Projects | Oral History in Latvia

Navigating Post-Exile: Transformations and Transitions in the Latvian Exile Community after 1991

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The project aims to explore the «post-exile» period of the Latvian exile community formed after World War II, highlighting its evolution following Latvia’s independence in 1991, when the «old exile» became part of the emerging diaspora. By examining the transformation of exile community identities, their relationships and ties to their homeland, the experiences of returnees, and the dynamics between the «old exile» and recent emigrants, the project will provide a nuanced understanding of the post-exile experience.

A multidisciplinary approach, integrating historical and biographical research methods, will offer insights into individuals’ sense of belonging and identity development during a time marked by significant migration in Latvia and globally. By investigating macro- and micro-level relationships between people and their homeland, the study will deepen the understanding of diaspora dynamics. Contrary to the rhetoric of policymakers, the research will ensure an analytical perspective and foster evidence-based understanding of social processes within diaspora communities.

The project outputs will include scientific publications, the organising of an international conference, conference reports, and various public outreach activities.

Project leader: Maija Krūmiņa

Research team: Kristīne Beķere, Daina Grosa, Maruta Pranka, Ginta Elksne, Elvis Friks

The project implementation period: 01.01.2025.–31.12.2027.

The project is funded by the Latvian Council of Science under Grant No. lzp-2024/1-0114.

All project-related updates, events, and news are compiled in the Posts section below. You can also follow the project’s activities on the project’s Facebook page.

From past to present: Migration and Integration through Life-stories' network

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 22:28:02 +0300

Coordinating institution

«Life-Story», Latvian Oral History Researchers’ Association, represented by Maruta Pranka, Māra Zirnīte.

Partner institutions

Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu, contact person: Leena Kurvet-Käosaar.
Department of History, Stockholm University, contact person: Maija Runcis
Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Oslo Metropolitan University,contact person: Susanne Søholt.

Partners within the University of Latvia

Center for Diaspora and Migration research, contact persons: Inta Mieriņa, Baiba Bela.
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, contact person: Ilze Koroļeva.

General aims

To offer new methods for adult education and introduce the results of life-story research to a wide audience.
To develop a research network that will carry out comparative studies about migration processes and its consequences.
To disseminate knowledge about the ongoing processes of migration and integration from past to present.
To integrate target groups into the process of life-story research and learning.

Target audience

Representatives of cultural and educational institutions who prepare lectures.
People involved in migration processes.
Students who may become potential migrants.

Activities

Workshops and preparation of public lectures
Training seminars for interviewers
Exchange of lecturers
Presentation of lectures and photo exhibitions
Preparation of video recordings and public lectures
Public events
Website design and development
Dissemination of project results

Project progress

First year: Development of a concerted training form and lecture methodology; preparation of lectures; life-story interviewing and research. During the training seminars, young people learned skills in interviewing assisted by Latvian emigrants in Sweden. Interviews with people from the latest flow of emigrants. Preparation of photo portrait exhibition «Why did we leave? Young Latvians in Sweden», supplemented with excerpts from life stories. The exhibition was shown in Stockholm, Tartu and Riga.

Second year: Testing of lectures and presentation with various audiences; preparation of video presentations for internet publications. Travelling photo exhibition «Latvians in Sweden: 1944–1990, Photographer Fricis Forstmanis», prepared and exhibited in Stockholm, Riga, Ventspils, Jūrkalne. Off-site lectures organised at libraries and museums in Latvia: Ventspils, Rēzekne, Cīrava, Liepāja. Preparation of five video lectures by Baiba Bela, Inta Mieriņa, Susanne Søholt (NO), Inese Šūpule and Edmunds Šūpulis. Interviews with the second generation of exiles in Sweden.

Third year: Organisation of the symposium «Postmemory: Memory in exile and exiled memory» and participation with presentation in Stockholm on 14–15 August 2019. Interviews with people from the latest flow of emigrants in Norway. Creation of the internet publication «Nordplus: From past to present» and www.oralhistory.lv. Presentation of the photo exhibition «Latvians in Sweden: 1944–1990, Photographer Fricis Forstmanis» in Pāvilosta. Off-site lectures organised at libraries and museums in Latvia: Gulbene, Pāvilosta. Preparation of presentation for the «Biographical narratives, generations and migration» section of the 78th International Scientific Conference of the University of Latvia, 21 February 2020. Internet-based distance learning in life-story interview methods. Analysis of the project results and the network’s experience in collaborating and achieving the aims of the project.

Participation in international conferences

Conference “On the move: Migration and diasporas”, Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu, 2018
Symposium “Postmemory: Memory in exile and exiled memory”, Stockholm University, 14–15 August, 2019

Lectures and preparation of activities for video presentations

Māra Zirnīte (opening). Photo chronicle of exile life [LV]
Edmunds Šūpulis. Latvian emigration [LV]
Inese Šūpule. Modern emigration and preservation of identity in the Latvian diaspora [LV]
Baiba Bela. How to recognise a Latvian in the world [LV]
Inta Mieriņa. Methods of surveying migrants and new migrants
Kaspars Zellis. Discussion about Latvian generations in the West: history and the present [LV]

Up-to-date information on project activities is also available on the website From Past to Present.

Critical thinking, innovation, competitiveness and globalisation

Wed, 15 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Since 2016, the Oral History Group of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia has been participating in a priority project that is in line with the guidelines of the Council of Europe for Innovative Europe (Regulation 294/2008) – Critical Thinking, Innovation, Competitiveness and Globalisation.

Researchers compile and evaluate critical thinking concepts, exploring their place and potential in European intellectual history. A special role is played by the National Oral History collection of life stories, which provides material for research on social memory as a platform for discussing the preservation of national identity, culture and historical consciousness in the context of globalisation.

Project leaders: Dr. phil. Solveiga Krūmiņa-Konkova, Dr.sc.soc. Ilze Koroļeva

An insight into the work done within the project is provided by a collection of articles.

Narrative perspectives on intergenerational transmission of memory

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 21:24:43 +0300

Background

The term ‘generation’ in the scientific literature has connotations of life stage (or age and the aging process), historical location (specifically, affinity with the decades of youth) and kinship relations (for example, the roles of parent and child). Usually a comprehension of generation derives from the Mannheimian tradition in the sociology of knowledge in which generations are seen not as objective periods but as subjectively defined cohorts who share a historical experience that creates a ‘community of perception’. In an effort to avoid an identification of generations only according to age or status groups, the meaning of personal memories in a generation’s self-awareness must be carefully clarified, and the life story is one of the ways in which a researcher can approach meanings that a person presents through his or her own narratives according to the experience he or she has accumulated.

The main methodology of the project is based on the biographical approach in social sciences, which considers personal experience an important resource in the study of social life as well as in the analysis of the interaction between generations. Oral history sources have been especially widely used as research data in the humanities and social sciences since the 1980s–90s, although they have already been used in macro and micro studies since the early part of the 20th century. Because narration is one of the essential forms of social life, there was a turn in the 1990s in the social sciences not only towards the biographical but also the narrative approach. Researchers became interested in how people create and structure their life histories and mobilise their memories when creating a personally and socially significant version of history. Also of interest are linguistic and social conditions that structure the creation of narratives.

The oral history researchers’ group of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Latvia has been conducting life-story studies since 1992 and has at its disposal both knowledge-based resources and resources from the respective infrastructure. A unique collection of life stories has been developed, which comprises approximately 4500 biographical interviews recorded in various regions of Latvia as well as in Latvian communities outside of Latvia (Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, Brazil).

Project working group meeting Photo: Māra Zirnīte

Project objectives and research questions:

to explain what factors (age cohort; shared historical experience, including historical and biographical breaks; integration in the host country) influence and create generational identity and an individual sense of belonging to one or another generation
to analyse what narrative perspectives are used to construct life stories, especially in memories of previous generations, thereby testing the assumption that, as one moves from one generation to the next, memory stories become ever more abstract until they take on the form and function of myth
to study the influence of collective memory on a generation’s values and choice of action in critical situations, and how the experience of previous generations is transformed according to the collective memory of one’s own age cohort
to identify how both ethnic differences and similarities in a shared national space are manifested in the intergenerational transmission of memories.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the project is conducting biographical interviews with members of various generations both in Latvia and abroad (the people who fled Latvia after the Second World War as well as representatives of more recent migration, who left Latvia in the 2000s) and also recording the life stories of descendants whose parents’ or grandparents’ stories are already lodged in the NOH Archive. The analysis of their memories will not only allow the researchers to analyse the interplay between generation–experience–memory–narrative but also identify transformations of memory in the course of intergenerational communication.

Subject of research

A person’s belonging to a certain generation can be determined not only by the time periods and experiences addressed in his or her life story but also by the style of narration and language, manners of expression and presentation of the story. The language which an author employs to achieve this always contains present hierarchies of previous experience and is thus intricately bound up with dominant historical discourses. This is quite evident in life stories that are influenced by the experiences of previous generations as well as meta-narratives of the past, resulting in the blurring of the chronological boundaries of a narrative but at the same time providing traits that are uniquely characteristic of each particular generation.

Project leader: Vieda Skultāne (Shelley) Project group: Kaspars Zellis, Maruta Pranka, Ieva Garda-Rozenberga, Agita Lūse, Edmunds Šūpulis, Māra Zirnīte, Ginta Elksne, Maija Krūmiņa

Project is finansed by the Latvian Science Council (No. lzp-2018 / 1-0458)