Sadhana Naithani - Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence

FOLKLORE IN BALTIC HISTORY

FOLKLORE IN BALTIC HISTORY

RESISTANCE AND RESURGENCE

SADHANA NAITHANI

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI / JACKSON

The University Press of Mississippi is the scholarly publishing agency of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning: Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi.

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Copyright 2019 by University Press of Mississippi

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing 2019

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Naithani, Sadhana, author.

Title: Folklore in Baltic history: resistance and resurgence / Sadhana Naithani.

Description: Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018054048 (print) | LCCN 2018058048 (ebook) | ISBN 9781496823588 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496823595 (epub institutional) | ISBN 9781496823601 (pdf single) | ISBN 9781496823618 (pdf institutional) | ISBN 9781496823564 (cloth) | ISBN 9781496823571 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Baltic StatesFolkloreHistory and criticism. | Folk literature, BalticHistory and criticism. | Baltic StatesPolitics and government19401991. | LCGFT: Informational works.

Classification: LCC GR204 (ebook) | LCC GR204 .N34 2019 (print) | DDC 398.209479dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054048

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

CONTENTS

PREFACE

This book should be seen as a nuanced representation of the relationship between folklore studies and a socialist-totalitarian state, based on some of the significant issues in the history of folklore studies in the three countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, often referred to as the Baltic countries. This is not a complete and comprehensive history of folkloristics in the Baltic countries, nor is it an even representation of all.

The central concern of this book is the international history of the discipline of folkloristics, which lets us see how varied, rich, and complex is the study of folklore across the globe. Ironically, the subject of studyfolkloreis perceived as simple, which implies that its study too is uncomplicated. The study of this simple subject is for a variety of reasons extremely complex and complicated. The variety of reasons are located in the many specific contexts in which folklore is studied. The universal application and acceptance of the concept often hide the temporal and spatial differences in its study. The dialectics of universality and particularity defines what connects folklorists across the world. This connection is rather unlike any other discipline because the universality of the concept lets them relate particularities across distances.

As a discipline, folklore studies has never been at the center of humanities, but its relationship to different political ideologies and political-ideological power structures has revealed its unique position within academia. Folkloristics is a discipline that creates a cusp between academic and popular politics. The fact that the name of its subject of studyfolkloreimplies a connection with the vast majority of nonruling sections and their perceptions about life and culture lends it a political-historical importance that overshadows the aesthetic power and pervasiveness of the folklore of any people. Within the Baltic countries, folklore studies have had an important place within and outside academia since the beginning of the twentieth century. Therefore, it is a significant location to study the relations of folkloristics with nationalism, socialism, and postsocialism. The subject of this book is folkloristics in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during and after the regime of the USSR from 1944 to 1991.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Research for this book was made possible by Spectress Project between Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, University of Tartu, Tartu, and University of Dublin, Dublin, and by the Partnership Development Grant 890-2013-17 from Canadas Social Science and Humanities Research Council. I am grateful to Professor Aditya Mukherjee and Dr. Ene Kresaar for inviting me to the Department of Ethnology at the University of Tartu in 2016 and 2017 to pursue this research on the history of folkloristics in Estonia.

From Tartu, I traveled to Riga, Latvia, and to Vilnius, Lithuania, to research in the closely related historical processes in the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In all the three centers of folklore studies in the Baltic countries, my research was aided and encouraged by many scholars, and I am thankful to them all, not only for their help but also for their warmth and friendship.

In Tartu, lo Valk, Ene Kresaar, Tiiu Jaago, Aigi Rahi-Tamm, Ergo Vstrik, Kristin Kuutma, and Risto Jrv shared their knowledge and experiences of research with me. I am extremely grateful for their intellectual generosity. For additional support in researchfrom administrative matters to scanning of booksReet Russmann and Liilia Lannemann were always there, and I thank them for everything. I am especially thankful to Reet Russmann for organizing a tour of the countryside of southern Estonia as I wished to see the remnants of the Soviet period. I also thank Elo-Hanna Seljamaa and Merili Metsvahi, senior research fellows in the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, for sharing their thoughts with me.

In Riga, Rita Treija, Toms Kencis, and Baiba Krogzeme-Mosgorda were the people I first met with in the Archives of Latvian Folklore in 2016. They introduced the archives, its collections, and its infrastructure to me, shared their knowledge with me, and connected me with other colleagues in 2016 and 2017. During my second visit, I also met and conversed with Aldis Putelis, Guntis Pakalns, Dace Bula, Beatrise Reidzane, Mara Vksna, and Ieva Garda Rozenberga (a former researcher in the Oral History Archives who accompanied me to the Latvian National Oral History Archives and organized a meeting with Mara Zirnte, Edmunds pulis, and Baiba Bela.). They shared with me their knowledge about researching and recording life stories in Latvia; this knowledge is not available in English-language publications. The enthusiasm of each of these scholars for their research was inspiring, and their warmth was touching. I remain thankful to them. In Vilnius, Lina Bugiene helped me to understand many aspects of folklore scholarship and life under the Soviet rule in Lithuania. I am thankful to her for sharing personal experiences and research materials with me both during and after my visit. I am also thankful to her colleagues in the Folklore Archives and to Lina Leparskine, Asta Skujyte, and Vita Dekiorit-Medeiien.

My long research stays in Tartu were made pleasant by Pihla Siim, Margaret Lyngdoh, Donee Lepcha, Ele Sepp, Tina Sepp and Maarja Valk. To them, I owe very warm thanks.

The experience of a research that combines empirical and theoretical leaves the researcher with more than that which is expressed in the analytical work born of it. Research on Baltic folkloristics left me believing that the humility of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian scholars is overwhelming: quietly working, never showing off their achievements, and probably genuinely feeling that they are small as nations and as populace. When I started with my research on the disciplinary history of folkloristics in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, I was met with the response, Oh, really! But why? When I said that I had the feeling that that the present of folkloristics was unfolding in the Baltics, the response was, You think so? As they started sharing with me recent publications, their plans in action, and their archives, it was my turn to say, Oh, really? Amazing! I am indeed grateful to all the people mentioned and to many others who enriched my experience of research.