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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.

Program, registration, accommodation and conference site information can be found on the 2012 AABS Conference website. You can download the conference program and maps of the conference venues.

Visit the 2012 AABS Conference Abstracts website to read about all the panel presentations.

Confirmed Conference Plenary Session Speakers:

* Ambassadors to the United States, Marina Kaljurand (Estonia), Žygimantas Pavilionis (Lithuania) and Andrejs Pildegovičs (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.

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Turning Points in Baltic and Central East European Food History -
Knowledge, Consumption, and Production in Changing Environments
Tallinn, Estonia, 29-31 August 2012
The deadline for applications is April 15, 2012.

Together with global changes (climate change, colonialism, industrialisation etc.), the conference will focus in particular on the specific regional characteristics of the Baltic countries and Central East Europe. This is all the more necessary since, despite the complex inter-ethnic composition, class structures and trade relations in the Baltic area and Poland, there have only been a few comparative studies made of the historical and trans-cultural food culture of the region which draw upon the latest research in this field. The main focus of this international and interdisciplinary conference will be upon the continuities and discontinuities in Baltic food history and in contemporary Baltic food studies.

This conference constitutes the first in a small series of conferences on environmental history which are being organised in cooperation with the Herder Institute in Marburg and the Institute of History, Tallinn University. The aim of this series is, from a comparative perspective, to reach an appraisal of the state of current research on the environmental history of the Baltic region and Central Eastern Europe, and to draw impulses from this for further research. We therefore also welcome topics whose focus lies beyond the actual region itself, but which can still offer an important methodological contribution.

We will invite up to 15 academics to the conference. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes in length. Young academics are encouraged to present their research projects in poster presentations of around 10 minutes in length.

The language of the conference will be English, but presentations may also be made in German. The organisers will cover the costs of accommodation in Tallinn and if necessary a proportional takeover of the travel costs after (please contact the rganizers before).

Please send your abstracts (max. 500 words) to:
Heidi Hein-Kircher (heidi.hein-kircher@herder-institut.de) and Ulrike
Plath (ulrike@utkk.ee). The deadline for applications is April 15, 2012.

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The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies invites submissions for the upcoming 16th semi-annual conference on Baltic Studies in Australasia. The conference will be held on 29 September 2012. 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.

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Lee Savage, a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex in the Department of Politics and Contemporary European Studies, is currently working on a project which looks at government formation and duration in Central and Eastern Europe in comparative perspective.

Mr. Savage invited experts in politics to participate in a survey on party policy positions. The questionnaires should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete. They can be found at the following URLs together with instructions for completion:
Estonia: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/estoniapolicysurvey
Latvia: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/latviapolicysurvey
Lithuania: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lithuaniapolicysurvey

For further information, please contact Mr. Savage by email. A pdf description of the project can be downloaded here: Savage baltics politics survey March 2012.pdf

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In response to an invitation by professor Guntis Šmidchens, I am sharing a few observations about the development of the Journal of Baltic Studies. These are personal reflections of a regular reader and contributor...The noteworthy activities include the exchange of scholarly views, and the dissemination of knowledge, with the purpose of advancing the accumulation of knowledge of all aspects of the Baltic Sea region...I am also reminded of the debates that preceded the journal. There were questions of strategic principles. Would a journal generate respectable research about the Baltics? Or, would it be a publication of the last resort for marginal explorations? Would it help raise the scholarly reputation of the AABS and its members?

To read Dr. King's full comments on the Journal of Baltic Studies, please download Gundar King JBS discussion.pdf We welcome your comments on the Journal of Baltic Studies. Comments and responses can be sent to Amanda Swain, newsletter editor.

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In 2011, Dr. Amy Bryzgel was awarded an AABS Emerging Scholar Award to assist with the completion of her book, Performing the East: Performance Art in Russia, Latvia and Poland since 1980. The book dedicates one chapter to an analysis of performance art in Latvia as viewed through the works of contemporary artists Miervaldis Polis and Gints Gabrans. The funding was utilised to offset the cost of copy-editing and indexing of the final manuscript.

Performing the East examines the phenomenon of performance art as it emerged in Eastern Europe by examining distinct case-studies of artists working in Russia, Latvia and Poland. While Performance Art is a thoroughly theorised and codified genre within the Western Art Historical canon, there has yet to emerge a comprehensive study of the meaning and significance of this art form to artists and audiences in the 'East,' where it emerged under entirely different socio-historical conditions. This book is one of the first efforts to fill that gap in the scholarship.

The chapter on Performance Art in Latvia focuses on two artists working nearly two decades apart. Miervaldis Polis, the painter-turned-performer, embarked on a series of performance in the 1980s as the Bronze Man, wherein he walked around the streets of Soviet Riga covered from head to toe in bronze paint. Nearly 20 years later, after Latvia had already regained its independence and was about to enter a new Union - the EU - artist and set designer Gints Gabrans selected a homeless man from the streets of Riga and turned him into a TV star by giving him a makeover and finding as many opportunities as possible for him to appear on TV. Both performances confront the viewer with visceral manifestations of self-made (or re-made) men, and challenge him to question the truth behind appearances presented. While Polis' performance functioned in concert with similar disputes being raised by citizens during the Soviet period, Gabrans's reinvents this question during a period when Latvia was just gaining its footing in a free-market democracy.

From 2004-2009, Dr. Bryzgel lived in Riga while completing research for her PhD dissertation on the resurgence of the avant-garde in Eastern Europe after the Thaw. Since 2009, she has been a Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, where she specialises in Modern and Contemporary Art from Eastern Europe and Russia.

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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."

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Stefan Donecker," An Itinerant Sheep, and The Origins of The Livonians: Friedrich Menius's Syntagma De Origine Livonorum (1635)"

During the 1630s, Friedrich Menius, professor of history at the University of Dorpat, was the first scholar to investigate the ethnic origins and the ancestry of Estonians and Latvians at an academic level. His treatise, entitled Syntagma de origine Livonorum, has nevertheless been largely ignored by later generations. This is mainly due to Menius's bad reputation as an academic adventurer and notorious troublemaker. The present paper intends to examine Menius's theories, place them in the context of early modern intellectual history, and interpret them as an expression of the worldview and mindset of a seventeenth-century Livonian scholar.

Epp Annus, "The Problem of Soviet Colonialism in the Baltics"

This essay works through some of the necessary preliminary questions in thinking about Soviet colonialism in the Baltics. It opens by tracing the prehistory of critical thinking about Soviet colonialism in the 1960s and considers why the topic of Soviet colonialism has not (or not yet) become a dominant way to understand Soviet history. The central question posed by the article is whether one can speak about the Soviet invasions of the Baltic States as 'colonization'. It proposes that, initially, communist Russia did not in fact seek to colonize the Baltic States and instead 'occupied' them; however, this initial period of occupation later developed into a period of a colonial rule.

Li Bennich- Bjőrkman and Branka Likić-Brborić, "Successful But Different: Deliberative Identity and the Consensus-Driven Transition to Capitalism in Estonia and Slovenia"

Praised by international organizations, Estonia and Slovenia have long been considered among the most successful post-communist states. Estonia quickly transformed itself into one of the most liberal economies in the world, whereas Slovenia opted for a social justice-oriented market economy. Still, the roots of their success coincide in that consensus played a crucial role. We argue that the public sphere was never as repressed in Estonia and Slovenia during the communist period as it was elsewhere. Distinct national identities continued to be formed and re-formed by intellectuals during the decades of communist rule, who assumed roles as political leaders when the transition started. Consensus based on these national identities legitimized reform policies for the entire decade of the 1990s.

Cecilia Mőller, "Gendered Entrepreneurship in Rural Latvia: Exploring Femininities, Work, and Livelihood Within Rural Tourism"

This article explores different geographies of tourism, femininities and livelihood in post-socialist rural Latvia, with a focus on women's entrepreneurship within rural tourism. Based on a case study in the Cēsis district, its aim is to analyze women's livelihood strategies, including both economic and lifestyle-oriented motives behind entrepreneurship within tourism. The study illustrates women's day-to-day livelihood practices and how they organize their lives in time and space. The article reveals how women negotiate their 'livelihood action space', which includes a number of paradoxes between the quest for independence while facing both economic and social restrictions.

Stefan Ewert, Higher Education Cooperation and Networks in the Baltic Sea Region: A Basis for Regionalization and Region Building?

This article examines academic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Academic networks are being discussed as indicators of regionalization, but research on the empirical basis is scarce. In the article, the regional networks of 70 higher education institutions in the Baltic States and the German federal state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are analyzed. The analysis shows a heterogeneous pattern for the regional higher education area. Regional embedding depends on the focus of an academy and its participation in regional networks. The article concludes with a discussion of options to be considered by regional organizations in order to strengthen regional academic cooperation.

Anu Toots and Tõnu Idnurm, "Does the Context Matter? Attitudes Towards Cosmopolitanism Among Russian-Speaking Students in Estonia, Latvia and the Russian Federation"

The increase of multiculturalism in European societies poses challenges to citizenship education, which, in formal education, relies on national values and neglects the emergence of cosmopolitanism. This article compares the patriotic and cosmopolitan values of Russian-speaking students in Estonia, Latvia and the Russian Federation using the data of two large surveys. The analysis revealed that Russian-speaking adolescents in Estonia and Latvia demonstrate higher support of cosmopolitan values than the Estonians, Latvians, and students in the Russian Federation. A worrisome finding is that students in the cosmopolitan cluster do not firmly favor democratic values and are not interested in improving their civic knowledge.

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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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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.

Paper and Panel Proposals Deadline: HAS BEEN EXTENDED -- PLEASE SUBMIT PROPOSALS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (10/11/11)
Please see the call for papers for detailed information on submitting paper and panel proposals:
CFP-2012-AABS-Chicago-updated.pdf

Accommodations: Information on conference accommodations is now available:
AABS-2012-accomodations-FINAL.pdf

Keep up-to-date with conference plans by joining the 2012 AABS Conference group on Facebook.

The Conference website is coming soon!

For further information, contact the conference organizing committee at aabsconfinfochicago@gmail.com.

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AABS invites applications for the 2012 Saltups, Grundmanis, Dissertation and Emerging Scholar grants. The application deadline for all 2012 fellowships is December 15, 2011. For more information, visit the Grants page on the AABS website.

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The most recent issue of the Journal of Baltic Studies features the following articles:

Iurii Samarin's Baltic Escapade by Richard Pipes

The Institutional Roots of Anti-Corruption Policies: Comparing the Three Baltic States by Lars Johannsen and Karin Hilmer Pederson

An Intriguing Document: 583 Headwords in Search of a Lexicographer by Kristina Brazaitis

Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses' Growth Expectations and Financial Performance in Latvia: Does Ethnicity Matter? by Ruta Aidis, Tomasz Marek Mickiewicz and Arnis Sauka

The Impact of the European Union on Sub-National Mobilization in a Unitary State: The Case of Estonia by Merit Tartar

Pleasures of Late Socialism in Soviet Lithuania: Strategies of Resistance and Dissent by Rasa Baločkaitė

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The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) and the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (SASS) will once again hold a joint conference on March 13-15, 2014. The conference will be hosted by the European Studies Council at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. For more information about the conference, please contact Bradley Woodworth.

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Sődertőn University in Stockholm hosted the 2011 Baltic Studies in Europe Conference on June 12-15. The 230 participants came from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, UK, USA, and even two participants from Japan. In addition to panel presentations, the conference featured three key note speakers. Bengt Jacobsson, Sődertőn University, opened the conference with a talk on "Changes in Governance: Europeanization and the Baltic States." Valdis Muktupavels, University of Latvia, presented case studies of Latvian musical instruments to discuss local, regional and continental components of national musical culture. Tiina Kirss, Tallinn University, addressed post-Soviet "memory work" in her talk "Writing Baltic Lives: Continuities and Caesuras."

A highlight of the conference was a concert by the Hans Antehads Quartet, which performed jazz arrangements of traditional and contemporary Latvian songs. The concert, held at the historical Konserthuset, was followed by a reception hosted by the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian embassies in Sweden. On Sunday evening, the Estonian House hosted a reception with a performance by The Lavettes, a 1960s music Stockholm band comprised primarily of doctoral students. Despite a heavy rain that forced a move inside from the Blåporten restaurant's courtyard, the conference dinner was an opportunity to enjoy Swedish food and conversation with colleagues.

The 2013 Baltic Studies Conference in Europe will be held in Tallinn, Estonia.

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The current issue of the Journal of Baltic Studies features the following articles:

Koreinik, Kadri. Public Discourse of (De)legitimation: The Case of South Estonian Language.

Mölder, Holger. The Cooperative Security Dilemma in the Baltic Sea Region.

Taagepera, Rein. Albert, Martin, and Peter Too: Their Roles in Creating the Estonian and Latvian Nations.

Velmet, Aro. Occupied Identities: National Narratives in Baltic Museums of Occupations.

Ehala, Martin and Anastassia Zabrodskaja. Interethnic discordance and stability in Estonia.

Rohtmets, Helen. The repatriation of Estonians from Soviet Russia in 1920-1923: a test of Estonian citizenship and immigration policy.

Parutis, Violetta. White, European, and Hardworking: East European Migrants' Relationships with Other Communities in London.

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The 9th Baltic Conference in Europe -- Transitions, Visions and Beyond -- will be held at Södertörn University, Huddinge, Stockholm on 12-15 June 2011.

The preliminary conference program is now available.

For more information, see the conference website or contact Anne Kaun (anne.kaun@sh.se).

It is time to take stock of the transition process, to reflect and summarize, but also to look ahead. The Baltic Sea region has found its place inside Europe. Since 2008, the economic crisis has been a dominating issue not only in the Baltic countries but in Europe as a whole. The implications of the crisis for politics, social life, culture and environment are widespread. Every country is developing its own strategy to overcome the crisis and we need to reflect upon the commonalities and differences in how the crisis is being handled. There is also a need to look ahead, beyond the problems at hand, and to discuss visions and opportunities. The conference "Transitions, Visions and Beyond" aims to bring together representatives of academic communities who share an interest in exploring the Baltic region from multiple perspectives. Baltic region studies are considered a particular historical, political, linguistic, social, cultural and ideological contact zone where the meanings of identities, languages and relationships are renegotiated.

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Since 2008, both Vilnius and Riga have witnessed a growth in farmers' markets and other alternative systems of food provision. Consumers and farmers are experimenting with non-conventional food supply chains, for example, by adapting models of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to local conditions. Renata Blumberg, a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota, is conducting research on these networks between producers and consumers in both Latvia and Lithuania. Renata uses quantitative and qualitative research methods and her project examines both the impact that participation in these networks has on farmer livelihoods and consumer practices. Localized food supply chains have emerged as a recent academic and political focus of the sustainable food movement because scholars claim that they unite consumers and producers in a manner that contributes to sustainable rural development. However, little empirical evidence outside of Western Europe and the USA exists to support this claim. Renata's research is designed to redress this gap.

An AABS dissertation research grant allowed Renata to conduct a month of participant observation in alternative food networks during the summer of 2010. As a participant observer, she followed the links of the supply chain from the agricultural field to the market. This experience gave her firsthand empirical data, which compliments her interview and survey materials.

Renata has presented her preliminary research results at Association of American Geographers' annual conference as part of a special session on "Subversive and Interstitial Food Spaces." She also presented at an international workshop on "Ethical Foods and Food Movements in Postsocialist Settings" held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

She is very grateful for her award!

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The 23rd AABS Conference -- The Global Baltics: The Next Twenty Years -- will be held in Chicago, 26-28 April 2012. Deadline for proposals: October 1, 2011.

Keep up-to-date with conference plans by joining the 2012 AABS Conference group on Facebook.

AABS welcomes papers, panels, and roundtable presentations in fields related to the Baltic region, its countries, and populations within those countries, including minorities. 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 welcome.

Graduate students, both Master and Ph.D., are encouraged to submit proposal.

Paper and panel proposals must include an abstract of no more than 250 words and a one- to two-page curriculum vitae. These materials should be sent to the appropriate divisional chair. For additional information, please download the call for papers. 1st Call for Papers AABS CHICAGO April 26-28 2012.pdf

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As a Saltups fellow, Inta Mierina was working on a research paper called "Learning political helplessness: the vicious cycle of political socialization in Latvia" that is part of my doctoral thesis. Her doctoral thesis "Social Capital and Development of Political Attitudes in Post-Communist Countries" investigates the sources of political alienation in post-communist countries. On the basis of quantitative micro-level analysis -- structural equation modeling and an original technique of cohort analysis -- it tests the assumptions of cultural theories (the legacy of the communist regime), institutional theories (the negative effects of the poor performance and unresponsiveness of institutions), and social capital theories (the importance of trust and associational membership). The paper offers new insights into state-society relations in post-communist countries, as well as the mechanisms behind the evolution or persistence of certain political attitudes.

During her research visit, she greatly benefitted from access to the wide selection of books and journals available at the UIC library. She presented my work at the Department of Political Science, receiving valuable suggestions and encouraging comments from other doctoral students and professors. She also met and discussed my work with other Latvian students in Chicago. She was honoured to be invited to present her work at the Latvian Community Center in Chicago -- a presentation that turned into a very fruitful and exciting discussion about politics in Latvia in general.

The Saltups scholarship has also advanced her academic career. She successfully submitted her PhD thesis at the University of Latvia, and was recently employed as a research assistant at the European Commission funded project "Public Goods through Private Eyes: Exploring Citizens' Attitudes towards Public Goods and the State in Central Eastern Europe", allowing her to continue working in the area of post-communist studies.

I would like to express my biggest gratitude to the AABS for the Mudite I. Zilite Saltups scholarship that supported my research visit to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the summer of 2010. With best wishes, Inta Mierina PhD candidate and researcher

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The 2010 Emerging Scholars Award assisted Dr. McKenzie in financing his travel to Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius to conduct field research about Dark Tourism. The field studies in Estonia included interviews with owners of a firm that provides Soviet Tours in Tallinn; an interview with a tour guide who conducts Soviet Tours in Tallinn; and an interview with a representative of the Tallinn tourism bureau. In Riga, he conducted an interview with a representative of the Latvian Institute to discuss the role of Soviet tourism in Latvia and an interview with a representative from the Latvian Tourism Development Agency. In Vilnius, he conducted an interview, and a tour, with a guide at the Museum of Genocide Victims, an interview with a tourist who visited Grūto parkas ("Stalin World"), and an interview with a representative of the Lithuanian tourism bureau.

To date, in addition to his presentation, "Remembrance versus Nostalgia: 'Dark' Tourism in the Baltic States", at the 2010 Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Conference, Dr. McKenzie has conducted a seminar at the Estonian Business School in Tallinn, "Country/Destination Branding: 'Dark' Tourism in the Baltic States"; a presentation at Tartu University, "Conscience to Commerce: 'Soviet' Tourism in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania." His paper entitled "Soviet Tourism in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: Ethics versus Experiences" will be presented at the 2011 TTRA (Travel, Tourism, Research Association) Europe Conference in France.

Dr. Brent McKenzie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, in the College of Management and Economics, at the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He is a leading Canadian expert on the retail sector and shopping behaviour in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as his current research into the study of Dark Tourism in the Baltic States.

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The first 2011 issue of the Journal of Baltic Studies is a special issue on Transnational Governance and Policy-Making in the Baltic Sea Region (Vol. 42, Issue 1). It features the following articles.

Introduction: Transnational Governance and Policy-Making in the Baltic Sea Region
Stefan Gänzle

The Baltics as Colonial Playground: Germany in the East, 1914-1918
Robert L. Nelson

Governance For Sustainable Development in the Baltic Sea Region
Kristine Kern

Networked Baltic Environmental Cooperation
Stacy D. VanDeveer

Europeanization 'Beyond' Europe? EU Impact on Domestic Policies in the Russian Enclave of Kaliningrad
Stefan Gänzle, Guido Müntel

Baltic Tigers: The Limits of Unfettered Liberalization
Kurt Hübner

Economic Integration and Cohesion in the Baltic Sea Region: A Critical Perspective From the Baltic States
Alf Vanags

Governing Common Seas: From a Baltic Strategy to an Arctic Policy
Diana Wallis, Stewart Arnold

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If you are a student or willing to be one, your heritage is Lithuanian but you live abroad, and you wish to forge closer ties to Lithuania either by improving your language skills or by learning more about Lithuanian culture and history, as well as social, economic, and political conditions, then this VMU Summer Course in July 2011 is for you. Vytautas Magnus University and the Lithuanian Emigration Institute extend an invitation to Lithuanians age 18 and older who live outside Lithuania to attend a summer course called REFRESH IN LITHUANIA. The purpose of the VMU Summer Course is to bring together Lithuanians from all over the world, especially those of student age, to help them establish or renew contact with their family's homeland and to learn more about what is going on in Lithuania today.

The deadline to submit an application is May 1, 2011. Information and the application form can be found at www.pasauliolietuviai.lt. For additional information, contact the Coordinator, Ms. Ingrida Celešiūtė, at pla@isc.vdu.lt

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BALSSI offers students in the U.S. the only summer opportunity to study intensively the languages of the Baltic countries. The 2011 Summer Institute will be held at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The deadline to apply is April 11.

This summer, courses in elementary and intermediate** Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian will be offered, as well as lectures (in English) on Baltic history and culture and a rich program of cultural events related to the Baltic countries.

Thanks to a generous grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, the program fee for first-year Estonian and for second-year Latvian will be waived for graduate students specializing in East European studies in any discipline. (Students will still be responsible for paying UW-Madison segregated fees.)

For further information about BALSSI 2011 and application materials, please visit the BALSSI web site or contact Nancy Heingartner, BALSSI program coordinator.

**Scheduling of classes at the intermediate level is contingent upon sufficient enrollment, and may be canceled due to low enrollment. Please apply as early as possible to help ensure your class will be offered.

Founded in the mid-1990s, BALSSI is sponsored by a consortium of twelve US universities with additional support from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.

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Volume 41, Issue 4 (2010) of the Journal of Baltic Studies, featuring the following articles, is now available.

The Saracens of the Baltic: Pagan and Christian Lithuanians in the Perception of English and French Crusaders to Late Medieval Prussia by Alan V. Murray

Landmarks of Old Livonia - Church Towers, Their Symbols and Meaning by Taavi Pae; Helen Soov li-Sepping; Egle Kaur

Defining Success in a Changing Society: Self-Evaluation and Social Reflections of a Coming Elite in the Baltic States by Raili Nugin; Eva-Clarita Onken

Modernizing the Estonian Farmhouse, Redefining the Family, 1880s-1930s by Marie-Alice L'Heureux

Learning from Latvia: Adoption, Adaptation, and Evidence-Based Justice Reform by J. Wheeldon

'In My Opinion, Work Would be in First Place and Family in Second': Young Women's Imagined Gender-Work Relations in Post-Soviet Lithuania by Herwig Reiter

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The 9th Baltic Conference in Europe -- Transitions, Visions and Beyond -- will be held at Södertörn University, Huddinge, Stockholm on 12-15 June 2011.

REMINDER: Paper proposals are due 1 February 2011.

It is time to take stock of the transition process, to reflect and summarize, but also to look ahead. The Baltic Sea region has found its place inside Europe. Since 2008, the economic crisis has been a dominating issue not only in the Baltic countries but in Europe as a whole. The implications of the crisis for politics, social life, culture and environment are widespread. Every country is developing its own strategy to overcome the crisis and we need to reflect upon the commonalities and differences in how the crisis is being handled. There is also a need to look ahead, beyond the problems at hand, and to discuss visions and opportunities. The conference "Transitions, Visions and Beyond" aims to bring together representatives of academic communities who share an interest in exploring the Baltic region from multiple perspectives. Baltic region studies are considered a particular historical, political, linguistic, social, cultural and ideological contact zone where the meanings of identities, languages and relationships are renegotiated.

Researchers from all disciplines and stages in their careers are invited to send in abstracts of a maximum of 500 words to one of the sections listed below. All paper proposals indicating the respective section should be send to Anne Kaun (anne.kaun@sh.se) by 1 February 2011.

Submissions are welcome in the following sections:
History, Memory, Narratives
Political Studies, International Relations and Law
Economics
Environment and Geography
Media, Communication and Technology
Linguistics
Literature
Culture and Arts
Philosophy, Folklore and Religion
Sociology, Ethnology and Cultural Studies
Advancing Baltic Studies

The conference is hosted by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at
Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Important Dates:
Deadline for Abstract Submission 1 February 2011
Notification of Acceptance 1 March 2011
Conference Registration 1 May - 1 June 2011

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The application deadlines for the Grundmanis and Saltups Fellowships have been extended to December 30, 2010.

More information on the Grundmanis Postgraduate Fellowship for Study in the United States is available here.

More information about the Saltups Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Fellowship is available here.

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The 15th AABS CONFERENCE (Australasian Chapter) was held on 23-24 September 2010 at the Lithuanian House in Melbourne. The conference theme wasThe Baltic Region: Past, Current and Future Pathways.

For more information, please contact Dr. Andrew Blumbergs, aabs@y7mail.com

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Södertörn University and the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies CBEES, has volunteered to organize the 9th Baltic conference in Europe. The conference will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on 12-15 June 2011. The Call for Papers will be issued in September 2010. For more information, contact the Director of CBEES, Professor Anu Mai Kõll, anu-mai.koll@sh.se

Further details will be forthcoming. AABS members are encouraged to participate and attend.

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Human Rights and Democracy in a Globalized World - Moving Towards an International Consensus will be held in Berlin on 1-4 October 2010, on the 20th Anniversary of German Reunification.

The Berlin International Human Rights Congress (BIHRC) is an international congress, taking place on the 20th anniversary of German reunification that will offer an interdisciplinary analysis of the fields of human rights and democracy. The event will explore developments in these areas over the past two decades and will consider the key issue shaping discussions on the international level today. The program will consist of lectures, seminars, debates and panel discussions that will feature leading figures from international politics & diplomacy, academia, civil society, international development, and the private sector. Participants of the program will also have the unique opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of German reunification on the streets of Berlin.

The Academy of Cultural Diplomacy is sponsoring the congress. For additional information, please see the academy's website.

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Ilze Garoza, recipient of the 2009 Grundmanis Fellowship, gives AABS an update on her research in this post.

As a Grundmanis Fellow, my graduate studies were in Comparative and International Development Education Program in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development, University of Minnesota. Due to the complexity of my master's thesis project, I am actually still working on my thesis writing. I currently hold a Graduate Fellow position at the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota.
The Grundmanis Fellowship allowed me to pursue and advance my graduate studies and conduct research focusing on the Latvian diaspora in the United States.

Titled "Building bridges between two immigrant generations from Latvia: A case study of Latvian supplementary schools in the United States," my research focuses on relationships between Latvian Americans who came to the U.S. as a result of World War II and Latvians who have come to the U.S. in 1990 or later. Through this interdisciplinary case study I am trying to assess the existing relationships between Latvian Americans and recent immigrants from Latvia, what hampers and what promotes relationships between the two groups, and what role do Latvian supplementary schools in the United States play in bridging them. I plan to complete the research and defend my thesis by the end of this year.

With the help of Grundmanis fellowship, I have been able to finish up the required coursework to complete M.A. studies in the program of Comparative and International Development Education, as well as to start conducting my masters research, gather data, and participate in several academic conferences. The fellowship has been of extraordinary value in my process of graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. Thank you so much for that!

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Laima Laučkaitė received the AABS 2008-2009 Book Prize for the volume Art in Vilnius 1900-1915, published by Baltos lankos in 2008.

According to the recommendation by reviewers, Art in Vilnius is a "pioneering study in art history and the city of Vilnius. It presents Vilnius as a multicultural city in which different ethnic-national cultures overlap but also pursue their own agendas, and it is beautifully illustrated." The review noted that the period 1900-1915 is a crucial one both for the development of art and for the development of national identity in the city. "What is particularly interesting is the book's sophisticated approach which begins with different national groups producing art in the city (Poles, Lithuanians, Jews, Russians), then goes into specific artists in more depth (two Poles and one Lithuanian), followed by a discussion of the "Avant-Garde" and "Belle Époque" in Vilnius. It is a informative, stimulating, and engrossing read."

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The 2010 AABS conference was held on April 22-24, 2010 in Seattle, Washington, as a joint conference with the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study.

After an almost 200 year nap, the Icelandic volcano Eyafjallajökull disrupted most European air traffic with a massive ash cloud for six days, starting from April 15th. The SASS-AABS Conference which expected scores and scores of academics from across the Baltic States, Scandinavia, Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere throughout Europe began in Seattle on April 22nd. Unsurprisingly, the volcano's impact on the conference was considerable. Still, with heroic efforts from the organizing committee (changing panels and room assignments on an hourly basis), even more heroic travel efforts from the few European scholars that crossed the Atlantic, and the overwhelming good will, understanding and resolve of the assembled scholars of Scandinavian and Baltic Studies, the conference proved to be an enjoyable and academically valuable endeavor. The conference included many innovations that may become mainstays of AABS conferences in the future, including discipline and geographic specific lunches, book panels, and a searchable database of conference abstracts online. I look forward to the next AABS conference in Chicago in 2012 and the potential rumors of a future joint conference in SASS. Hopefully Eyafjallajökull's sister, Katla continues to snooze for many more years to come.

Abstracts for papers delivered at the conference are available here.

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The 4th Military Information Support Group (Airborne), located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is seeking applicants for an intelligence analyst position to focus mainly on the Baltic region. We are looking for someone with a demonstrated research interest in the former Soviet and Polish Baltic region, graduate level research and writing skills, and the ability to work with both civilian government officials and the military. To be considered, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, able to obtain a Secret level security clearance, and be proficient in a language of the region. Specifically, we are looking for candidates who can understand written and spoken Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian or Polish. Proficiency in Russian or German may be accepted if the candidate has substantial academic experience related to the eastern/southern Baltic region. We generally hire analysts with an academic credentials related to the geographic area of interest.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Jeffrey Griffith
Chief, Strategic Studies Section -- EUCOM
4th Military Information Support Group (Airborne)
910-432-4027; DSN 239-4027
AKO: jeffrey.griffith@us.army.mil
NIPR: griffjef@soc.mil
SIPR: griffjef@usasoc.socom.smil.mil

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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.

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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.

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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.

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AABS Vice-President for Professional Development, Dr. Daunis Auers, and 2009 Jānis Grundmanis Fellow, Ilze Garoza.

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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

Details

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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)

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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: Jeff Johnson: The New Theatre of the Baltics: From Soviet to Western Influence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (McFarland, 2007)

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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

More Information

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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).

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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 .

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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.

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Continue reading "Felder Wins Prize in Contemporary History" »

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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.

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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.

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Oskars Stucis (Notre Dame University) has been awarded the 2006 Jānis Grundmanis Postgraduate Fellowship for study in the United States.

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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

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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

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The program aims to prepare students for postgraduate studies, independent research work, as well as career activity within a European framework by

• qualifying students for interdisciplinary scholarly work and research
• qualifying students for intercultural communication and co-operation within a European framework
• the imparting of knowledge on both the historical and the current political, economic and cultural conditions of the Baltic Sea Region in regard to the regionalization of Europe, and globalization
• the imparting of knowledge on the changing patterns of national and international co-operation among the states surrounding the Baltic Sea
• the imparting of knowledge on political, economic and other forms of co-operation as well as on the region’s future perspectives.

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The 20th Conference on Baltic Studies was held June 15-17, 2006 at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

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

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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:

• Aspects of identity and culture and their social, political and economic implications
• Economic and social transformation
• Political transformation and international relations
• Literary, cinematic and cultural developments
• The politics of language.

More information [PDF]

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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.”

Continue reading "Remembering Vladimir Toporov" »

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