Baltic Studies Summer Institute June 4 - July 27, 2001

BALSSI 1995

Two years have passed since September of 1993, when Daniel Waugh, Director of the Russian, East European and Central Asian Center at the University of Washington, pointed out a critical gap in American education regarding university offerings in Baltic Studies, and proposed that an intercollegiate consortium be founded to sponsor an annual Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI) (see Baltic Studies Newsletter Nr. 67, pp. 15-16). The first BALSSI was held at the University of Washington in 1994, sponsored by an intercollegiate consortium including the University of Washington, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, along with a grant from the Social Science Research Council. That year, courses were offered in Intensive First-Year Lithuanian, Baltic History, and Baltic Folklore.

In 1995, the BALSSI consortium grew with two new member institutions, Indiana University and the University of Michigan, and the 1995 Summer Institute program grew accordingly. A grant from the Social Science Research Council provided stipends for students enrolled in the Lithuanian language class, and provided cultural enhancement.

The core of BALSSI is intensive language instruction. This year, ten students enrolled in Intensive First-Year Lithuanian, some of them residents of Washington State, but others arriving from as far as California, Idaho, Illinois, and Missouri. Lithuanian instructors Karil (University of Illinois-Chicago) and Guntis Smidchens (University of Washington) worked on developing new materials and methods for teaching and testing the language in an intensive setting. Extracurricular activities included, for example, a field excursion to a cemetery of turn-of-the-century Lithuanian settlers and a trip to the Seattle Zoo (with all conversation in Lithuanian). The relatively large and active local community of Lithuanian-Americans hosted two picnics to which the students were invited. At these events, the students were able to use their Lithuanian with native speakers from the Seattle area.

Other courses taught at the 1995 BALSSI were: SCAND 230, Nordic and Baltic Folklore (Thomas DuBois), SCAND 326, Nordic and Baltic Politics (Christine Ingebritsen), BALTIC 200, Baltic Cultures (Guntis Smidchens), and HSTEU 454, Baltic History (Andrejs Plakans). Overall enrollment in the BALSSI courses was 73, with a total of 59 students (some enrolled in more than one course).

Enhancement activities included a speaker series funded by the SSRC, the University of Washington's Russian, East European and Central Asian Center, the Lithuanian World Community Foundation, the Embassy of Finland, the Kalevala Fund, and the BALSSI Consortium, with support from the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs. Well known scholars and political leaders gave guest lectures to the classes and gladly met with students to discuss research and career opportunities related to the Baltic States.

The visiting scholars also spoke in an evening lecture program which was open to both the university community and the Seattle-area public. The following topics were presented: Toivo U. Raun (Indiana University), "Baltic-Scandinavian Relations Past and Present"; Alfred Erich Senn (University of Wisconsin), "Lithuania and the Collapse of the Soviet Union"; Aapo P&#ouml;lh&#ouml; (Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Finland), "Baltic Sea Issues: An Overview of the Past and View Toward the Future"; Andrejs Plakans (Iowa State University), "Human Rights in Latvia"; and a panel discussion, "Baltic Literature Today", with lectures by Valters Nollendorfs (University of Wisconsin), Violeta Kelertas (University of Illinois), and Tiina Kirss (Mercer University).

Each of the evening lectures attracted an audience of 40-80 persons. About thirty "regulars" came to all of the BALSSI events, eager to keep up with the "cutting edge" in Baltic Studies. Two speakers had recently published books; Senn's Gorbachev's Failure in Lithuania and Plakans' Latvia and the Latvians: A Short History arrived hot off the press for book-signing receptions at the authors' lectures.

A recurring theme at the 1995 Baltic Studies Summer Institute was a view of the Baltic States as part of a broader region encompassing the Scandinavian Peninsula. Two courses (SCAND 230 and SCAND 326) integrated Baltic and Scandinavian topics, and were "shared" by BALSSI and the University of Washington Scandinavian Summer Institute. The exciting prospect of a new field emerging in international studies might best be summed up by a quotation from the concluding comments in Toivo Raun's lecture:

"Never before have Baltic-Scandinavian relations been as wide-ranging or as fruitful as today. For the first time in history all the Scandinavian and Baltic states are involved. Governments have certainly played an important role in the process, but the relations have grown organically to a large extent and from the grass-roots level. There seems to be a conscious goal among many people and institutions of all sides of the Baltic Sea to make the changes in recent years irreversible. There are, no doubt, some tensions in the relationship resulting from the factor of economic inequality; the Scandinavian states are far more advanced than the Baltic ones. However, the tensions will lessen with time. It is perhaps not too much to assert that the success of Scandinavian-Baltic relations in the recent past has been such that it could serve as a model for regional cooperation in other parts of the world."

Two festive events and keynote speeches framed the Baltic Studies Summer Institute. At the Opening Ceremony, the Ambassador of Estonia, Toomas Ilves, praised the University of Washington for its contribution to Baltic Studies: "This program represents a major step in the long overdue return to normalcy in an area of American academic endeavor, from which, by dint of history the Baltic States simply have been left out." The Closing Ceremony featured speaker Tiina Kirss, who recalled a great legacy in Baltic Studies in her talk titled "'Every Word is My Birthplace': Ivar Ivask and the Baltic Intellectual." Some of the persons present at the Closing recalled Ivask's powerful reading of The Baltic Elegies on the University of Washington campus five years earlier, at the Twelfth Conference on Baltic Studies.

The University of Washington, spurred on by its success in founding the Baltic Studies Summer Institute, is now expanding its efforts to strengthen Baltic Studies in the United States. Since 1994, the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian languages have been taught during the academic year in the Department of Scandinavian Languages and Literature. Fundraising has begun to create an endowment which would finance a permanent Program in Baltic Studies at the University of Washington.

Hosting of the Baltic Studies Summer Institute will be rotated among the member institutions in the BALSSI Consortium. In the summer of 1996, BALSSI will be held at the University of Illinois-Chicago, organized by the University of Illinois Endowed Chair in Lithuanian Studies. For information, write to Professor Violeta Kelertas, University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Slavic and Baltic Languages and Literatures (m/c 306), 1628 UH 601 South Morgan Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7112.