Outlines of the Soviet Latvian Ethnography: Fieldwork in the Post-War Period

Padomju okupācijas varas periodā uzkrātais bagātais etnogrāfiskais materiāls (ekspedīciju pieraksti, fotoattēli, zīmējumi, tekstiliju paraugi u.tml.), kas glabājas Latvijas Universitātes Latvijas vēstures institūta Etnogrāfisko materiālu krātuvē (LU LVI EMK), mūsdienās tiek izmantots dažādu humanitāro, sociālo un mākslas zinātņu jomu pētījumos. Raksta uzdevums ir sniegt padziļinātu ieskatu kolekcijas izveidē – par etnogrāfiskajām ekspedīcijām padomju okupācijas apstākļos, to organizēšanas sistēmu, tēmu noteikšanu un reālo pētniecības darbu, kā arī par ekspedīciju ietvaros (vai pēc to beigām) veikto komunikāciju ar sabiedrību. Kā avots šim pētījumam izmantoti gan nepublicētie administratīvie dokumenti – sapulču protokoli, darba plāni, atskaites, rīkojumi u.tml., gan, jo īpaši, – etnogrāfisko ekspedīciju dalībnieku dienasgrāmatas, kuras glabājas LU LVI EMK, kā arī padomju etnogrāfu publikācijas. Diemžēl, ne visas kādreiz rakstītās dienasgrāmatas tika nodotas kopā ar citiem ekspedīciju pierakstiem un mūsdienās pētnieku rīcībā ir tikai 15 no tām. Līdz šim pētījumos tās nav tikušas izmantotas, lai gan tās sniedz vērtīgu materiālu par ekspedīciju darba ikdienu, pētnieciskā darba apjomu, padomju dzīves realitāti u.tml. aspektiem. Padomju Savienībā, tai skaitā arī Latvijas PSR, etnogrāfijas nozares attīstība bija iespējama tikai esot PSRS Zinātņu akadēmijas Et- nogrāfijas institūta, kā arī citu valsts iestāžu pārraudzībā gan idejiski, gan administratīvi. Lai gan padomju okupācijas vara no etnogrāfiem gaidīja, lai tie pētītu un propagandētu padomju dzīvesveidu un kultūru, Latvijas etnogrāfija spēja veidoties par spēcīgu zinātnes nozari. Etnogrāfi nosedza daudzu latviešu materiālās un nemateriālās kultūras jomu izpēti, apkopoja mūsdienu pētniekiem ļoti nozīmīgus avotus Latvijas kultūrā un vēsturē. Padomju okupācijas varas laikā regulāri organizētās etnogrāfiskās ekspedīcijas deva iespēju ne tikai savākt ievērojamu pētniecisko ma- teriālu, tai skaitā arī par padomju dzīves īstenību, bet arī popularizēt etnogrāfiju kā zinātņu nozari. Etnogrāfu veiktās aktivitātes palīdzēja pievērst sabiedrības uzmanību mūsu kultūras mantojumam, tā sagla- bāšanai un izpētei. Pētījumi etnogrāfijas jomas vēsturē vēl jāturpina, jo šajā rakstā bija iespēja pievērsties tikai nelielam fragmentam no kopumā pētāmo tēmu loka.

Latviešu komponistu adaptācijas varianti pēckara Eiropā

Keywords: classical music, style, national romanticism, transformation of creative works, modernism, avant-garde This article discusses the stylistic and aesthetic transformation of the work of the most prominent Latvian composers, who, as refugees of the Second World War, arrived in Western Europe in 1944 and encountered a different, innovative musical environment there. For those whose creative work in Latvia had been focused on traditional national romanticism, the encounter with musical expressionism and the avant-garde caused a certain shock. The stark differences in style were not only a matter of compositional technique; they also revealed the contradiction between a positivistic worldview and a more adequate musical reflection of the common man during the era. Longīns Apkalns learned from the ideas and style of expressionism most radically, but Alberts Jērums was much more moderate in this respect—he had already approached expressionism during his studies at the Latvian Conservatory. In his studies at the Paris Conservatory (1945-1950), Tālivaldis Ķeniņš studied the traditions of French neoclassicism and constructivism. Volfgangs Dārziņš adapted neoclassical trends in combination with Béla Bartók’s interpretation of folklore. Jānis Mediņš radicalized his traditional language of music, but did not abandon the paradigm of the music of romanticism. Similarly, Jānis Kalniņš’ music, even in the pre-war period, was not unfamiliar with the border between romanticism and expressionism. The composers who, with their creative work, chose to serve only Latvian society in exile continued in the romantic style.

Interešu pārstāvniecība. Vēlētāji apspriež Saeimas darbu Latvijas Televīzijas raidījumā “Tautas panorāma”

Keywords: discourse analysis, general will, Latvian politics, political representation, Saeima Latvian citizens are characterised by a very low level of political activism. How can this be explained through an understanding of politics? Prior to the 2018 Saeima (Latvian parliament) election, voters were interviewed on Latvian television discussing the pronouncements of various members of parliament. The researcher explores the relationship between the comments of these voters and the way they feel their interests are being represented by the state’s law makers. Throughout the interviews, voters are critical of Saeima, yet they fail to clearly explain their interests. The generally agreed upon duty of MPs is to discover the general will of the people, and attempt to fulfil this will through law making. In Latvia, the concept of forming interest groups representing the desires of various groups of citizens to create public expressions of their opinions is not considered a viable resource for political action. The citizens being interviewed believe that they cannot expect to have their interests represented by Saeima and prefer individual strategies focused on non-political action.

Folklora un ideoloģija: folkloras teksti latviešu mācību literatūrā PSRS 20. gadsimta 20.–30. gados

Keywords: diaspora, Marxist-Leninist ideology, propaganda, education in the USSR, Soviet folklore The focus of this article is Latvian textbooks published in the USSR from 1920-1930 for Latvian pupils living in the Soviet Union, and the use of folklore texts in them. Attention is focused on the principles of the selection of specific texts and how the authors of textbooks interpret folklore texts. This research aims to determine how folklore units available in Soviet Latvian textbooks resonated with the dominant dogmas of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in the USSR. The first half of the article describes the most important aspects of the Soviet Latvian diaspora and the organization of education. In this part of the study, all Soviet Latvian textbooks issued from 1920-1930 were examined: ABC, Latvian language and literature textbooks, school reading books and chrestomathies, as well as published selections of folklore units (24 books in all), not all of them included folklore texts. The focus of the analysis is only those books in which folklore had been published. The analyzed folklore units show how these texts can be used for propaganda purposes using various methods: by selectively picking out only those folklore units that correspond to the Marxist-Leninist ideology, commenting and creating paratexts, ignoring Latvian folklore genres (mythical songs, magic tales), using metrics and formulas of classical folklore to create texts with new content glorifying Soviet reality.

Sabiedrības iesaistes akcija “Lasi skaļi”: estētiskie un izglītojošie dzejas ieskaņošanas aspekti

Keywords: children’s poetry, public engagement, reading aloud, recording of poetry, Veidenbaums The development of public engagement technologies has provided new ways of ensuring societal participation. Public engagement events developed by various institutions provide ways to combine learning about cultural heritage with individual participants. Poetry readings serve as one of the ways the sound of Latvian literature and particularly Latvian classical poetry can be updated. The authors of this article analyse the first two public engagement actions (“Skandē Veidenbaumu” and “Lasīsim dzejiņas” of the series “Lasi skaļi” (Read Aloud) launched by the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia. During these events, participants were given the opportunity to record thematically-selected poems in the audio recording booth of the Latvian National Library or, as an alternative, to record a poem on their computer or mobile device and upload them to the action site. The events combined the creation of a recorded body of poetry readings with related educational content and represent one of the newer educational methods for reaching the general public and some of its subgroups (children, pupils, students, etc.). Through these events, the public was given the opportunity to become acquainted with Latvian cultural heritage while simultaneously creating new cultural artifacts. The participants creatively used different approaches of performance, recording the poems in a variety of voices, singing, or even incorporating digital sound processing programmes. They actively seized on the opportunity to create new versions of poems that had already been set to music. The main reasons for rejecting any particular recording were buffoonery or cursing during the recording process, or having left the recording unfinished. Both events resulted in more than 4,500 audio recordings which were then stored in the digital archive of the Institute. The set of recordings could be of interest to researchers in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and computer linguistics, as it provides a unique representation of pronunciation during a specific period of time performed by people of different ages, genders, and nationalities.

Latvian Folklorists in Late Socialism: Within the Workplace

Raksts veltīts latviešu folkloristikas vēsturei padomju perioda stagnācijas gados – Latvijas PSR Zinātņu akadēmijas Valodas un literatūras institūta Folkloras sektora (daļas) darbībai. Pētījuma pamata avots ir institūta iekšējais žurnāls Vārds un Darbs, kas iznāca no 1965. līdz 1988. gadam. Šai nelielās tirāžas izdevumā viņpus padomju ideoloģijas slāņiem ir daudz vērtīgas historiogrāfiskas informācijas – par folkloras pētnieku kopīgajām un individuālajām gaitām, profesionālajām virsotnēm. Papildu avots interpretācijai ir dzīvesstāstu intervijas ar kādreizējā institūta darbiniekiem. Analīze veikta, izmantojot institucionālās etnogrāfijas metodi un padomju postkoloniālo studiju instrumentāriju. Rakstā iztirzāta folkloristu darba vides dinamika, savstarpējās saiknes un padomju ideoloģijas klātbūtne institūtā. Lūkots rast atbildes uz šādiem pētnieciskajiem jautājumiem: kāda bija latviešu folkloristu ikdiena vēlīnajā padomju sociālismā? Kā institūcijā izpaudās valsts varas manifestācijas? Kādas bija hierarhiskās attiecības? Kādi bija darba un brīvā laika saskares punkti?

From “One’s Own” to Foreign: Categories and Texts of Soviet Folkloristics and Ethnography

Rakstā pētītas padomju folkloristikas un etnogrāfijas kategorijas un teksti no 1920. līdz 1991. gadam. Šajā laikā aplūkojamās parādības atšķīrās starp diviem galēji atšķirīgiem zinātniskajiem kontekstiem: padomju jeb sociālistisko un nepadomju jeb kapitālistisko. Autori izseko zinātnisko koncepciju ģenēzi padomju folklorā un etnogrā- fijā pirms un pēc Otrā pasaules kara (ieskaitot pretstatus “savs” un “svešs”, “draudzīgs” un “naidīgs”, “populārs” un “elitārs”, “atļauts” un “tabu”). Tiek pētīts, kā šie jēdzieni un idejas izskatījās mazajā (Padomju Ukraina) un lielajā (Padomju Savienība) sociālistiskajā telpā un kā tie tika pārraidīti un mainīti ar “savu” un “svešu” tekstu publikācijām. Neraugoties uz padomju zinātnes (paš) izolācijas periodiem 1930. gados un pēckara periodā, robeža starp savu jeb padomju, iekšējo un svešo jeb citu, nepadomju jeb ārējo šajās discip- līnās palika mainīga un elastīga. Tas bija saistīts gan ar ideju par “pa- domju zinātnes starptautisku apvienošanu ar cilvēces progresīvajām idejām”, gan par vispārējām zinātnes attīstības tendencēm pēc Otrā pasaules kara. 20. gadsimta 20. gadu “anarhiskie” agrīnās padomju folkloras un etnoloģijas meklējumi, kas sāka veidoties sistēmā, vēlāk aprobežojās ar padomju zinātnes “normālo” paradigmu, kuru iero- bežoja ideoloģiskās klišejas. Tomēr šie trafareti arī nebija pastāvīgi: padomju folklora un etnogrāfija centās modernizēties. Sociālistiskā zinātne (un sociālistiskā folkloristikas un etnogrāfija) vēlējās būt paš- pietiekama modelēšanas sistēma. Tomēr tā mēģināja paplašināt savu ietekmi kapitālistiskajā pasaulē, kas nozīmēja pielāgošanos rietumu diskursa noteikumiem, aizņemoties rietumu jēdzienus, kas iekļuva padomju folkloristikas un etnogrāfijas valodā un to mainīja. Tas nozīmēja, ka pat no padomju diskursa izraidītās kategorijas gandrīz vienmēr bija slēpta sociālistiskās folkloras un etnogrāfijas diskursa sastāvdaļas.

Cittautu literatūras tulkojumi trimdā 20. gs. 40.–50. gados

Keywords: books by Latvian exiles, publishing houses, translations, translators The purpose of this article is to explore the ways in which Latvians in exile after the Second World War continued the existing tradition of translating and publishing world literature, which publishing houses and translators were the most productive, which authors were published most often, and how they were received in the émigré society. The range of translations was particularly wide and diverse in the 1940s and 1950s when a total of 265 books were published, of which eight were poetry and four were plays, with fiction accounting for the rest. During this period, a total of 27 translations of different authors were published. German authors were most widely represented (30), followed by French (27), Estonian and American (26 each), Norwegian and Swedish (23 each) authors. The publishers accounting for most of these were Grāmatu draugs and Tilts in the United States, Daugava in Stockholm, and Imanta in Copenhagen. In the 1940s and 1950s, authors whose books could never be published in Soviet-occupied Latvia (James Joyce, George Orwell, Albert Camus et al.) were published outside its borders. Yet the publishers in exile had to pay attention to the rather conservative tastes of the majority of their readership and its reservations about works created in the Soviet Union (e.g., Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak).

Dainas kā Lejaskurzemes izlokšņu fonētikas un morfoloģijas iezīmju avots

Keywords: folksongs, subdialects, Lejaskurzeme, phonetics, morphology It has been a long time since linguists have spoken about the levelling of subdialects in Latvia, for instance, linguist Jānis Endzelīns already in the middle of the 20th century, when he spoke about the language of the district of Vidzeme said these significant words: “As elsewhere also in Latvia the standard language exterminates subdialects and partly has already exterminated them. There are many areas where it is hard to find a person who speaks only in subdialect.” Therefore, it is important to identify the most important sources of the acquisition of subdialects, which would be useful to all who are interested in subdialectic studies. One of these sources is Latvian folksongs, which vividly preserve the most prominent phonetic and morphological features. The phonetical and morphological features of the subdialects of Lejaskurzeme have been identified in both folksong materials and in later linguistic sources—in the descriptions of Anna Ābele “Par Rucavas izloksni” (On the Rucava Sub-Dialect (1927)), “Rucavas izloksne” (The Rucava Sub-Dialect (1928)), “Gramzdas draudzes izloksne” (The Sub-Dialect of Gramzda Parish (1929)) and also in the description of Emma Valtere “Pērkones izloksne” (The Pērkone Sub-Dialect (1938)) as well as in late 20th century and early 21st century linguistic sources, which allow a comparison between characteristic subdialectical peculiarities and to track their changes over the years. This article analyses the most prominent peculiarities of the subdialects of Lejaskurzeme both in folksongs and in subdialectal sources: in phonetics and morphology. The analysis of the folksongs shows that the treasures of our language are still living; moreover, especially the sources of folklore, including folksongs, are still an actual source of studying subdialects, which, if we use correctly, can reveal grammatical, phonetical, and morphological peculiarities.