies in cooperation with Örebro University
Up to three PhD candidates in Sociology in cooperation with Uppsala University
Up to two PhD candidates in Theoretical Philosophy in cooperation with Uppsala University
Closing date for applications: 15 September 2009
The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at Södertorn in Sweden is now inviting applications for four postdoctoral positions within three research themes: Knowledge and Sustainability and Cultural Theory and Social Landscapes of the Political. Closing date for applications: 31 August 2009. Details
The Baltics as an Intersection of Civilizational Identities
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
June 11-14, 2009
This region has been home for Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and modern Western cultures. The Baltic, unthinkable without and inseparable from its German, Scandinavian, Russian, Jewish, and Polish legacies, is a perfect place to analyze diversity in small countries at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Baltic studies are considered as a particular historical, political, linguistic, social, cultural and ideological contact zone where the meanings of identities, languages, and relationships are renegotiated.
Call for Papers
Deadline: February 1, 2009
The Journal of Folklore Research invites papers on any aspect of the folklore of conflict zones and conflict resolution. Topics may be current or not-so-current. “Conflict” for the purposes of the issue should be understood to involve the group use or serious threat of coercive physical force. Theories and comparative treatments of vernacular discursive tactics and interventions, based on field observation and/or analysis of archived or published texts, are welcome. Please send an article proposal in the form of a 200-300 word abstract to mills.186@osu.edu. If accepted, we will solicit a finished paper for external review. Papers (total 20-35 pp. double-spaced) will be needed by February 28, 2009. Details
The Association invites applications for two Postgraduate Fellowships for Latvian citizens to study in the United States. The Mudīite I. Zīlīte Saltups Postgraduate and Post-Doctoral Fellowship supports up to eight weeks of study of the Humanities and Social Sciences, while the Jānis Grundmanis Postgraduate Fellowship is an annual award of $15,000. Deadlines for both fellowships are October 30, 2008.
In cooperation with the Stockholm and Uppsala universities, Södertörn University College (Sweden) is inviting applications for 10 doctoral student positions within the Baltic and East European Graduate School. The language of instruction is English and fluency in English is required. Areas include Ethnology, History, Literature and Rhetoric. For information about the regulations regarding admission, selection and entry requirements, see: www.sh.se/beegs.
Baltic Crossroads: Examining Cultural, Social, and Historical Diversity
May 29 to 31, 2008
Indiana University
The AABS conference planning committee was pleased to offer an exciting program for the 21st Conference on Baltic Studies. The conference focused on the question of diversity in the Baltic region in the past and present and considered the implications of this diversity for global developments and scholarship.
The program included:
More than one hundred panelists from a variety of disciplines—including linguistics, economics, history, sociology, religious studies, political science, anthropology, and education—reflecting an international community of scholars from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, France, Russia, Canada, and the United States and other regions.
Workshop "Ethnicity and Migration in the Baltic Region" featuring Nils Muiznieks, (University of Latvia, Advanced Social and Political Research Institute), Pille Petersoo, (Institute of International and Social Studies, Tallinn University, Estonia) and Audra Sipaviciene (International Organization of Migration, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Evening program: book exhibit and reading featuring Pauls Toutonghi, author of Red Weather.
Photo: The Trustees of Indiana University
The 14th AABS Australasian Chapter Conference was held at the University of Melbourne on the 6th of September. Set in the Gryphon Gallery of the 1888 Building the conference was divided into three sessions and was well attended. The 14th AABS Conference Dinner was held at "University House" at the University of Melbourne. The dinner honoured Professor Trevor Fennell for his outstanding service to the promotion and pursuit of Baltic Studies in Australia and abroad. Additionally the dinner was accompanied by the AABS launch of Ann Tündern-Smith's book Bonegilla’s Beginnings documenting the process of bringing the first Displaced Persons (Balts) from German displaced person camps to Australia in late 1947. The AABS conference and conference dinner were organised and convened by Dr. Andrew Blumbergs, who is President of the AABS Australasian Chapter. Conference Program with Abstracts (Word format)
The 2006-2007 AABS Book Prizes has been awarded to:
 Katrina Z.S. Schwartz, Nature and National Identity after Communism: Globalizing the Ethnoscape (U of Pittsburgh P, 2006). |
 Iveta Silova, From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism: Reconceptualizing Minority Education in Post-Soviet Latvia (IAP, 2006). |
Honorable Mention:
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September 14–20, 2008, Copenhagen/Denmark and Tallinn/Estonia
The workshop is especially designed to make multipliers from non-European universities acquainted with the Baltic Sea Region, its politics, history, economy, and regional culture. Special emphasis is put on the region’s higher education structures, study possibilities and scholarship options for students and researchers. That way, academic staff in key positions is enabled to inform students and colleagues thoroughly about the scientific opportunities the region offers
International Workshop: 18 - 19 October 2008, Tartu, Estonia
The independent Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The scope of the seminar will encompass both the Sovietization begun in 1940, following the occupation and annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the post-Second World War period to the mid-1950’s. The aim of the workshop is to bring together scholars from the Baltic States and elsewhere to discuss different aspects of Stalinist rule in the three countries. Fields to be covered might be:
• Politics
• Repression
• Forms of Resistance
• Deportation and Population Resettlement
• Stalinist Nationalities’ Policy
• Culture
• Education
• Everyday-Life
• Social Change
• Economics
• Remembering the Stalinist Era
A preliminary version of the paper should be distributed to all participants in advance. During the workshop the major themes of the paper should be presented in 20 minutes. Time will be left for extensive discussion. It is the intent of the organizers of the workshop to publish the final versions of the papers afterwards. The working languages of the workshop will be English and Russian. The workshop will be held at the University of Tartu in Tartu, Estonia. The organizers offer board and accommodation and cover part of the travel expenses.
The workshop is organized by the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS), the Nordost-Institut in Lüneburg, Germany, and the University of Tartu, Estonia.
Please send your proposal for a paper (250-300 words) and a short CV no later than 1 May 2008, by e-mail, to Dr. Olaf Mertelsmann (omertelsmann@yahoo.co.uk).
The German Institute for International and Security Affairs invites applications for a full-time senior research position in Northern and Baltic Sea studies at the rank of a project leader and for a related junior research position. Both positions are intended to start as soon as possible.
The 2007-2008 AABS Dissertation Grant has been awarded to Jennie Schulze, George Washington University. Schulze's project is entitled The Language of Belonging: Russian Minorities in the Baltic States .
2007-2008 AABS Emerging Scholar Grants have been awarded to:
Gediminas Lankauskas, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Regina. Lankauskas' project is entitled Modernity, Morality, and Pentecostal 'Civil Society' in Postsocialist Lithuania.
Kara Brown, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina. Brown's project is entitled The Politics of Preschool: Bilingual Education Possibilities and Problems in Estonian Kindergartens.
Indrė Čuplinskas, Assistant Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Alberta. Čuplinskas' project is entitled Controlling the Future of the Nation: the Lithuanian Government's 1930 Crackdown on the Ateitis Catholic Student Federation.
The 2006-2007 AABS Dissertation Grant has been awarded to Jolanta Mickutė, a PhD student in Modern Jewish History at Indiana University to support her work on marginalized historical narratives of Lithuanian and Polish Jewish women.
The 2006-2007 AABS Emerging Scholar Grant has been awarded to Brent McKenzie, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Guelph.
McKenzie's project is entitled From Soviet to Selver: Tallinna Kaubamaja -- 'Estonia's Department Store.' The Shaping of the Retail Sector in Estonia.
Oskars Stucis (Notre Dame University) has been awarded the 2006 Jānis Grundmanis Postgraduate Fellowship for study in the United States.
University College London is offering a new International MA in Economy, State and Society for which non-EU/EEA citizens can apply for one of numerous Erasmus Mundus Scholarships of €21,000 per year. The MA has been recognised by the European Union as program of excellence. Successful applicants will spend their first year at University College London and the second at a partner university in Tartu, Helsinki, Prague, Budapest or Krakow. More Information
Intensive first-year Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian language will be offered at the 14th Annual Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI), hosted by the UCLA Center for World Languages, June 25-August 17, 2007. Classes will meet daily for eight weeks, four hours per day. Course content equals three quarters of regular instruction during the academic year. A rich cultural enhancement program will complement language instruction with films, music and guest lectures. Application deadline for early admission is March 1, 2007, rolling admissions after that. More information
The program aims to prepare students for postgraduate studies, independent research work, as well as career activity within a European framework by
The 20th Conference on Baltic Studies was held June 15-17, 2006 at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
The theme was Re-Imagining the Baltic Region: Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future.Participants were encouraged to consider, among others, the following questions: What is the “Baltic region?” Has the meaning of this concept changed over time? What are the cultural, social, economic, environmental, military, legal, and political implications of expanding the borders of the “Baltic region” both westward and eastward? How are the changes reflected in ideas and practices regarding ethnicity, nationhood, and citizenship? Wealth, poverty, and free markets? Gender norms and roles? Memories and the writing of history? Cultural representations of the region in film, music, literature, and art? Conference Website
The Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (a consortium of the Universities of Glasgow, Nottingham, St Andrews, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Paisley and Strathclyde) announces PhD, Masters/PgDip Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships. Suitably qualified applicants from any branch of the Social Sciences and Humanities are invited to apply for 11 fully-funded PhD studentships and two one-year postdoctoral fellowships in any of the following key research themes related to current and past developments in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR:
More information [PDF]
At the end of 2005 on the 5th of December after sixteen days of suffering (a second heart attack, pneumonia) the 78-year old Vladimir Toporov departed from us. Russian science lost one of its most distinguished personalities. This loss was also terribly painful not only for Lithuanian and Latvian philology, which the deceased had enriched with splendid researches, not only for those who love the culture in general, but also for those who are concerned with the future of these peoples. Research on the Baltic languages and learning about their ancient culture was not simply a profession. It was his moral duty as a scholar. He formulated this credo in the preface to his Dictionary of the Prussian language. “The extinction of the Prussians is a loss for humanity and mankind and the attempt to recreate lost cultures is at least to a small degree connected with moral duties.”
Jeff Johnson: